Extech DMMs

I haven't used their dmm's (I like Fluke) but I have several of their other gadgets - IR thermometer, air flow meter, LCR meter - and they all seem very good.

John

It claims "600V input protection on all functions (1000V on Voltage)", so that would mean well protected on ohms, diode, and cap ranges etc

Dave :)

Yeah, Fluke is nice, but maybe a bit too rich for me plus I'd like a bit more frequency counting response than 200kHz, well actually I'd like allot more. ;-) Trying to keep things in the $200 area. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I've been very pleased with their LCR meter. If buying a new DMM, I would consider Extech.

Chuck

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Thanks so much for pointing that out. My Micronta spoiled me all these years by surviving such things without flinching. It's a concern for me as I'd really hate to kill an expensive meter by making a stupid mistake. It's pretty much what happened to all my old analog meters, AC in Ohms mode.....poof....

As you noticed, I started a new thread since the other was old and getting a bit OT. ;-)

We have one of these at work:

It's a fine IR thermometer, but it's a sucky DMM. Everyone avoids it like the plauge in favor of fluke meters. We replaced the leads on it a few times before realizing it was just a flakey ohmmeter.

If not for that experience, I'd probably own one, since I've seen that model for under $125. It's a shame, the specs on the 470 (450 + LCR) look nice.

Ouch, that's not good. Was it problematic from the start? Could it have been damaged/dropped? What do you mean by flakey; inconsistant, slightly off or wildly off?

"Anthony Fremont" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.supernews.com:

You don't want to use a DMM for freq. counter,they will NOT have accuracy comparable to a real freq.counter;use a real Freq-counter.

Look at the specs a bit closer.

"Anthony Fremont" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.supernews.com:

high resolution is no good without accuracy.

and DCV accuracy does not transfer to frequency measurements on DMMs.

"Anthony Fremont" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.supernews.com:

It could have just been bad internal connections(loose) to the ohms jacks.

Of course,without 4-terminal measurement,you are not going to get high ohms accuracy anyways.

If you want a good high accuracy digital meter(6.5 digit),get a HP/Agilent

It's not a handheld,though.

Thanks, I have a frequency counter already but it's not portable. I don't need high accuracy on the frequency counter, just a good idea of what's going on. I play with PICs and it would be nice to be able to quickly check a pin that's being toggled without having to drag everything to the "bench". I do want good accuracy on the low current and low voltage measurements.

.03% on DCV seemed pretty good to me.

Not that I need even this accuracy, but they are claiming .008% on frequency measurements. I would rather it be able to read up to 10MHz instead of

It's probably been a year since I used it to measure anything, I don't recall. It was relatively new when I used it (it was purchased for the IR thermometer) so I don't think it had been mishandled. Whatever it did wrong was enough that I questioned the results and got another meter. Could be an anomaly -- my sample size is 1!

It was starting to P(r)ong a bit!

An older thread had some support for the ExTech:

And look who was there too, none other than Roy L. Fuchs, a.k.a MassiveProng

Dave :)

Exactly

Looks like "igor The Terrible" likes Extech. I hate to say it, but if the Protek 6800 could measure DC current with better than 1uA resolution, I'd be tempted. Most of it's other specs look pretty decent, excepting the battery life of course. ;-) Since I'm quickly approaching the $300 mark, I'm rethinking this. In this price range I should probably be looking at equipment I don't already have, like a logic analyzer.

I think I had less trouble picking a wife. ;-)

"Anthony Fremont" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.supernews.com:

OTOH,I can remember when a digital freq. counter was the size of a 25 inch TV set,and used vacuum tubes.

Do you really -need- 6 digits and .03% DCV accuracy??

(I bought a Metex M-4650 4.5 digit DMM years ago for $99,from Jameco;.05% DCV)