EEVblog #1083 - Pocket Multimeter Shootout

hi check this one out I've been meaning to do this for a long time but I have count them 14 pocket multimeters and I've been him to do a review but I've been put it like a shootout but I've been putting it off because it's the sheer amount of work in reviewing comparing and tearing down 14 different pocket multimeters it's insane so basically this is I'm going to do it in several parts this is going to be just a teardown of these meters and maybe a general feel of them and see which one comes out on tops in terms of construction quality and ultimately what I'm going to have is a big spreadsheet actually comparing all these all the features everything else basically it trying to maybe give it a like a ranking score or something like that which ones sort of you know get the thumbs-up at sort of any price point and which ones are just like not worth spending your money on compared to all the others let's take a very quick look at them I've basically ordered them from the cheapest over here which is like eight dollars or something delivered which is absolutely insane one hung low brand through to some innings which are still sub ten dollars or around that mark I've got three uni tee models here two that are almost identical one does current one doesn't I've got one sort of hard to get mouldy are branded one from DG tech so all these top ones here are basically are sub at $20 may or may not include in delivery depending on where you get them from all these prices will be in u.s. dollars sorry but that's all I can benchmark it against really and yes unfortunately it will vary greatly from country to country in terms of actual delivered price or whether or not you can even get them but basically all these top ones are sub $20 delivered and then it basically jumps up to the $40.00 bracket so there's really nothing in terms of between $20 and $40 in terms of the pricing that I've got your pricing may differ so there's you know the cheap ease up the top we'll call them and then your high quality or higher cost supposedly we'll have to do a teardown and find out supposedly higher-quality art name-brand ones starting the Sanwa at about 40 bucks here ending with another seonhwa which is the PM 300 which full disclosure I actually seller don't rebadge a TV look I might in the future but I think this is a really nice meter and I do sell it on my store so take that into account I try to be am as impartial as I can because well that's just me if something's better value like some I guarantee you one of these meters is going to be better value this is the most expensive one at I think I've currently got it for about $64 a US although I do have specials on that and so basically between 40 and 60 dollars here for the name-brand Sanwa Broman slash and probe it's rebates but it's actually manufactured by Bremen Kia Ritsu high okey another amp probe adder arm AE model and another seonhwa and with the sole exception of the aiming 101 which a lot of people on the forum wanted me to include in the shootout they're all got fixed leads on them that's basically one of my definitions of a pocket DMM but the other definition of a pocket DMM is that it basically are includes some sort of you know case so that you can lit and it's thin enough to literally slip in your pocket so no sorry I do not consider the reigning 808 which I've done a review of do not consider that a pocket multimeter because it's a too thick even though it's basically the same footprint but I deem it to be too thick doesn't come with any sort of like it does have like a crappy little vinyl wallet but the external probes they stick up make it even longer and that's not my definition of a pocket multimeter so I know sorry a lot of people won't agree with that and there is one other which is the Bremen one here which doesn't include a case but because it's so thin that and it's got the attached probes I definitely our class that as a pocket multimeter and it's advertised as such and for many many years we've had a real job I would actually carry around a wavetech RDM 78a and this came under many different our brand like you know ten Mara I don't know who manufactures I don't think it was that wave tech they just rebadged it along with you know a whole bunch others and this was the standard pocket multimeter and I love this thing I and I used it to death and I I just am a bit of a fanboy of the folding wallet type just saying that upfront but these models are like 15 years old maybe they're like a very old so I'm not entirely sure if you can actually buy this particular model anymore so I won't include it in the actual formal review and there's one other one which I have which is a J card digitech and I think you can still buy it under like other brands it's not a J card DG tech they just rebadge it and it does have removable standard probes on it but I don't deem that to really like it could be a pocket multimeter but I don't deem it to be you're probably better off just getting an aining in that sort of case anyway that one's discontinued I might do a brief teardown for those interested but I'm not going to include it in the shootout okay so I will endeavour to our provide time links down below like jumps to a particular multimeter in the video time stamp in the description so you can jump forward to the particular one you're interested in look at my thoughts initial thoughts of the case and everything else and the feel of it and the teardown of that particular unit and I'll link to the summary at the end so let's look at each one one by one I'll start out with the cheapest and with the most expensive first cab off the rank xB 866 $8 US delivered delivered unbelievable so I have no idea who manufactures this it literally is the one hung low special thank you precision is a most reliable high precision instrument designed by our excellent technology yeah okay now this is one of the very few that actually includes a current ranges my crab and milliamp now personally I do not like having a pocket multimeter with fixed leads like this with a current range because you can easily switch it to the current range and short out whatever it is you're measuring so anytime I carry a pocket multimeter I do not want current capability so that's just my opinion your mileage might vary you might have a use for that are out in the field as a pocket multimeter but I personally don't want it and it's quite unusual in that it's a old-school 2000 count unit and nominal 0.4% it reckons plus 2 digits but man whatever anyway it just includes basic functionality I don't mind the flip case on it I really don't like the way the leads are tucked in there they're sort of you know yeah they're out of the way but they're kind of it's just real difficult to get in and out but there's no relative function and there's no hold function just very basic functionality and diode test it's actually not too bad it's itchy and scratchy but it's a fast non latching type it's loud enough it'll pass as for the probes well I'm not going to be writing home to my mum about those that's for sure they're sharp enough though I think I'm making it ties my screwdriver a bit much that's ridiculous or the dreaded QC pass sticker let's have a look it's bulging look look at that dodgy yes oh wow that battery door sucks ass but that is unusual in that it has two replaceable triple A's well most of them are like our coin cell power well there's no screws on the case so I think it's just a yeah I think it's just a clip based system that's