Thank you for doing these reviews, HKJ. I’m in the market for something a little better than my current Crenova meter, so I’ve been following along as you publish them.
It looks fairly basic, but it claims CAT lll 600V and it has bluetooh, thus allowing you to log data using a smart device, which is somewhat unique in this price range ($40). Voltage accuracy seems pretty good, at least according to my non-industrial voltage reference boards.
I haven’t seen any professional reviews of Southwire DMMs, so I don’t know how they stack up against others. Not sure if their products are easily available outside of North America…
Color display will usual mean a battery pack and not loose cells, i.e. when the pack is worn down in some years (5 - 10) you can probably not get a replacement. For me that is an issue, I expect my high end lab test equipment to last just about forever.
Just heads-up, in case anyone is considering it, their mobile app for Android is pretty basic and I’ve noticed a couple of bugs already. It is version 1.0 though, so hopefully over time they’ll make it better. I don’t know if there are any third party apps that could communicate with this DMM.
I do not really know about the U1191A as I already have the U1194A, but I was not thinking about reviewing it, maybe I have to reconsider that.
The U1231A may be interesting, or is the U1233A more interesting, the specifications are the same, but 33 has more ranges and functions.
U1232A adds current
U1233A adds current, temperature and NCV
I have not checked the prices on the different models.
One thing I did not initially notice about the U1191A clamp meter is that it does not measure DC current, only AC current. That makes it less interesting.
The U1233A looks more interesting than the U1231A. But the price is about 70% higher.
I have a Fluke 115 DMM, and the only thing I miss on it is capability for doing temperature measurements.
Yes, I agree. The U1231A (and 32A) can measure temperature, but it requires the purchase of an expensive “temperature module”, but the U1233A requires only a $20 thermocouple probe and adapter.
Now I have spent money on it (It looks like it might end up in my bag when I have to help people).
I am getting a good list of mid-range DMM and I also have more cheap DMM’s in queue. I have written more than 10 reviews now, the unpublished ones only need a little more work before I can publish them, but I do not plan on publishing more than 1 or 2 each month.
No, it is way to expensive compared to a new meter. Compare you meters and if they show about the same value they are fine. You can also get fairly cheap references on ebay that can be used for a sanity check.
I have shown a few of my DMM’s here: My lab setup
I will guess I have about 10 very good meters, the rest is “cheap” meters I have bough to play with and review.
HKJ, do you recommend any good DMM for long using, maybe 5 years, safe and under 150$
i need current(not high, 10A is ok), voltage, resistor meter and other basic stuff
5+ years is not a long lifetime for a DMM when used on a bench, but if you keep it in a toolbox you carry around every day it requires a robust meter.
For a “safe” meter you need to get something considerable better than the cheap DMM’s, it do not look like any of them has real protection.
With the DMM reviews I have publish until now the best is the Fluke 17B+. There are, of course, others, but I will prefer publishing the review before discussing them. There is always good and “bad” sides to a DMM and just recommending one will not explain what is good and “bad”. Looking at the schema that is included in my reviews will show some of it.