Multimeter giveaway for July - Major Tech MT1887 / Extech EX530

[MJLorton]

Hey Martin, your videos are quite nice to watch actually, that's what i like about your videos, no not that, it's that you can speak in a engaging manner but makes me think twice about hitting 'close tab'

Name : Dave Seether
Country Of Residence : Singapore



Generally your biggest bugbear with the Extech is that you do not like the slow update rate and the "analog" bargraph is painfully slow.

My opinion? :
Well , they could have used the same chipset as Uni-T but obviously they can't so they are out of luck
the self tappers and the O-rings make a "darwinian" moment because soon enough the self tappers will chew the case for dinner

My suggestion ! :
Machined brass inserts and normal metal threaded screws is best
They need to find a faster chipset, the UT61E is claimed to be around 1-2 updates per second in the datasheet but it looks like it is pretty fast, so yes, same for the "analog" bargraph
Still a nice meter anyway, just a little weird design as with all extech's but it's okay in my eyes ( of the beholder )

Here's a picture of my lab and my favourite meter of course the UT61E alongside a minipa ET-845 and oddly a wavetek DM5XL but ah well will get a used APPA 96 and most possibly a YH-187 and another UT61E plus a VC99 and also a U1252 down the road, and also a Tek DMM830 if i can find one at a steal

But heck, still a good meter

In my town, it would be impossible to find a good extech or a good meter like the UT61E and not expect it to be outrageously overpriced
(i found a UT10A but it was like 18USD so figure it out, and the most decent meter easily found is the UT33A the other brands are shit, and so move up to either fluke, agilent, or other ancient meters)

Hi Dave,

Thanks very much for the post and feedback, I certainly appreciate it.

Good luck with the giveaway.

Cheers,
Martin.

[Monkeh]

My name's Alex Maclean, and I live in Liskeard, England.

One of the issues you noted with the meter, which is probably the one which would annoy me the most, is the incredibly stiff input jacks. I tend to swap cables around like a lunatic.

Another one which would bother me is the limited backlight duration. Personally I think a temporary backlight on a multimeter is next to useless. They're not watches.

Here's a photo of my 'lab', such as it is, where I'm presently attempting to repair an oscilloscope which is rather older than I am:



I apologise for the phone cameraness. I really couldn't be bothered to go get my decent camera Since taking that photo, I've found and repaired the fault!

[sjoerdjuh]

Hi Martin,

My name is Sjoerd Beukers, I live in the Netherlands in Spijkenisse just under Rotterdam.
My favorite multimeter is the uni-t 71E despite all it's problems.

One of the issues of the multimeter was the slow update speed of the bar graph.
This is my lab and the multimeter.
Sorry for the poor quality. You only allow uploads of max 300kb

[Elvis O.]

Hello MJ,

Name: Elvis
Country: Austria (EU)

What I found about this multimeter as you said in your videos:

The turning central knob for range settings is not robust,  you could easily take it off, and the small hindges underneeth it are not high enough to stop motion of rotating outside the range, beside that you are disapointed for slow continuity and graph update rate.

Here is my "corner" it's not a lab for now, and sadly my two multimeters, one is from Conrad for 5€ :/ and other one is Analog one preety complicated to use.

[fenclu]

Hi Martin!

I'm Jakub from Pabianice in Poland.

One of the annoying things you found in the Major Tech was outrageously slow continuity tester (0,25-0,5s response)

As you can see my lab is not superbly equipped, so I could certainly use a nice meter like the Major Tech. Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures...

And I know you enjoy watches, Martin. That there is the Casio G-Shock G3111

I love your videos btw!

Greetings from Poland

[Torrentula]

Hey, thanks for mentioning my blog in the T4D Video!

Elia Ritterbusch
From: Frankfurt, Germany

Something you found annoying: The bargraph update rate is as slow as the update rate of the digits

A photo of my bench is attached.

[cesarvigosantosjr]

i hope you continue your arduino tutorials..
 
* Cesar Santos
* Saudi Arabia
* i cannot see any logic to sell Cat III Meter with a Cat II only probe??? but i think MT1887 is a good buy for its price.