hopeless now I revised my thing about that if you drop this it's going to survive not that can easily come off that's hopeless don't like it at all okay inside we've got ourselves a crappy little la M 205 fuse here nan HSE man anyway it's in series with a very star there so it's okay I'm elf you know I'm a bit of a male fan boy apart from that it's like it's what you expect for eight bucks so yeah it is what it is at least the strain relief is you know at least they're doing something there whether or not you know how much copper they're got inside there how many strands yeah your guess as good as mine so really it's not great but that's exactly what I expect for eight bucks but my overall verdict is that well yeah it's eight bucks and well it's probably not gonna last just the robustness isn't there with the direct case it's got no you know protective holster or anything else so yeah no I wouldn't touch it so yeah there's probably bound to be a better one for you know an extra ten bucks or something we'll find out but the digits are a reasonable chunky size and the angle and contrast isn't bad and yep you can use it one-handed but it's not a huge deal really the aiming INAT 203 very similar case to the one hung low they're really I kind of like that it sort of like secures that in place so it can't you know I can't drain the battery but it should have auto power off anyway but this has more functionality we've got relative and hold functionality and capacitance as well and this is a sub and our frequency and this is a sub tender light meter so already you're getting more bang for buck and we've got the same rubbish here so is that xB eight six six actually in aning because aning I believe I'm design and manufacture their own meters so that's interesting and it's already better at 4000 count and 0.5% nominal DC volts but really you know don't worry about the accuracy with for these pocket multimeters here usually looking for functionality you know form factor robustness slim line you know quality of the leads and and all that are sort of jazz over any sort of accuracy our specification always take that with a grain of salt and there's no current functionality which I like and the display is small but you know chunky and contrast and the angle works quite well no worries it's a bit better in that you have this flip up thin here but that doesn't really work very it tries to flip the probes out I think they are up the wrong way I think you're supposed to like flip out the metal probes so that's nice little attention to detail there let's go on the continuity buzzer that's loud that is loud latched and fast no worries the probes again don't feel very great before less than 10 bucks what do you want they're kind of blunt but kind of sharp it's a weird same crap-ass battery door but no fuse but look it actually has the positions for it so there's a different model but again chitra blaze well look we've been moon isn't it neat and tidy and I actually like the cable strain relief there that's quite good there you have it that just flips out like that the contacts look good and look at that that's that's pretty decent I don't mind that at all but unfortunately in terms of the construction quality but it's got no input protection at all by the looks of it but still I would rate that one streets ahead of the xb8 double six for basically less a couple of bucks difference in price if that definitely go for this Oh found two hidden buttons under there select and something else that's weird but once again that is just not a meter that you're by if you want a robust meter at all it's just it's not in the game there's better ones this one is supposed to be true RMS I see those so that's pretty impressive it wouldn't be high bandwidth it would be built into the chip so it wouldn't have an external wire converter on it but yeah that's a reasonable differentiator another sub $10 one from aning the 101 and this one's interesting not only does it have a clear protective case like this it's got a removable leaves like that and the display is actually ridiculously good well I can like it's like a mirrored finish back on it it's absolutely fantastic and you can actually see it through the case so that's interesting and they do actually advertise it as kind of like splash proof or something like that and you can actually have the probes coming out bottom like this and operate it close that's kind of funky but it gets even funkier check this out you can actually ah have a stand like that there you go you cannot bar it's hard to operate though you've got it you know use two hands basically but you can kind of sort of push the buttons but I don't know it's okay it's I think it's the only one with a tilt stand so they've been really thinking about the design of this um it's easier to get the probes in and out of these things I don't like the UH feel of them they feel you're they really small and and are cheap they're they're sharp enough there you go they are actually I'm standard but non shrouded four millimeter so once again it's one of the few that have the current capability on it which I don't particularly like but it lacks the capacitance range of many of the others and also there's no Delta offset function either continuity buzzer hopeless and when it does go on you can barely hear it wow that is unbelievable that is terrible Muriel if you need a buzzer don't get this it's hopeless so now we're starting to feel more like a a true pocket multimeter protected by the case here it looks like we're gonna have our traditional coin cell battery in there - yep cr2032 nice these things generally last for many hundreds of hours you don't really have to worry about it let's pop that open we're in like Flynn oh look at that I know I thought that was flapping around in the breeze but it's just wide anyway um there it is so that's okay look at how there's our fuse okay we've got ourself a resettable fuse in there but it looks of it then we've got a PTC in there and of the MILF resistors again it's quite reasonable for the price I don't mind the the attachment there a bit how you're doing but anyway they're not going to cut like you're not going to be removing these leads all the time so I don't think that's going to be adequate a couple of little trimmer pots on there very common on these cheapies the crystals older down there so it's not flapping around their briefs that's okay I think that's going to us of survived the abuse just fine and a single use and I've already stripped the thread on that stupid battery door so just a mini shootout on those three well I don't know they've all got their limitations this one has by far the best and funkiest case but it doesn't have capacitance it's got the best screen but the continuity buzzer is piss-weak and this thing has the best continuity buzzer and it does have capacitance but the case is not that great so maybe that one's got to be the pick out of these three I think and this one's just me on to the three unities this is the UTI ten I I am as I said a big fan of the wallet like that they are very slim and you know they're easy to fold out I don't some people don't like them I'm just a bit of a fanboy um you know it's got the usual where I think I hold the probes in the probes feel better quality than what we got on the innings not particularly sharp but yeah it's you know it's all held in a bit how you're doing but I'm used to these I don't mind them at all but look how thin that baby is it feels reasonable I mean don't think it's got any