EEVblog #46 - Gossen Metrawatt Xtra Multimeter Review

[sifterjoe]

USB cable is 230 euro.

[Ltb0b]

I wants :c

[MonkeyFCoconut]

7:55 Range switch Porn! LMFAO!!!!  Very nice.

[phikre]

Did the ohms range really survive the test on 240V AC?

I killed tons of multimeters by measuring voltage on the ohms range by accident.

But all this multimeters were <50 bucks, so thats interesting!

Keep on doing your videos!

phikre, Germany

[EEVblog]

@phikre Yes, it did. Any good top brand meter will survive that test.

[robd1215]

m totally lost on the 4.5 digits thing and the 12,000 cnts thing. what does that all mean?

[EEVblog]

@robd1215 I have done a video on that. See #26

[XTYNoLuck]

don't you have your mains a bit hi??? i read 241.6 in this video...

[EEVblog]

@XTYNoLuck No, still 240 "nominal" in my area. Technically Oz is now 230V.

[InsurgentX]

How the hell can a Rigol DS1052E cost less than a freaking multimeter? I call BS on all multimeter manufacturers that make units > $150 that don't at least take out the garbage every week.

[EEVblog]

@InsurgentX Welcome to the real world of supply and demand, China vs Everyone else, margins, market share etc etc

How can a large LCD TV cost less a good soldering station used to assemble one?

How can a mobile phone cost less than a quality pair of side cutters?

etc

[starduststeve]

@InsurgentX

How can a chinese worker live with $230 a month, while a german electronics technician would not be satisfied with $4600?

How can the water of a chinese river be poisonous, while the water of a german river is drinkable?

[Desmaad]

Since all these multimeters have their flaws, have you ever considered designing the 'perfect' multimeter?

[EEVblog]

@Desmaad No such thing.

[appleip]

i used to have a a wavetek meter but it has broke what is the best pc connectable rms thats about 100-300$

[Beater06]

I'm german. I like how you say "gossen metrawatt" :D There is another germand brand for you to test: "benning". Can you test some benning devices? They are top class, too :)

[starduststeve]

@Beater06

Benning Multimeters aren´t made in Germany, to my knowledge.... 

[Beater06]

@starduststeve hm on my one there is no "Made in China" sign...but i don't care, too.They are still engineered here.

[starduststeve]

@Beater06

I have heard that they are made by the same (taiwanese or chinese?) company that is responsible for the amprobe multimeters.

But the person who told me this information might be wrong....

So, yes, taking a benning apart and comparing it with an amprobe might be a cool idea.

I will stick with my old METRAHIT in the meantime.

[starduststeve]

@Beater06

You are right. Benning multimeters are great value for the money and they are engineered in germany.

I just wanted to say that REAL german electronic products are FAR more EXPENSIVE than Bennings multimeters.) They must be more expensive, because of fees, quality standards and taxes...

[Beater06]

@starduststeve Fully agree with that.

[glyph000]

Data logging is nice, but what I'd really like to see is an event logger: peaks, drop-outs, a settable threshold that will -- when the voltage crosses it -- generate an time-stamped event that is logged.

Does any meter have this feature?

It might be a nice DIY project for you, Dave, to show us. ;-)

Dave C

[sergio1020881]

it looks pretty good, can you when openning it up actualy put it in pieces, dont now if the display interface and the conector is a good. the price is like fluke.

What i most respect about good multimeters is being protected in all inputs, that is in ohms diodes or capacitance by error it can take the mains voltage and up to 600Volt without damage while cheap multimeters a little error and the multimeters or starts to measure incorrectly or starts to make smoke.

[ReezeGoingSenseless]

Seriously, i didn`t understand the half of the Stuff you said.But seriously, the "The Germans like to Confuse you" - Thing made me laugh :D

[jaspers22]

Dude can you do a review on Agilent Multimeters?

[EEVblog]

One is actually in the post to me already, but unfortunately it seems to have gone missing in transit! It's being chased up.

[Rebelgium]

I like it

[aonomus]

I can see the IR window being used for water/dust tightness. No reason why it should cost $500 for a USB-IR adapter.

I can almost see someone with this meter reverse engineering and putting the info out on the net for free.

[wartexmaul]

guy who wrote memtestx86 reversed Fluke 289 protocol and was banned from Fluke forums as a result. Jackasses.

[GalaticTG]

Couldn't they just use a standard usb-b cable. Going to infrared then back to USB is rather pointless.

[wartexmaul]

galvanic isolation.

[ribbit0001]

Not at all. Optical isolation between the computer and the meter is a fantastic feature, and also it maintains the watertightness of the meter.

[onlywhenprovoked]

500 bucks just for the ubs interface.... thats absurd.

[DjRaveKing]

@onlywhenprovoked WOW ! So there's a new I/O Standard i haven't heard of eh ? Probably 500Ghz and 5Amps ! WOW ! UBS ! THE NEW STANDARD !

[onlywhenprovoked]

@DjRaveKing sigh. typo. obviously.

hope that was as entertaining for you as it looked.

[eydryan]

that ending there is pure porn, made me laugh so hard :))

[MrSneezenszoose]

I think Dave has a a switch fetish.

I did exactly the same when I got a Russian military grade rotary selector to play with.

I feel ''ashamed''.

[eydryan]

haha, yeah, well mechanical components that click are soooo cool :D

[eydryan]

what i think is a big part of the cost must be the actual software for the usb cable, but still, an enormous cost for a bloody cable...

[eydryan]

my god! 500 bucks for an infrared receiver? what the hell does it have in there? dilithium crystals?!

[eydryan]

really cool :)

you said the number of digits twice!

i really wonder who would use such an expensive piece of tech, obviously not some bloke for his garage

[Twistx77]

Awesome review! Thank You!

[japroach]

Five hundred dollars! They sound more like scammers than tight asses.

Nice review, I hope you will get more free stuff.

[baddspella]

lol fucken expensive for a usb cable -_-