Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Purchasing a new high end multimeter

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David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
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Hi Dave - how would you compare the Agilent to the Fluke? I didn't
realize Agilent made handhelds - so I hadn't looked at that one. But
the features look very good and very similar to the Fluke, so I'm not
sure which would be better. Thanks,

-Mike


Hi Mike
Unfortunately I cannot comment as I have not played with the new
Agilent model myself, but eariler hand held HP meters were very good
quality. Agilent have just gotten back into the hand held market with
this model, and on paper it looks very nice. Agilent don't make crap
gear quality wise.

You can't go wrong with say a Fluke 87 V, and with the money left over
you could buy a (or several) lower cost PC connected meter for data
logging if you ever need it.

The 189 has a 72 hour battery life, and unfortunatley it appears like
the Agilent one is similar, although it runs from a 9V battery instead
of 4 AA's in the 189. The other model has a rechargeable battery. I
guess when you get to this performance level you have to live with
crap battery life.
A Fluke 87 V on the other hand has a 400+ hour life, and is much
better for general day to day usage, and almost as accurate at 0.05%
DC.

Dave :)
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Some random thoughts on the 189:

Autoranging is a bit slow. I don't have figures, but my recollection is
that previous generation Flukes did better. You can end up in a
situation where a signal is changing at just the right speed that it
spends almost all its time ranging back and forth and you don't get to
see a reading unless you range it manually. I know Fluke is capable of
getting this right, and has done in their other products, so it's
disappointing that they dropped the ball on the 189.

Yep, this is a common problem among most of the Fluke hand held range,
I find it happens a lot when measuring mains transformer primaries.
They have never adequately adddress the problem, but as you say,
manual ranging works just fine.

Dave :)
 
S

Steven Swift

Jan 1, 1970
0
David L. Jones said:
A Fluke 87 V on the other hand has a 400+ hour life, and is much
better for general day to day usage, and almost as accurate at 0.05%
DC.

Yep, the 87 V is a great choice. If you need top accuracy, best to buy a
bench unit. Then Agilent would be your better bet.

Steve
 
M

MassiveProng

Jan 1, 1970
0
Looks very nice, thanks for the tip. I almost bought a 189 about a year
ago, but backed out because I just couldn't justify it to myself for hobby
use. Glad I didn't buy it now.

Can't beat old $1500 HP bench meters on Ebay for $150 typically.
I have an old Micronta 22-167 that I've
had for many years. Even if it is radio shat, it still works well.

If you like worse than 2% accuracy.
Batteries last forever. It's just like this one:

Whoopie!

That's what 1.2 volt rechargeables are for.
 
M

MassiveProng

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi Dave - how would you compare the Agilent to the Fluke? I didn't
realize Agilent made handhelds - so I hadn't looked at that one. But
the features look very good and very similar to the Fluke, so I'm not
sure which would be better. Thanks,


Agilent, formerly HP, has been making very high quality lab
instrumentation for as long, if not longer than Fluke, and I am quite
sure the device is top notch.
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Agilent, formerly HP, has been making very high quality lab
instrumentation for as long, if not longer than Fluke, and I am quite
sure the device is top notch.

I'm sure it's top notch quality and performance wise, but with
multimeters it's the little things that count.
Stuff like battery life, autorange speed, continuity buzzer response,
auto power off time, sensible mode operation, robustness, changing
fuses without opening the case etc
They could easily stuff this up if it's been "designed by committee"

Anyone actually used one and taken one apart yet?

Dave :)
 
A

Anthony Fremont

Jan 1, 1970
0
MassiveProng said:
Can't beat old $1500 HP bench meters on Ebay for $150 typically.


If you like worse than 2% accuracy.


Actually 1% or better. Not too bad for said:
Batteries last forever. It's just like this one:

Whoopie!

That's what 1.2 volt rechargeables are for.

I guess if you have to have a battery eater, then fine.
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Can't beat old $1500 HP bench meters on Ebay for $150 typically.


If you like worse than 2% accuracy.


Whoopie!

That's what 1.2 volt rechargeables are for.

I can't think of anything more annoying than rechargables in a
multimeter - just begging for Mr Murphy to come along and push you
over the edge of frustration.

400hrs+ or bust IMHO.

Dave :)
 
M

MassiveProng

Jan 1, 1970
0
Actually 1% or better. Not too bad for <$100 and >15years old IM


Well, that's what rat shack claimed anyway. After 15 years with no
re-cal, I am sure it has floated to another plane of existence.
 
M

MassiveProng

Jan 1, 1970
0
I can't think of anything more annoying than rechargables in a
multimeter - just begging for Mr Murphy to come along and push you
over the edge of frustration.

Bulloney. The meter's internal battery monitor still notifies you
when the input voltage is so low that accuracy or operation suffers.
So the beat goes on, and in a lab where there are nine volt chargers
installed and a box full ready to go...

Common sense and a good plan works great.
400hrs+ or bust IMHO.


If your meter lasts that long, a rechargeable isn't going to cause a
problem. Most meters don't have such a low idle current that they
will get you 400 plus hours from a nine Volt alk.
 