screws on it but if you drop these and I've dropped these wallet base ones a dozens of times they you know it basically does no damage at all the wallet sort of that you know absorbs the impact so this is what in 12 bucks 50 it does have that relative mode the Delta it's got frequency and capacitance you know it's quite nice and the display on it's absolutely enormous actually I don't like how close it gets to the bottom there but you know minor detail and it's quite reasonable you know it's not the highest contrast but it is pretty damn big I think it's probably gonna be one of the biggest of the bunch and continuity itchy and scratchy not not latched but fast and loud enough it'll do the job no battery door on it just one screw to get in Hey thread on it's metal threaded insert thank you very much so 12 bucks we're gonna have first metal threaded insert oh isn't that nice and clean we've been mooned but jeez I like that's that's quite nice strain relief down here fairly our typical with the rubber baby buggy bumper down in there I don't mind that at all oh look it's even got shield in Wow you need to you're serious well they are getting a lot of their up meters ul-listed these days so yeah they're yudhishtir stepping up and I think you can actually get in there and change the battery year without taking the board out there you go switch contacts look good oh jeez isn't that neat and tidy likin this got our reckless that trimmers in there but everything looks fine milf action happening I input protection is our 1 PTC but that's it you'll and that's pretty much all you're gonna get as long as you get a PTC in these that's ok and the spacing and layout looks so quite reasonable for a pocket multimeter um the FIR like only a couple of bucks more than the aning z-- we've really stepped up that's pretty good tell you what I even like how many screws they got to hold this down five screws plus the one for the switch down there this thing's great look at that it'll even do down to one puff as well with relative excellent well so far I can't see how you'd recommend any of the previous ones are compared to this just for a couple of bucks more this wins hands down okay these two kinda go together there are almost identical the 120 be in the 120 C but the 120 C has the two current ranges here but both of them have our capacitance and and their ranges are like either rotary switch is slightly different than both got relative hold and everything else oh hang on is that is that gonna deke contact on either battery yeah battery's dead personally I'd recommend the 120 B over the 120 C because it doesn't have those current ranges and it has separate switch position for our capacitance frequency and then ohms and a bit know what I think great if it just had a continuity as a separate run there and once again it's got this see-through case like that so you can come through just like the aining no worries whatsoever but no till it's standing this one but oh gee yes so if you prefer the hard case well let's have a look the other one looks a bit thicker if you're gonna wind these probes every time that's a little bit annoying but anyway let's go continuity Oh Eddie and Scratchy it's not very loud no that's pretty it's poor it's not the worst we're seen but jeez not great auto-ranging there's something wrong with this 10 nano farad capacitors I've got nothing hooked up to it um that's just that's ludicrous anyway it's only got 10 perf resolution on there but like is that broken it's got to be broken right it's gotta be something wrong with that it's a fail got ourselves a metal threaded insert again way to go unity look at the back there you go neat and tidy once again the strain relief is quite reasonable got a PTC in there all nicely spaced we've got the 2 Series Mel said to get the higher voltage and a little hot snot to hold that down the battery I know no you can actually replace that no worries um that's a G's a whole bunch of tantalum look at that why is it good like ul on the case is that like water yeah we decided to ul test it I doubt it anyway I am quite impressed with the unity construction on these things they're nice yeah these hard cases I just like find them more fiddly than the whereas these wallet style leads like you just work them in there like that and it's basically job done you know yeah they do sort of poke out occasionally I've been poked by them but they're just easier to deploy these things you're gonna dick around a bit well as it turns out the 120 C is actually louder it's still itchy and scratchy it's fast and louder than the 120 B big advantage and the capacitance on this is rooted as well what the hell is wrong with the unities 10 nano ferrets to be me and inside the same excellent construction quali we've got the PTC here as well they're staggered the diodes a bit the resistors a bit differently nice diode nice four diode protection there excellent and they've got the poly fuse over here so yeah they don't have your traditional it's resettable so you know you don't have to worry about blowing that so if you do want one that's got current building sounds quite reasonable no crystal flapping around in the bees that's great for such a cheap meter I'm you know really impressed by the build quality of these unities so out of those three unities I'd go for the 10a because it's got the better load a continuity buzzer and the capacitance actually works these two the capacitors doesn't work for some reason but yeah but if you like the hard case maybe but is it broken I don't get it anyway the UT 10a I think is at the moment still the one to beat now this is the Jake our digi tech QM 1544 which they sell anymore but it's actually our designed and manufactured I believe correct me if I'm wrong by app' and it sold us the a per eye meter 3 but it's also rebadged as the m probe RPM 60 not sure if that's are still available so you know it's been rebadged by m probe must be quite reasonable anyway it's got this really thick wallet I don't like I love the wallet style I do not like this one this imitation leather crap it's just way too thick compare that with the unity like there's just no contest you're not gonna stick that in your pocket I know where you can stick that that case is horrible anyway if we take it out of the stupid dumbass case then I don't mind the you know the nice round form factor that it feels are quite robust and reasonable so I don't mind the feel of that at all it feels like quite robust quite reasonable the display I don't like the big gap in the middle of the display that's very disconcerting I'm not not a fan of that at all but yeah the yardie it is big chunky and the display is actually you know it's reasonably large so not bad at all it does have relative mode which looks like it only works on the capacitance and range hold and select as is common with these you switch the capacitance you get your one path but then it automatically switches to Oh point two three so I'm hooked like 230 puffs residual that's a hell of a lot but at least you can not real that out and the probes now we're talking in terms of our size some of the others are incredibly thin these ones are nice finger guards and you know they'd feel quite reasonable yeah sharp enough haven't got any gold-plated probes yet continuity itchy and scratchy but fast and quite loud when you get it so if a peek inside I think we've got ourselves a metal threaded insert once again look at that attention to detail the shielding very nice I'm old school lr44 batteries excellent look we've