Agilent Safety Note to the U1270 Series - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: 128er
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 03:37:01 pm
content: Hi!My name is nicola, 24 years old and from germany. I came straight from work, have a few things done and checked my e-mails. And i received one from a german electronics dealer called "Conrad". Its a note from Agilent (i own a U1273A). And its topic is "Incorrect DC Voltage values displayed at DC measurement mode when measuring mixed (AC+DC) signal source"Have done a quick search on the forum here and found nothing about it (i hope i have not missed it). So i thought, i share it with you.Here is the link to agilent where they want you to confirm the receipt of the Safety Note. (The note itself is there too, for the different multimeters)http://tinyurl.com/ol7l79rYeah, thats it, alreadyBest regards from germany (i hope my english is readable)

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 03:45:09 pm
content: How many problems is this series meters going to have? Everytime I think I would like an Agilent something else comes up.

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 04:15:01 pm
content: Quote from: Lightages on December 18, 2013, 03:45:09 pmI've not gotten any notices on the U125xB series, nor do there seem to be any posted from what I can find. So it may just be the U127x series (also an A revision, FWIW) that keeps having problems.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 05:41:30 pm
content: Well at least Agilent doesn't try to hide the problem. It just doesn't instill much confidence when they keep having these problems. I seriously have wanted to buy an Agilent many times but I keep seeing problems and it makes me shy away from the whole line of multimeters, at least the hand held ones.

author: con-f-use
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 06:05:42 pm
content: Quote from: Lightages on December 18, 2013, 03:45:09 pmHow many DID they in fact have? Would be nice to see a complete list. Have only bin reading stuff half-assed and seen Dave's video with the firmware bug.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 06:45:18 pm
content: Interestingly they ask customers to confirm the reception of the safety warning, aka note. That awfully smells like lawyers trying to cover Agilent's ass as much as possible.BTW, any news of Agilent's new name?

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 06:46:40 pm
content: Quote from: Lightages on December 18, 2013, 05:41:30 pmIs the U127xA what you're after, or a model from a different HH series?I understand the nervousness. But if there's no history of problems for the model you're after (or issues won't affect your usage), I wouldn't worry about it with a company that has a history of making a strong effort regarding proper customer service. Fly-by-night or a company with a poor customer service track record could be another matter, but I don't think anyone would place Agilent in such company.Lots of hit and miss in product offerings from a particular brand it seems these days (one series is extremely well done, while another not so much). Even more apparent with rebranded stuff IMHO. Basically insert big company name these days, and you'll likely find examples in their offerings, including Agilent.

author: 128er
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 09:28:21 pm
content: Quote from: Lightages on December 18, 2013, 03:45:09 pmWhich problems are known till now? On the Agilents webpage i can find a list of the firmware history, but it is not realy long.Btw, im happy with my meter

author: Sbampato12
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 19, 2013, 12:10:09 am
content: I have a U1273A and a U1242B and have none problems with any of them.I did the account on website and receive any news on these models, the 1273 had one firmware upgrade (that I cant do, because I dont have the cable to conect the HH to PC, here in my country the cable cost about ~U$120) and this problems discussed here, but nothing else.For me they looks like very confident, and robust.By the way, just to they that could say that I'm a kind of fanboy, I had a Fluke 87-V too. I like very much all these 3 multimeters, which one with diferents features, for diferent situations, and very good gears.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 19, 2013, 01:13:40 am
content: The problems I remember with the U1270 series so far is a couple of firmware bugs, then a batch of really badly constructed boards with bad soldering, and now this again. I just don't get the warm and fuzzy feeling with the Agilent meters after these things. I fully admit I am being a biased illogical human about this at this point. It is probably correct that the other series have no problems. I almost purchased a U1252B a couple of times.

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 19, 2013, 05:27:45 am
content: Quote from: Lightages on December 19, 2013, 01:13:40 amI've that particular model, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.Very nice meter for the money (assuming it's not insanely priced for you). Backlight is just a thing of beauty.

author: Sbampato12
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2013, 11:17:08 pm
content: And another thing to consider, here in Brazil we have some weird prices (the most part of the problems is very high tax...) the U1273 and the 87-V have similar prices (example, now in newark website U$404 for the 1273 and U$399 for the Fluke), but here in the Farnell (same retailer) the prices are 1200 (U$ 502,00) for 1273 and the 87-V you can't find for less than 2000 (U$840).This is another important thing to compare, at least here....