E

Eeyore

Jan 1, 1970
0
MassiveProng said:
Bulloney. The meter's internal battery monitor still notifies you
when the input voltage is so low that accuracy or operation suffers.
So the beat goes on, and in a lab where there are nine volt chargers
installed and a box full ready to go...

Common sense and a good plan works great.


If your meter lasts that long, a rechargeable isn't going to cause a
problem. Most meters don't have such a low idle current that they
will get you 400 plus hours from a nine Volt alk.

Have you ever used a Fluke 77 ?

Graham
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Bulloney. The meter's internal battery monitor still notifies you
when the input voltage is so low that accuracy or operation suffers.
So the beat goes on, and in a lab where there are nine volt chargers
installed and a box full ready to go...

Common sense and a good plan works great.

Common sense is buying a meter that has a long battery life to begin
with, not some dog that chews batteries.
If your meter lasts that long, a rechargeable isn't going to cause a
problem. Most meters don't have such a low idle current that they
will get you 400 plus hours from a nine Volt alk.

Rubbish.
Almost every fluke bar the 189 series can achieve at least several
hundred hours from a 9V battery. The 70 series, the 80 series, the 170
series. The 70 series Flukes get *2000* hours!
The 27 gets 1000 hours etc.

Ever since the 70 series came out 25 years ago and set the standard,
long battery life has been a key requirement in a hand held
multimeter. Wavetek's can get 500-700 hours. Most cheapie asian brands
I have used also get at least several hundred hours, it is as common
as mud.

It's only modern dogs like the 189 with all these whopping data
logging features that have poor battery life and hence need
rechargeables.

Dave :)
 
E

Eeyore

Jan 1, 1970
0
David L. Jones said:
Common sense is buying a meter that has a long battery life to begin
with, not some dog that chews batteries.


Rubbish.
Almost every fluke bar the 189 series can achieve at least several
hundred hours from a 9V battery. The 70 series, the 80 series, the 170
series. The 70 series Flukes get *2000* hours!
The 27 gets 1000 hours etc.

Ever since the 70 series came out 25 years ago and set the standard,
long battery life has been a key requirement in a hand held
multimeter. Wavetek's can get 500-700 hours. Most cheapie asian brands
I have used also get at least several hundred hours, it is as common
as mud.

It's only modern dogs like the 189 with all these whopping data
logging features that have poor battery life and hence need
rechargeables.

I agree wholeheartedly with all of your points.

Sometimes a simpler device is more appropriate too. I'd get a couple for the
money actually. One of them would be either a 70 or 80 series I reckon.

Graham
 
A

Anthony Fremont

Jan 1, 1970
0
MassiveProng said:
Well, that's what rat shack claimed anyway. After 15 years with no
re-cal, I am sure it has floated to another plane of existence.

Whatever makes you feel better. Even if it is now off by 2% (and I
seriously doubt it), it's still plenty accurate enough for anything I need
to do. Care to take some pot shots at my Hitachi V650F scope now? At any
rate, since I don't let people like you near any of my test equipment, it's
probably gonna be good to go for another 20 years. HTH :)
 
S

Steven Swift

Jan 1, 1970
0
Sometimes a simpler device is more appropriate too. I'd get a couple for the
money actually. One of them would be either a 70 or 80 series I reckon.

I put photo-lithium 9 volt batteries in my 70-series and 87-III. I forget
that they need batteries.

Steve.
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
I agree wholeheartedly with all of your points.

Sometimes a simpler device is more appropriate too. I'd get a couple for the
money actually. One of them would be either a 70 or 80 series I reckon.

Yeah, if I had $500 to spend on a meter, I wouldn't blow it all on
just one.
A second meter is infinitely useful.

Dave :)
 
M

MassiveProng

Jan 1, 1970
0
Have you ever used a Fluke 77 ?

Graham
I have. I have used several modern Fluke models in the last few
years. The 77 as well as the 87 are very good instruments.

I have used tektronics handhelds, BK Precision, HP, Agilent,
Kiethley, Wavetek...

my Protek 506 (cheap version of a good style meter prone to LCD panel
failure though). Many others.
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have. I have used several modern Fluke models in the last few
years. The 77 as well as the 87 are very good instruments.

I have used tektronics handhelds, BK Precision, HP, Agilent,
Kiethley, Wavetek...

my Protek 506 (cheap version of a good style meter prone to LCD panel
failure though). Many others.

At least 5 of the ones you mentioned above have battery life in the
400+ hours range.
Still want to claim that few meters on the market have good battery
life like this?
The HP handheld meters used to have up to 2500hrs life.

When did Keithley start making handheld DMMs?

Dave :)
 
M

MassiveProng

Jan 1, 1970
0
Common sense is buying a meter that has a long battery life to begin
with, not some dog that chews batteries.


Common sense is using a high accuracy meter, regardless of
consumption rate, and using rechargeables, as they recoup your costs
quite quickly. Better for the environment as well.

You need to catch up with modern times.

I WOULD like to see a handheld that has two sets of battery
compartments. One for two 1.5V cells (or one 9V battery), and one for
three 1.2 Volt cells (or two 7.2V batteries).

Maybe then we wouldn't have so many crybaby twits around coming up
with stupid excuses not to use them.
 
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