got ourselves a spark gap there you can tell because it's got a little gap it's literally got a gap it'll like arc over inside there and um yeah old fashioned like they haven't gone for the blog this is really like old school quite thick quad flat-pack stuff oh another spark out there I didn't see so two spark gaps that's actually quite reasonable so two fortune semiconductor chip said hey go pretty bog-standard stuff oh and I almost miss the PTC down there so this is the best input protection now so far at PTC plus two spark gaps very nice auto range in its recently quick I'm so there you go okay like I like the build quality er that's probably you know it's one of the best starts so far so I think we have ourselves a solid contender here I don't like that line across the it's okay when you feel the digits in but geez anyway yeah I'm that is a solid contender nice build quality and but unfortunately it's let down by the case I can't recommend it because of the case which is a shame because that on its own um if you were just wanted to take that around I don't know might be quite reasonable but yeah I didn't know the case lets it down so the pocket multimeters it's all about the case and in any case I'm this one is not easy to get so it's not a particularly you know new currently available model but anyway it's just a nice baseline inclusion so those are sub at $20 cheapies I can't recommend the aliens I think the unity 10a is the winner the other unities near have issues and the digit excellent nice build quality but hard to get so after yeah that's the front-runner going into the more expensive ones now that basically started our 40 US dollars and go up to 60 the seonhwa PM 3 nice little thin folding wallet type I like it the pros sticking out there you see there can be a pain sometimes I've actually hit my I've probed myself many times anyway they asked super sharp and we've got our first gold-plated probes and Wow you know they're really nice really thin a lot of people don't like the thin pros for this par for the course on the pocket multimeters but these feel great quality these are now I'm starting to write home to my mum about this decent and look at this they're rated cables as well but that's what you'd expect is we're jumping up to a big-name manufacturer in the Sanwa Japanese company very reputable quite large display on their the low angles not as great but it's quite it's quite reasonable don't mind that at all are only three switch positions on this thing but it does have relative and our data hold and frequency as well so we can go into the continuity tester nice not not the loudest we've seen but I kind of fast latched and very quick that's nice no worries there at all DC volts and it's got Hertz Judy's cycle maybe you can actually detect the frequency in the yeah look at that so I'm a see superimposed on the DC average nice and it's made in Japan all the best stuffs made in Japan actually that display is really quite nice not quite as sharp as that aning one in terms of a reflection but not far off that might be second-best but low angle is not the best but geez it's pretty Schmidt ohms auto range oh yeah one puff resolution on that yeah looking see the real difference in that display there any way we can reel that out this is a really smick meter I like this we got ourselves a metal threaded insert lift the skirt on it look at that would be mooned again but got four five six screws holding that down oh look at that button sir clip on there AA huge attention to detail on this you know nice battery compartment nice way that they've soldered down the transducer down to there and wide that over that's really quite nice look at the strain relief on these snaked around that is absolutely brilliant got PTC protection this is a winner you'll notice the attention to detail on the rounded out high voltage slot as well Nate so to get this board out I've actually got to get the circle about oh look at that oh that switch contacts oh look at that and yes it does have a fantastic feel on the rain switch - completely forgot to mention that and yes we've got ourselves the old school chipset again there's that the same fortune semi one we saw before anyway that's very nice we've got our larger high-voltage surface about resistor there two of them in series here they are 1206 is the PTC and the slot cut out of there so it can't jump over that's very nice we've got some do protection over here that's got winner all over it anything I don't like it's that crystals flapping around in the breeze but jeez I'm not going to quibble I mean this is the best so far and yes that range switch feels as good as it looks Oh winner in a pocket multimeter fantastic so you can really see the difference in the build quality and you know why this one costs 40 bucks which is still quite cheap compared to the others which are you know is it worth our four times the other ones well good yeah it's a really nice design and build quality and I've got to call this one the current frontrunner no worries whatsoever although I can understand that you know if you want to pay half that price the unity 10a is still the value for money winner but this one is the best one so far now let's take a look at the Bremen BM 22 it's got cow back on it cab acts actually the Australian distributor but it's more popularly known as the Emperor PM at 51 it's exact let's say metre it's just rebranded and probe which is actually fluke fluke onam probe and there are desert tested to the same standards as regular fluke meters and it comes in several different models and they're quite actually confusing so this is the PM 51 and the BM 22 I don't have the other models but I think this one is the best out of the three different models available anyway check them out yourself they're probably going to be very similar our design and build quality inside anyway this ones aren't made in Taiwan and it's a it's got this you know skin on it there is no folding wallet on this or anything like that so that's even like good or bad depending on what you think I think it's bad because it doesn't have a case I want a case to put my damn probes in thank you very much speaking of which they're the only ones that have the you know the cat Raider dumb insulation on the probes and I find that really annoying I don't like that but they're super duper sharp probably the sharpest ones so far and there is I'm a 30 second millisecond dart peak hold on this thing so I was the first one to have peak old and regular hold function as well but yeah a hugely big display on it compared to the others no contest but some people don't like they're very tall thin display like that I think it's okay oh and it's got this thing which is either annoying or not you can take it off if you want designed to keep the probes apart anyway it's kind of a weird sort of you know mechanical buzzer type sound but it's it's not particularly fast it's not latched but it is loud enough but yeah it's okay yeah one problem I have with this look I've got that in ohms range look what happens if I twist it it entered volts range I'm hardly twisting that at all I'm hardly twisting that and that is switching between ohms and volts that is a complete and epic fail I don't like it's it's sort of and the in Dennis is quite it's quite reasonable put a bit of wiggle on that's okay but just the slightest Bend and unbelievable that's bad let's see if it happens to the am probe nope nope have I got a dud I might I might have a dud but anyway not impressed only ten par 4s