EEVblog #249 - Agilent U1272A Multimeter Review

TEARDOWN:

FIRMWARE BUGS:

PC INTERFACE & DATA LOGGING:

A review of the Agilent U1272A multimeter.
How does it compare with the Fluke 87-V it is aimed at?

[Tom-cwxy]

Love your reviews. But in the review of the U1272A you made an error testing the capacitance function. You can't use long leads to measure small capacitors. Try it again using 4 inch test leads, and you will see that it will be much, much better. This is not a fault of the multi-meter. Its just physics. Thanks again. I love your channel.

Cool, as for medical doctor problably a multimeter is not the most "must have" product, but I always love watching your teardowns and reviews. Keep this good work and greetings from Poland! Waiting for the next vid.

[EEVblog]

@rotlerin The problem with giving a recommendation is always "it depends" on your requirements. With two competing top shelf instruments like this, there is never a clear winner. The Agilent is better bang-per-buck, has datalogging and cal certificate. The Fluke is more proven and trustworthy, a better audible continuity tester, High-Z input, has a lifetime warranty and proven spare parts, but not as many features. How do you pick a clear winner? People have to make up their own minds.

[ion]

When you measure capacitance in the pico-Farad range you need to do so without the cables. Simply unplug the cables and insert the capacitors directly into the U1272A.

You can also buy the auxilary capacitance tweezer, this has inbuild ground sheild. Then you get the measurement right.

[EEVblog]

@TheChipmunk2008 Yep, in theory that would be it. Only problem is that small maximum voltage, so you have to put cells back-to-back to make it work. I should test this out further.

[rotlerin]

As a reviewer of the best-in-world kit both companies and public respect you because you are brutally honest no matter who's stuff you are reviewing. When companies like Agilent, Fluke et al are obviously keen for you to promote their products above others especially when accompanied with the review freebie. I thought I saw a small crack appear under this pressure at the end of the vid where maybe you felt you had to make a decision in saying which MM you thought was the best.

[SigEpBlue]

I noticed that for every capacitor you tested, except the 'large' one, you had both leads against that anti-static mat. That parallel resistance may be why you saw such errors.

As for the application of 240VAC under ohmmeter mode, it seems normal if there's an MOV or similar element switched into the circuit. Every MOV data sheet I've seen has a capacitance figure listed, and it's not a trivial amount.

Overall, I like this meter, save the cost. Hopefully they fix the 'stupid' things about it.

[CampKohler]

@EEVblog Yet we all cringed when you pulled the cap off the LCR meter and put it on the mat to use the DVM. What happens when you use the top R range to measure the mat?

[ThSu]

Thank you for the great review Dave. When I first saw this meter and read about some of the features, I thought that this is really nice for the price. I even saw Agilent has one in the same line up with an OLED display. The biggest turn off with the OLED is the battery life, it is only about 30 - 60 hours! Crazy sexy display but not at a tenth of the battery life of the LCD models.

[rpdigital]

Why you do not discharge capacitor before measuring on 2nd multimeter @ 23:33 ??

[EEVblog]

@Zadster There doesn't have to be an inherent offset, the equipment and process could be spot-on by accident or good design and control.

[thethguest]

@williefleete If you wanted a 10k resistor, then ten 100k high precision resistors in parallel will produce a very accurate 10k reference. You can use the same principle to make what ever reference value you require. For every high precision resistor you add in parallel, you will drop the error a small amount. IE. if you want a 1k resistor, then 100 100k resistors will be more accurate than ten 10k ones. It generally also works out cheaper than getting 0.000x% accuracy ones...

[SigEpBlue]

@EEVblog Ah, okay. Thanks for responding! IIRC, you *did* show us in another vid that it is several meg-ohms per centimeter, but that may well have been the backing material and *not* the blue face. I'll go look it up, as I'm trying to find an affordable but durable solution for my own lab.

Either way, that really is a huge measurement error! I wonder if Agilent support people will help you out, with an explanation or a good firmware update (or a new meter :).

[feds]

Could it be the internal temp gauge isn’t meant to read ambient room temp but meant to read internal meter temp to help get a more accurate and consistent device calibration?

[FrankSandqvist]

One thing I wondered about the 87V and this meter is why is Siemens used as the unit to measure really high resistances?

You'd think they'd use Siemens for low resistance (e.g. conductance, which you measure in Siemens :P). Seems back to front for me.

[mbaker]

I like those probes. I have brought some and a range of tip adaptors. Very versatile and high quality.

[TheAmmoniacal]

I bought this multimeter mostly because of this review! (Hint hint to Agilent)

[pinkfrog]

Couldn't the conductivity of the ESD mat affect the measurement of small capacitor values?

[coreclassic]

Dave, null the capacity of the probes! Switch to Rel mode! You've got like 0.030 nF, don't you see?

[EEVblog]

@Th3Su8 That's still a lot better than Agilent's U1250 series OLED model! Depends how much you use the meter. If it's only occasional use for 5 minutes here and there then even 30 hours life can last a long time. If it's your solid everyday use meter, then it of course sucks :->