New banned SparkFun Multimeter. Any thoughts?

[aerocapture]

SparkFun is selling the cool-looking Uni-Trend UT60A autoranging multimeter on their site. Anyone out there used this thing? I was just about to click the "Add to Cart" button on a Extech EX330, but then I saw this. Now it's a toss-up.

Looks like maybe no temp function on the UT60A, but there's a serial interface. Not sure how/why you'd use that -- data logging?

http://www.uni-trend.com/UT60A.html

[adafruit]

testing chip temps to verify they arent overheating
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladyada/2282454138/

[The_Don125]

Aw, thats the boring way to do it. I figure if the chip is too hot to touch, its probably overheating.

*looks at burns on fingers*

Though, I suppose boring is sometimes safer.

[aerocapture]

Cool, thanks for the quick replies, you guys. What I really meant though was why anybody'd want the RS232 PC interface on the UT60A. No matter ... I'm getting the Extech! w00t

[Søren]

What I really meant though was why anybody'd want the RS232 PC interface on the UT60A.

It can be handy for slow data sampling when testing eg. prototypes or battery discharge curves - but if you prefer to watch the meter and take notes for hours or days, you are welcome of course

[adafruit]

just be aware that sometimes to get the rs232 data you need software or a dongle that you need to buy
not sure if thats true for this but it is true for my spectrum analyzer - $200!

[Søren]

not sure if thats true for this but it is true for my spectrum analyzer - $200!

$200 is a minor price compared to a speccy, but common sense tells that they wouldn't sell any cheap DVM's if a dongle needed.

Personally, I haven't seen any equipment using dongles since back in the eighties (and I have seen my share) and never on measuring devices ment for hobby users, since it detracts from both useability AND sales.

The real problem with equipment using EIA/TIA232 these days is, that you need old metal to run it - just got a new toy two days ago (handheld scope) and had to get a USB-EIA/TIA232 adapter to use it (and the joy seems to escape me, as I now battle with actually getting the adapter software to install - you gotta love PC's, they really keep you "entertained" ).

[westfw]

Does anyone know of a reasonably priced, reasonable quality, meter that will measure inductance as well as capacitance?

[lyd]

Does anyone know of a reasonably priced, reasonable quality, meter that will measure inductance as well as capacitance?

This one? This one?

I've also seen a lot of relatively simple projects floating around for building an MC-based (including AVR) LC meter, if that interests you.