Ellucian on the thing and you can't reel that out either unfortunately like it doesn't like there's just no relative function bummer got an advertisement on the back 4,000 count but as I said it does have that 30 millisecond peak hold so that's a function that we don't have on any other meters here anyway this is the first one we're seeing which is actually are independently ul listed see my previous video for all about the UL markings but the San was meet the same are standard but the Japanese companies typically do their own in-house compliance testing to those that standard so it's like you would trust these manufacturers to meet that standard but this is the first third-party tested one take this off shall we metal threaded insert nice there's our well that's our battery that's for the battery that's quite reasonable look at that and we've been moon look at all the test points Wow really gone to town at the Fluke slash and probe factory for testing that nice look at that a circlip on a metal shaft whereas the Sanwa was just on a plastic shaft look at all the proper slots this is why its independently ul certified and tested very nice it's there's a PTC up there by the looks of it that's great that's that's probably the best so far so yeah you really start to see the design and build quality differences compared to the cheapest got our three trimmers in there by the way and there's our switch that nice still maybe prefer the Sanwa but jeez there's not much in it but we expect this to be good look at that AK cor that axial resistance or the high voltage there is that another spark gap r2 to look to spark gaps to high-voltage axial resistors Wow plus the PTC they've done that right haven't they and it's complete like and it's isolator it's got to get all the way around here before it gets inside there that is very nicely done that is superb manufacturing and build quality hats off to broman broman do make good meters it's why I resell one knows how that plastic holder extends other plastic polycarbonate protector for the LCD and there but that's great we know we know chicken dinner and there's the front of that yeah I still prefer the Sanwa I think I'll check it out extra attention to detail I miss that got another isolation slot in the on the range switch they're brilliant they really know what they're doing and stupid me has lost the circle it for that have a nice dull yeah anyway and that is superbly built but I still can't get over the wiggle in that case and I'm not sure what's actually you know it's some sort of tolerance Surrey you know switch issue I did have a couple of contacts are fall out which isn't uncommon for these sorts of things they're not generally held in with much force so yeah I don't know if I can recommend that it's like functionally and like a build quality and and protection and everything else it's absolutely first-class but yeah just got a few niggles with that and it doesn't have a proper case it's just got the skin so you know your leads are going to get damaged are quick smart I don't like the insulation on there could you peel that off yeah I'm sure you could anyway yeah I know I'm not sold on this one yet it's okay but I know it does have a lot of fans but yeah I don't know it's got a huge display though here's an interesting one it's the Cairo zoo once again you can see the screen through there it's the queue at 10:18 there it is it's got a tiny little tiny little pissant display in there but look at what once again like Reed hi capacitance 1.2 nano ferrets unbelievable what's going on there anyway this one is quite different to the others it's the first of two - I think that have this style sort of you know external lead thing and I don't like it I don't like you know wrapping that around in there like yeah I just don't like those leads exposed I'm not a fan of that at all anyway Q very reputable our Japanese company does have separate capacitance range and diode and Kanye's so you think that may not have a offset function but it actually does in capacitance so you can get rid of those does have one puff resolution but I'm consume what does it have one point - no no farad's anyway let's check out the rest of it yeah I don't like the case and this hinge here feels like like it's just going to like with you know a dozen operations feels like it's just going to snap off in fact can I just like operate that a few times I feel look it's gonna snap I swear I'm gonna sacrifice this I'm gonna sacrifice it and like I've been that back - like I think you can see the plastic fatigue in maybe I'm wrong maybe I'm wrong on that and it won't but I don't know oh my spidey sense tells me it's not very good anyway I'm a very small digit height display on the thing readability is okay but yeah it's not gonna win any points there check it out made in China there you go I thought they were a Japanese company and the probes are super duper tiny not marked at all not rated well you know and but we do get gold plated pros which I love they're not all that sharp but sharp enough and let's do some Auto ranging there let's do some continuity shall we that's reasonably loud not the loudest bit itchy and scratchy they're not latched but that's a good continuity tester to lr44 there you go let's take the rest of it open and see what we got inside shall we Oh we've gone downhill no more metal threaded insert no I think so plain but apart from that metal threaded insert it's quite reasonably so once again a circle it that looks like it's own plastic shaft quite reasonable strain relief in there look at that have we got a TI 92 reference cool no that's actually an SS 80 50 which is just an NPN training it's um it's not a fold each reference so look at they're using them in some diode configuration okay so let's flip that out no screws just the circlip and the rain switch there is a quite decent I like the look at that like the hold of that they've got on there for the transducer and there we go we're in like Flynn yeah they're not using that as a that two leads shorted out so they're using that as a duo protection anyway we just got a basic PTC here nothing to write home about here at all I you know yeah like it's neat and tidy but jeez I don't think it's a it doesn't justify the price compared to the others so I can't really see any reason to recommend this over any other meter at all rip it off virginal there's just but nothing stands out small display no metal threaded insert not exceptional why build quality it's it's it's okay but jeez you know you're not gonna write home to your mom about it and combine that with the exposed little Dickey sort of lead holder on the case I know that one's no no sorry man can't see where you buy that okay at about the 45 dollar mark we've got the are made in Japan high okey three two four four - sixty card high tester because they have possibly given it a more confusing name I don't think so anyway yeah they've got once again the see-through windowed case where you can get the probes out and use that so if I seen that in quite a few different grand meters so I don't know who actually pioneered that at all aren't nice touch to have your um extra you know if you're a fan of the you know the cat insulated probe things which I'm not anyway nice touch to have the cat insulated probe things up their gold probes the finger and almost non-existent finger guards on these things but gold-plated quite nice and a bit functionality-wise it's a tiny little you know piddly old-school display so really nothing you know nothing special