Mastech MS8218 review

[kodai]

Great video, Martin.  I'm really looking forward to the second part and seeing the overall build quality on a teardown.  I'm rather curious if the UltraDMM app will work with this unit.  Think you might be able to give it a whirl before you do the review to see if it works?

[Monkeh]

I'm rather curious if the UltraDMM app will work with this unit.

Doubtful, I'm 99.5% certain it's not been ported to any 50k count meters. But if you or Martin want to dig up the datasheet for the chip it uses, I'm pretty sure he'll get it running.

[MJLorton]

Great video, Martin.  I'm really looking forward to the second part and seeing the overall build quality on a teardown.  I'm rather curious if the UltraDMM app will work with this unit.  Think you might be able to give it a whirl before you do the review to see if it works?

Thanks for the feedback...ok...let me look into UltraDMM and give it a bash as I've not used it before.

Cheers,
Martin.

[MJLorton]

Ok...part 2 of the MS8218 review is uploading as I type this...here are some pictures inside it....

Part 2 of the review here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrdD18ArYfQ

[Monkeh]

Calibration probably isn't done via the IR port, but via menus. I imagine it's a sequence for adjusting the offset of each mode and range one at a time, initiated by that button.

The soldering on that IR LED is pretty nasty, a little heatshrink wouldn't exactly break the bank.. Not overly impressed there. There should be another chip under the LCD. Any chance of taking that off and checking the markings on both chips?

[Kiriakos GR]

This just another 60$ multimeter.
Nothing of the internals can justify the retail price of it. 

Someone commented on the video, that is good just for electronics,
and I will say that electronics haves fast pulses, how this one will do the math? by drinking Red-bull ?   

Martin the 630mA Fuse looks clearly to write on it 250V, they cheating even at the fuses..
Take a picture of the metal ring and post it.

[DaveXRQ]

kiri, this isn't a weak "$60" DMM.
they placed the wrong fuses in it it's supposed to be a 6.3x32
The accuracy itself easily pays for the 150$ mark

[Kiriakos GR]

kiri, they placed the wrong fuses in it it's supposed to be a 6.3x32

Are you get payed by Mastech ?
I know that I sound harsh but in this subjects there is no room for jokes or excuses.

If another truly serious company had made an such a mistake, it would be at 9:00 o'clock TV news.

My personal Blog are watched by the Greek federation of unions of electricians contractors,
such news they do interest them allot. 

[retiredcaps]

I'm not a Fluke fanboy, but I will point out the following:

1) Amazon.com has the Fluke 287 for $418.14 (round up to $420).  The lowest price MS8218 is $180 on ebay.  So the Fluke 287 is $240 more money.

2) With a Fluke 287, purchased from an authorized dealer, you get a "lifetime" warranty (minimum of 10 years from date of purchase).

http://www.fluke.com/fluke/usen/service/warranties/default.htm

3) Now if I were a Fluke salesperson, I would argue that $240 buys you

i) 10 year warranty (or $24/year, or 6.6 cents/day)
ii) what warranty do you have with an ebay MS8218 seller that may or may not be in business 10 years from now

4) If your multimeter/job requires annual calibration/traceability, then the initial capital cost of the multimeter is less dramatic when considering the total cost of ownership over 10 years.  For example,

10 year ownership x $100 (annual calibration) = $1000

Fluke 287 $420 + $1000 calibration = $1420
Sinometer MS8218 $180 + $1000 calibration = $1180

5) The resale value is quite high for an used Fluke 287 (around the $200 USD range currently on ebay).  What is the resale value of a MS8218 after 10 years?

[SeanB]

Nice demonstration of reference voltage drift with temperature. Difficult to fix without having either a ovenised reference or selecting them like Fluke does.  You can see the drift is positive on the Mastech ( decreases with temperature) and slightly negative but close to zero with the Fluke.

[Kiriakos GR]

ii) what warranty do you have with an ebay MS8218 seller that may or may not be in business 10 years from now

Oh my dear friend, this text bring me tears due extreme laugh's 

Lets turn this conversation in to an educational one, I did one weird thing today,
a tear down of BUSS and SIBA 1000V HRC fuses, and it is sticky topics at my forum.
Have a look, they are very interesting pictures in them.
http://www.ittsb.eu/forum/index.php?board=16.0

[SeanB]

Kiriakos, where are the pictures?

Fuses are a deceptively simple item, but the detail is in how they handle a small overload and a massive one.

[Kiriakos GR]

If you get in those two topics you will see the pictures.
If you can not see the pictures as Guest (visitor), send one PM so to check that out and fix it. 

[SeanB]

Tried again and they showed up.

[retiredcaps]

Lets turn this conversation in to an educational one, I did one weird thing today,
a tear down of BUSS and SIBA 1000V HRC fuses, and it is sticky topics at my forum.

Inquiring minds want to know if $2.22 USD + free shipping for 3 (three) fuses are of the same quality.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/360490914215

500V 10A

The "intended" use, at least for me, is low power DC circuits (< 12V DC).  I would put one in a "current measurement only" multimeter and if it blew, no big deal.

PS. Those a great photos and thanks for the teardown.