Harbor Freight is selling these for $2 each. I don't consider them safe enough for serious industrial use, but they work fine for low voltage stuff on the bench. The science departments of schools should snap up a bunch -- hell, the battery can cost more than the meter!

 

$1.99..thats crazy.. And they wonder why people are committing suicide over at Foxconn... Pay those people some more already.. I wouldn't mind spending $2.99 on a DMM

 

And you know what? They actually are pretty well built. Opened one up, all surface mount components, decent soldering (some parts looked hand soldered.) Sure, they will not meet their specification of CATII 600V, but they're only $1.99 (Maplin sell the same meter for £2.99 here) and if you blow one up then buy another.

 

Great little meter. I have a few.


I grab one or two whenever I shop there.

Whenever a neighbor asks for help with something where a DMM can be used, I leave it with them when done.

The probes alone are worth the price.

 

I have a few too. A cheap source for the coin batteries they contain. Worst case, you can use them as multimeters.

John

 

Yes........and every time you buy one of these pathetic pieces of junk, you contribute to the support of a repressive Communist regime.

When I contemplate the untold number of human lives, the gazillions of ours and others resources spent, and at this juncture wasted fighting world domination by Soviet Communism, I could simply puke.

This is not to be construed as racism.....Stop buying this garbage !!

 

And if China develops a middle class of any substance, communism will dry up and blow away. The argument works both ways, which is why politics should not be in the electronics chat area.

I may pick up a few myself. We have a local Harbor Freight store close to me.

 

I have a couple of these meters as well and they seem to work fine. I have, however, had several occastions in which the probe was disconnected from the wire. That's not much of a problem to fix, when it happens though. It would be nice to have an extra decimal value for measurements, but otherwise it's a good meter.

 

They put there class In the real China Dancing,girl. Happygann get a little freedom
of expression.

 

@Packratking: So, I ask, why is the Chinese economy booming and ours is teetering on depression? Why is it that China holds almost $1 trillion in American debt and we hold little more than an ATM withdrawal of China debt?

I don't believe the answer is communism with a few, corrupt elite in control. Our system is the best system of governance that humans have ever devised. It is the perversion of that system by a powerful few from which we now suffer. The cure will be painful. In the meantime, I will continue to buy junk, when I need junk. Why buy batteries made in China, when one can buy a DMM with the same batteries for half the price. Why put that extra money in the China trade?

John

 

@packrat,@ john,loosewire Independent thinkers any others jump In.

 

Loosewire. This thread is about the meters. Stop egging on a different topic.

 

And please tell me why is it we sit still and allow these "powerful few" to totally screw things up for the rest of us ?????

Going so far as to attempt to laugh it off as though nothing could have been done to stanch the hemmorhage of AMERICAN INDUSTRY to china in the first place ?????

I was reluctant to bring politics into this, 'cuz this subject is really infuriating.

 

These meters are designed in China and manufactured there too.

I do not see any problem with this, because there is no way Mastech (who make these meters), a Chinese (Taiwanese?) company, would design and build their meters in the US or elsewhere.

However, a company like Apple, for example, designs their products in the US, and sends them off to Foxconn to be made in China on the cheap benefits greatly.

Why? Because although the manufacturing of a product is a great source of revenue for China, it is only a tiny amount compared to the total cost of the product. I forget the source (I'll try and find it), but Apple made at least $100 off the original iPhone per unit and China got $20. That's not including the retail mark-ups, tax and shareholder/investor benefits, etc. That is far more money than be made than making the product in the US because of the extra costs involved, it might put up the price by an extra $20-100 per unit and paradoxically lead to less money coming in.

Anyway, this is getting off topic... I don't actually have any more of these meters cause I dropped mine and it broke (they are pretty cheaply made, but you can't expect too much from them), I now have a slightly more expensive meter for £21 (still made in China by Mastech.)

 

Tom 66.what do you know about mastech.

 

A powerful few,but they are not from china,do you want to know.

 

Mas in the 60's was a latin family that got a cable laiding contract
when Miami started speaking spanish.Spanish gave to spanish in Miami.
When they took over all the cable laiding In So Fla,they began Mastech.
Now money get there name on products from China.Who next. Look for Mastech
Installing grid in your area and Installing the hugh electronics outdoor signs.
Forget about box store t.v.,no money there,no money power.

 

Wrong Mastech. The actual company is Precision Mastech Enterprises Co, Ltd. I shortened it to Mastech because I thought that was the only Mastech (shame on me for not googling). Precision Mastech (P-Mastech) has always made test equipment since their founding in 1987.

 

google mastech-go to home and history of company,you will see
verizon and other telcom companies connected to grid,power
rebuilding across the country.

 

You're not making sense. There is only one Precision Mastech, who make test equipment. The other Mastech is unrelated.