there did that beep on every single one and continuity grant it continuities quite nice read decently loud and super latch so but apart from that it's pretty boring there's no capacitance at all jeez oh you know it's hard to recommend just on feature set alone check that out made in Japan yes that that is really a very thin case though I kind of like it and it feels decent that's got to be a metal threaded insert no workers look at that I'm getting side there almost in like flint flings having a bit of trouble today oh geez Flint came get this skirt up no there we go we're in touch that's as mooned as you get I have never been mooned so much in my entire life look at that nice strain relief though whacked around there are like easily accessible battery the circlip once again under the plastic shafts I was seen a couple of our three plastic three plastic ones now and one metal one and just a complete ground plane on the bottom high-voltage axial resistor in there let's get it out that well I haven't seen context that high in a long time well they got a long way to spring down hey anyway looks quite looks quite decent let's get there just play out of there it's gonna come out in one nice garage it's like hi oke chipset they rolled their own yeah wouldn't surprise me anyway it doesn't get much better from a high voltage point of view Wow Wow look at our unconventional surface mount uh that would be a ptc there so that's you know there's no markings on that but yeah Wow look at that they've really you know lots of spacing in there yeah they've really designed this properly are there two resistors in series well three there to get the high voltage on all those inputs plus PTC in the axial resistor yep very nice no spark gap will overload protection but it doesn't matter when you've got this sort of stuff happening that's very nice like it so the build quality of that is quite decent yes I did scratch circlip out of there it's did the functionality wise um I can't recommend it and it does have some annoyed look at just beeps all the time like functionality wise it's just got nothing there's no mode there's no offset like it's just no capacitance zippity-doo-dah for I think it's four thousand counter forty two hundred count or something like that nice build quality a reasonable case but ya know if it doesn't excite me at all I don't know worried by that so now we're into the 50 buck range with the amp probe DM 78 see and yes it is the wallet type I love it it's probably is that thicker than my original one little bit just for B's dick in that anyway I think this is likely the modern replacement for this some older design one which I mum always had no issues with at all so yeah it's a similar arm style thing and I kind of like the you know works the same way it's basically got the three position vaults or the other rail functionality there and then you can select the DC and AC and this is the first one to have a bar graph so yeah if your fan of the older bar graph and the updating of that should be yeah it's it's super quick right so that's your the you know your twenty times per second bar graph updated I'm a reasonable size if the thin digits but that is quite readable in most directions that is are very nice the probes I feel really super high quality they are marked and raided but these are like ridiculously thin look how thin these things are it's just like they're almost like like I love the strain relief on them but Jesus no hardly any finger guards and they've got the integral all that you know that Inc plastique you'd have to if you didn't like that you just strip all that off but anyway gold plated pins and they are quite sharp so you either are gonna love or hate these tiny little probes they kind of remind me of the probe master type probes in terms of the you know that's kind of go for a sexy curvy you know Marilyn Monroe type shape on these babies so autorange geez that goes down pretty quick done it continuity that's pretty layout not the quickest but it is very nicely latching but of course one disadvantage no capacitors so if you need capacitance you're not going to find it here and there's no relative mode either see how fast that bar graphs update it's like like is this something actually it's almost as if there what's wrong with that look at it going Berko what like wow what something seriously wrong with the auto range and it seems to be my hand the capacitance of all the crap so it must have a high input impedance and it's just picking up all the garbage and just displaying the segments and don't like it wow I just want to like call the white van for this thing it's not doing it anymore but anyway it does work no worries but hmm anyway being now AM probe of course slash a fluke this one is that you will Lister's as well that's quite nice and you know and it feels and looks quite decent quality it's open up nicely designed battery compartment via lr44 mooned again not as good as last time but nice strain relief on that she's sneaky sneaky no falling apart on me Oh like that there we go it's a decently engineered Reince which well that kind of like that anyway go down PTC hidden under there got our high voltage axial resistor to spark there's two spark gaps one looks of it well they're marked as caps no they're spiked up so I'm the third nope what no that's a cap there you go these are spark gaps so yeah that's quite reasonable isn't it don't mind that anyway did you unlisted so I'm sure it meets its cap ratings no worries serious tech chipset there you go so you know some companies still using in these pocket meters not you know you're a beard I blogged but they're using old-school big fat quad flat-pack I mean look at that they've even designed that with like a blast protection around the battery holder like that that's why this thing is ul rated nice no metal threaded inserts though unfortunately just a self tupper's oh so that's okay I don't mind and it's are safe and you are listed nor the rest but really functionality wise I can't see why you know I'd recommend the amp probe over the same while that's and that's still the winner especially you know the considering they're they're basically identical while folding wallet types that one beats it and it's cheaper now for the doreen ID 19's smart DMM a six thousand count this one is um I'm one of the only other ones that's true RMS I think there's yeah there's only two in the whole lot is there any way this der RA you may not have heard of der but they do they are a reputable company they do actually manufacture good quality instruments but I don't like this once again it's just an exposed me to like this so you throw it in there it's going to get scratched and banged up and everything else but there's big fat digits I mean have you ever seen did you what a fat digit but dumb yeah it's almost too fat there you go but anyway it's got capacitance and all the rest of it but it doesn't have far relative on there so that's surprising anyway I don't like the wrapper probes like that these are by far the best probes out of all of them out of all the meters so far proper silicon our test leads absolutely brought us soft and subtle just smooth as a baby's butt anyway I'm a nice rubber feeling probes fantastic good finger guards and shaylen well they're not gold-plated as some people like them some people don't but anyway it is like it is real there they are like some of the nicest probes around they're pretty sharp too and continuity it's lodged it's okay it's reasonably loud does the business but I