[Hankster]

Hi Martin,

My name is Henry Ellingsen.  I live in the US, south of Seattle, Washington, in the city of Edgewood.

Your issue of the slow update rate for viewing the analog scale would be the same as mine.  My old Fluke 77 that I purchased new in 1977, was my first and only digital multimeter, and would never have seen its way to my tool bag without a decent analog presentation needed to tune RF circuits.

Enjoy the picture of my backyard that has become the playground for my RC boat hobby.

[MJLorton]

i hope you continue your arduino tutorials..
 
* Cesar Santos
* Saudi Arabia
* i cannot see any logic to sell Cat III Meter with a Cat II only probe??? but i think MT1887 is a good buy for its price.

Classic...great post!

I certainly do want to get the Arduino series off the ground. It means I need to invest a fair amount of time playing with it myself...and time is in short supply for me at the moment...but it will happen.

Good luck with the giveaway!

Cheers,
Martin.

[MJLorton]

Hi Martin,

My name is Henry Ellingsen.  I live in the US, south of Seattle, Washington, in the city of Edgewood.

Your issue of the slow update rate for viewing the analog scale would be the same as mine.  My old Fluke 77 that I purchased new in 1977, was my first and only digital multimeter, and would never have seen its way to my tool bag without a decent analog presentation needed to tune RF circuits.

Enjoy the picture of my backyard that has become the playground for my RC boat hobby.

Stunning backyard Henry.

Thanks for the post and good luck with the giveaway.

Cheers,
Martin.

[TTL]

Hi Martin,

My name is Kris, Just moved from Princetown In Devon, to Salisbury in Wiltshire both in the UK!

One of the annoying quirks you found was the slow auto ranging on the volts compared to your other meters. Also the cheap golden power battery could have been changed for a decent brand!

Having trouble downloading images from my phone to my PC so only have one image I can post, Two Bridges in Dartmoor a stones throw away from where I used to live! Will post something more meaningful when the phone is working again! 

Cheers
Kris.

Edit: Got the phone working again so updated with a pic of the bench!

[Barryg41]

Hi,

Issues with the Major Tech multimeter is it is slow to the response of the continuity buzzer.


Cheers Barry

[kibi]

My name is Warwick
I am currently living in London. Originally from Zimbabwe.

One of the things that would annoy me about the MT is the slow bar graph, kind of defeats the point of a bar graph display.


Electronics desk, pictured with my new favourite meter, the Fluke 8840A. It's in pieces at the moment, but that's another story for another thread.


Computer desk


The Trek USPS is my favourite bicycle. Very old now, but when I do ride it, I love it! The Specialized is not mine, it belongs to my house mate.
My off road bike is a 2002 Rockhopper with Hope Mini disk upgrade and Marzocchi Bomber fork. No photo I'm afraid.


My favourite jersey. I look odd wearing this jersey whilst riding a USPS bike, but Rominger and Armstrong were among my heroes back in the day, so I don't care.

[MJLorton]

My name is Warwick
I am currently living in London. Originally from Zimbabwe.

One of the things that would annoy me about the MT is the slow bar graph, kind of defeats the point of a bar graph display.


Electronics desk, pictured with my new favourite meter, the Fluke 8840A. It's in pieces at the moment, but that's another story for another thread.



The Trek USPS is my favourite bicycle. Very old now, but when I do ride it, I love it! The Specialized is not mine, it belongs to my house mate.
My off road bike is a 2002 Rockhopper with Hope Mini disk upgrade and Marzocchi Bomber fork. No photo I'm afraid.


My favourite jersey. I look odd wearing this jersey whilst riding a USPS bike, but Rominger and Armstrong were among my heroes back in the day, so I don't care.

Warwick! What happened to the Fluke....?? Keen to hear what the story is...will let you post in another board when ready..... :-(


Love the bike! And...Marzocchi Bombers are perhaps the best forks I have owned!

Good luck with the giveaway.

Martin.

[Spikee]

My name is Thijs Sillen , I live in The Netherlands in a small town called Sweikhuizen .
The bar graph has such slow update speed so it is kinda useless.
Picture after building the desk's in my garage:




Thats kinda it