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Fluke 189 Data Logging Multimeter

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fluke-189-digital-multimeterFor years I have used a Radioshack 22-812 Multimeter. And while it worked just fine, I decided to treat myself to a “real” multimeter. Interestingly, I was at the beach at the time when I purchased the Radioshack multimeter before, and I was also at the beach when I bought this Fluke 189 over eBay for $200 (yes, they show up cheaper sometimes, but I’m still pretty happy with this price).

Unit arrived in good shape, packed very well, and overall very clean (couple spots were it was engraved by the previous owner, but nothing that some Dremel or labeling couldn’t cover), and the calibration sticker was still intact. Dropped some Eneloop rechargeables in it, and it powered right up.

First, some people hate the 189 series multimeters because they take AA batteries, and have terrible battery life relative to the classic 87 series that use 9V batteries and can run for weeks weeks on a single battery. Right now, I’m on my original batteries, with several hours of use, and had no problems at all. Plus, I can always carry extra eneloops. Rechargeable 9V’s, by and large, suck.

Anyway, the meter is a 50,000 count, 4.5 digit, True RMS meter with all the features you’d expect from the formerly top end Fluke handheld meter. Accuracy seems to be dead-on with everything else I’ve tested it against, and usability is top notch. The only complaint, really, is the power on/off being the selector switch. They resolved this with the newer version 2 of the meter where there is an actual power on/off button.

I have not, unfortunately, tested the logging or PC interface, since I don’t have the cable, but I hope to do this at some point. For it’s use as both an Electrical meter (mains), and Electronics meter (smaller projects), it has been perfect. The display is easy and fast to read, the battery life is just fine, and it really works just great. Fluke really are the de-facto handheld standard for good reason.

[xrr rating=5/5]

Radioshack 22-820 Pocket Multimeter

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Radioshack 22-820As a quick review, I picked up a Radio Shack 22-820 based on a review of it (and other pocket meters) here, knowing it was no longer in production. I already have a couple of other meters (including a Fluke 189 that I bought days before this one). But I really wanted a meter for either my bag, or my car. So I found one at a Radio Shack and picked it up. All and all, it’s a great little meter. It’s small, rugged, and tests just about everything needed in a meter. Voltage, Resistance (with continuity), and amperage up to 200mA (which is a bit low if you wanted to use it for this, but heck, it’s only got so much space. Hard to have true current handling at this size… plus, try putting a 10A fuse in this space).

For $30, it’s a great little secondary meter, or a primary if all you ever do is check resistance/continuity and/or voltage. My only suggestion would be to pick up some basic aligator clip attachments (easier to test continuity on circuits that way).

[xrr rating=5/5]

Junghans Stopwatch

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JunghansSeveral months ago, I read a review by Ken Rockwell on the Junghans 1/10th second mechanical stopwatch here, and ever since then I’ve been intrigued. Ebay has a pretty consistent supply of them that go for anywhere from $25-150 (sometimes over $300). A couple months ago I lost an auction for one that was non-functional, but the last week, I won one for a mere $50 that the only thing wrong was the lens (plastic crystal) had come out. Well that’s easy enough.

After receiving it, it appeared to be in pretty good shape, though the lens couldn’t be self re-inserted. Luckily for me, and the reason I tried bidding on a broken one, and this one, is my wife works for a jewelry store that has a full time horologist on staff. So, she took it to work, and he was able to remove the back, then the movement, and reinsert the lens (needs to be put in that way, but also needs the flexibility, which is why it’s plastic), and said everything looked good (didn’t service it, since it seemed good) ((Did note the wells appeared a little dry, but nothing bad considering the age of the watch)). As a bonus, he put it into his fancy watch accuracy tester (not sure the technical name for this), and found it was only 8 seconds fast per day! That’s nearly Rolex accuracy (-4/+6 seconds per day) which is awesome for a 40-50 year old watch!

All and all, I’m extremely happy with the purchase. For those looking, the watch has 7 jewels (some sites indicate it’s 17, which is incorrect, that’s the 1/100th second watch). And if you’re really geeky, here is a mp3 of the watch ticking ((which according to the Foley artist at work, who did the recording, this ticking sound is relatively rare)). For additional info, check out Ken Rockwell’s review linked above. =)

[xrr rating=5/5]