can't recommend it think that that case is just just just wrong the probe holders just wrong so get them out they do have like a finger thing under here because if you try to get them out like that you would fail miserably but the problem is you have to actually stretch these very tight right around there I don't like it gos to get just enough just enough reach to put it in there like not look it doesn't like no no he's just putting stress on these really otherwise brilliant probes poor things unbelievable so yeah that's that's a fail but I do believe it's the only media to have a backlight yes peace weak it is it's still there though does have one nano farad resolution but unfortunately there's no way to zero that out bummer not sure where that's made it might have been on the case anyway look it does have looks separate sections so like on paper this is actually really quite good but you know it's all exposed and the probe wrap just isn't as good as it could be anyway let's get in there ah look at that okay two triple a's workers and if wanna be look how thick it is it's probably the thickest one we've got it's just so much wasted hide in there like why it is a metal threaded insert though and this huh why why Beulah Beulah look at all the wasted hide what is that no there's nothing in the manual about what that thing on the back is supposed to work like doesn't hold accessories or anything like that I mean like - like I don't get it I know well that's kind of like old school isn't it look but they've even got proper heat-shrink around the PTC there and there's a spark gap and set another little PTC down in there yeah I think it is based on the symbol what do we got in there okay that's an action and like a vertical high voltage are axial resistor in there just bent over like why you've got a ton of space it's a big screw down in there I'm not sure what's happening with the rain switches it's a rather like bizarre construction I don't know who designed this anyway I like the strain relief and the probes on this as I said are by far the best quality cable and pros feel like a real multimeter I mean they're they're thick ass but I don't know what's going on here and it's like the batter is almost an afterthought they've got the gist the wires going over like that detective I know anyway this one is true RMS as I said 6000 count I have no idea what an s7 is it's not the true RMS converter is it anyway we're gonna saw some isolation slots in there so I've no doubt it meets its a cat 3 300 volts cat - 600 volts no worries so that's one of these strangers rain switches it feels really good but yeah it's a flathead - screw it out there we go good another spark gap inside there but yeah I'm not blown away by that but anyway yep all the circuitry is under there got a bit of shielding wrap on there look at that bit of foil happening hmm but yeah it's just kind of kinda this miss meters weird so yeah I'm just rather confused by this like at the head you know potential it's got the best probes out of the bunch like in terms of you know like a traditional probe quality and stuff like that big fat digit display but I know it's just no the case is just all wrong it's the thickest one of the whole bunch and everything's exposed and no eye and it's the second most expensive meter of the lot I just maybe you know if yet if you had a need for the backlight perhaps you know it's the only pocket meter with wealth and in this bunch that has a backlight but yeah no no okay let's take a look at the Sanwa PM 300 and you might say I'm biased because I do actually sell this so you know I'll try and be as unbiased as possible though but you can see why I resell this because it is a superb quality meter and it's the most expensive in the bunch for a reason yes it is very thick so if you're looking for something to fit in your shirt pocket this is not the one you wouldn't buy it for that I mean just compare it to the Sanwa PM 3 yes it's a much smaller form factor it's it's actually a really very small footprint meter but look at the thickness I mean there's just you know no contest this fits in your shirt or back pocket no problems whatsoever this one doesn't but if you're looking for a meter to throw into like your case you know you're going on a business trip or whatever you've got to throw something into your suitcase this thing is just the Ducks guts beautiful teeth you rubber case on the thing the best feeling range switch of any of them absolutely no comparison whatsoever the display isn't as big as some of the others thin digits armor so you know it's not going to blow your way in terms of our the display but it's you know it's fairly a readable like that so if you're after a big display it's maybe not for you but it is the only one out of the bunch that is a cat for cat 4 rated 300 volts and to get cat 4 rating and true RMS - by the way so to get a true cat 4 rating in a pocket meter wow you know it's hard to beat so if you're measuring the mains you're gonna want to get one of these you know if you're measuring like industrial mains stuff where safety is important you kind of want to get the seonhwa or you're going to want to get us something like the m probe or one of the other ones we're seen with decent import protection you wouldn't be buying one of the cheapest anyway I love how the probes just go into the bottom part of the case here and they're easy to get in and out and yes they are we can't actually get them off gold-plated they're not the sharpest things around but they're reasonably quite sharp and also you can put these snap those in there like that it is just it it's a beautiful probe storage system but you pay the penalty in terms of the thickness of the thing but if you value good probe storage then that's the way to do it anyway and yes it does have capacitors let's check it out there you go but only 10 nano farad so not the greatest out there does have relative mode but it shows true zero on there for the probes open so that's nice Ohm's ranging is not the fastest around it's reasonably slow so if that's important to you that might be a consideration and continuity test it's not the loudest around because it's buried with inside this huge TPU rubber case so if you want allow continuity tester like once again sorry I'm like it's hard to get the sound of the continuity in turn compare meters it's actually quite difficult with the internal mic or any mic really so but anyway it's not loud but it is perfectly latched and if you actually take it out of the case it is actually louder but anyway you won't miss a beat with that and it is actually very small and compact and it's built and feels like a brick Danny it really is a nice solid meter even without the case brilliant and forth like Sanwa this one is made in Japan but this one's actually made in China which is very surprising I don't know why Sanwa traditionally get all this stuff made in Japan and um this one's more expensive than the other one so I don't get it but as you'll see it's great quality single screw on the back and yes it is captive look at that beautiful anyway we've got the transducer in there we've been mooned and I have done a review video and teardown of this one before strain relief in there is excellent ptc alright let's open her up and tada the rain switch down there as i said you really have to feel that it is very very nice but look at this nice and neat and tidy in here i've got our high voltage string and resistors like that know that axial rubbish has done that all with surface mount single ptc and a spark a bit in here but very nice spacing with extra diode protection around here so that's why it's some you know this is a cat 4 rated meter it's not cat for 600 volts but it's cat for 300 volts so yeah technically this is the best rated meter out of the bunch but the others some others have our two spark gaps but but you can bet your bottom dollar it's going to meet the standard no as I said the Japanese manufacturers traditionally don't do the you will testing but they're but it does meet the standard they do their own in-house testing for that so whether or not that's important to you well you know anyway the build quality is superb so as I said I think I currently have that for a rod just a smidge under sixty five US dollars but I occasionally have specials and I will for this one use the check out code pocket down below if you want one but this isn't just because it's the most expensive and it's the best cut rating doesn't mean it's the most suitable meter for you as I said the continuity tester is not very loud at all especially when you are included in the case but this is like if you want something that you can throw into a travel bag or something like that that has excellent probe storage like that and has top-quality probes in it and one that you can you know pretty much guarantee it's gonna work when you get out on the site then well that's a contender so there you have it that's a teardown and a brief look at 14 different pocket multimeters I know this isn't a full review if you want to see more details I have to do like a part to like actually testing out you know response accuracy and you know also all sorts of other are stuff to do with you know actually reviewing these meters but at least that gives you an overview and you can see the build quality of these things and it's obvious which ones you should consider buying in which ones you shouldn't like I wouldn't touch the earnings over you know there might be okay like this one might be okay for example but the unity 10 the UT 10 a just beats it for a couple of dollars more so you know really I think the unity UT 10 a is the winner in the low cost segment like it pretty much stands out I mean you might prefer the case it is a wallet style some people don't like them I personally prefer them you might like the hardcase one in bit this something dickie going on with the capacitance ranges I don't know if I got a 40 meter yeah whatever anyway I think that's the stand out we're not there and for like I think it's 12 bucks I don't know if that includes delivery or not that's you know that's pretty good so if you're on a budget you want a pocket multimeter I reckon get that unity the other ones like I wouldn't touch the car it's ooh or the high okey they're just like not featured enough and you know I wouldn't touch the door one over here second most expensive one it's weird even though it's got the best probes the wraparound system just it's a absolute complete fail the air probe if you definitely want like a UL type meter that one is very nice the input protection that's well designed and manufactured I really like that one it is quite a slimline - it's probably oh I know I probably rpm 300 is okay i yeah maybe it's a little bit it's a little bit slimmer anyway yeah that is a very nice meter if that's a $50 class meter so that's more than double the price of the UDT but it is are you well tested and certified and it's basically a it's you know guaranteed by fluke it's an air probe so that one is very nice but it doesn't have capacitance so you know other features like that you know relative mode and stuff like that so I wouldn't touch those the air probe /r bromans a lot of people swear by these but i don't know that range switch worries me this amp probe didn't actually come with the with the skin whereas the brahmam one did come with the skin I think you might be able to buy it separately or whatever and it's okay once again it's a ul listed nice little meter but it's exposed so you know what do you do like you where do you put your where you're gonna stick your probes but there is one standout winner from that lot in terms of a true pocket-sized meter and sorry if you don't like this form factor but the Sanwa PM 3 i think that one wins that hands-down but if you want one with the best probe solution and the best case and probably one of the best if not the best quality then the PM 300 but that is much more expensive than the PM 3 so i reckon if you ask me i wanted one to put in my put to actually slip in my shirt pocket then probably the Sanwa PM 3 is the go but if i'm going on you know out in the field and i want to take something and throw it in the box the you know the flappy aspect to these as can be a bit annoying that's why the samurai PM 3 is a winner but it's the most expensive so it expected to be those two probably if you have to cheap if you're after a bit more expensive after like the most expensive in a different kind of form factor then they're probably the winners but you'll have your own requirements and your own comments which you can leave down below and hopefully I finished like a spreadsheet and I'll link it in eventually having all the details and all the specs and all the you know breakdowns of all the various things but that's going to take some time I just wanted to get up this video which has the just the tear downs and some general comments on each pocket multimeter whoa that was a long edit um anyway just a quick final comment and clarification here yes I'll try and do like a separate video maybe not doing all of them like doing more in-depth testing because all of them like there's some obvious ones that really you wouldn't our by here so there's no point mean like fully testing them and really you know you could probably safely go out and buy these without like an absolute full review test in its accuracy specifications and testing the update rate and response time and you know all sorts of things these meters I have done some basic checks on them and they basically do meet their specs and you know it's not really a problem it's not like you're buying a main use meter these pocket meters are more designed for you know just like a casual field use and things like that so you don't really have to go to town and be absolutely are concerned and they're all like you know half a percent to a percent class instruments anyway and you know the update some have better update rates than others you know there might be some like you know overshoot issues or something like that might that some might have slightly slower auto arranging them others and all that sort of jazz but it's not really a big deal these pocket meters are all about the form factor pretty much are the feature set and the form factor everything else is kind of our secondary that's why I left now this video but anyway I'll endeavor to do another video with that sort of stuff on like a handful of like the winning type meters anyway I hope you enjoyed that if you did please give the big thumbs up only one that's all I need um because that really helps with the engagement and all that sort of stuff and subscribe you know the deal catch you next time you

Channel: EEVblog

Views: 100,869

Keywords: eevblog, video, pocket multimeter shootout, pocket multimeter review, best pocket multimeter, pocket digital multimeter, pocket multimeter, compact multimeter, multimeter review, multimeter teardown, multimeter comparison

Id: LCFEonQDkQU

Length: 69min 15sec (4155 seconds)

Published: Sun May 13 2018