Multimeter sale too good to be true?  Mastech MS8268 Digital AC/DC Auto/Manual R - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: cnlsn1
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 10, 2013, 08:13:38 am
content: Hi guys,So I was on amazon today, and I found something which was a bit surprising. There is a Mastech MS8268 Digital AC/DC Auto/Manual Range Digital Multimeter Meter on sale from $150 down to $28.35 (free shipping). Link to the item:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050LVFS0/ref=pe_54110_30986570_email_1p_6_tiIs this too good to be true? Has anyone here used this meter or knows anything about it? Is there something wrong with it which is bad enough to cause a $121.65 saving? Please let me know.Thanks in advance,Connor

author: casper.bang
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2013, 08:30:37 am
content: Wow... for that price, why don't you just go ahead and try to order one? I would, if they shipped to Denmark.

author: sportq
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2013, 08:42:01 am
content: They are available on Ebay for a similar price. Dispatched from China of course. Difficult to believe they ever sold for $150!Peter

author: xchip
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2013, 08:43:39 am
content: A review.. apparently it costs $40

author: elliott
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2013, 08:45:00 am
content: Quote from: sportq on July 10, 2013, 08:42:01 amDoes anyone have proof they ever did? I have never seen these above about $50, though I don't know how long they've been on the market.

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2013, 09:10:29 am
content: Very average 4000 count meter, which is hardly worth more than $30.00.An accidental 250V short on the mA range polyswitch, will likely damage the meter.

author: jebcom
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2013, 12:03:03 pm
content: These have been auctioned on eBay, and earlier this year I entered some lowball bids until I won one for US$23 delivered. Shipped from USA. I wouldn't want to pay more than that. Calibration was way off, although it does seem to be holding calibration now after a few months. It's staying reasonably close to my 87-V. It's OK as a backup and a tertiary meter to my Flukes. I don't mind using it for car stuff, as I don't like to get my Flukes greasy.Complaint #1: The top part of the input jack sleeves are plastic, and part of the indicator light pipes. If you don't have the probes inserted in the correct jack, they light up to show you which jack to use. Cute. But one of them broke (the main jack for volts, ohms, etc.) Now a lot of my banana plugs will not stay plugged in. The leads that come with the meter have the solid banana plug tips with split ends. I actually prefer this kind, but on this meter, only the very tip of the plug makes contact. Most of my banana test leads have the spring contacts with the bulge in the middle of the contact pin, and that doesn't make it down into the contact area on the Mastech with the broken jack. The probe spring contacts are just putting pressure on the plastic sleeve area of the input jack, and since that's broken off, most of my test leads are useless with this meter.Complaint #2: It has what seems like a nice looking case/flexible holster with the folding leg to stand it up on the bench. It looks fine. But the bottom of the case is rounded, and when propped up on the bench, only 2 small contact areas near the center touch the bench. As a result, if I use one hand to plug a lead into one of the outer jacks, the meter usually topples over sideways. This is a design fail. Someone made it look cute, but that someone never set the meter on a bench and used it.Oh, and it had a real strong new cheap plastic smell for the first 2 or 3 months. That's probably the plasticizer in the hoster, but it was ridiculously strong, and I was concerned about breathing those fumes.

author: cnlsn1
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 10, 2013, 12:40:39 pm
content: Quote from: casper.bang on July 10, 2013, 08:30:37 amSadly, I can't get it shipped to AUS either. Bloody Amazon, not the first time this has happened. Thanks to everyone for the replies though!

author: WarSim
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2013, 02:41:35 pm
content: Tried to watch the video buy I am not getting audio, for some reason. I turned on close captions and the video became hilarious.Whole sections about "Williams tramps".

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 10, 2013, 08:17:35 pm
content: Don't worry about it. Mastech makes rather poor multimeters. I have one that I would never trust to give me a reliable reading and it just feels low quality and is built really poorly. If the plastics have such a bad plastic smell it is because they are dumping tons of plasticizer into the mix to keep their cheap formulation from cracking and when the plasticizer evaporates the plastic will get brittle, shrink and change shape, or both. I have also yest to see a Mastech with proper input protection.

author: xchip
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2013, 12:24:37 am
content: Why is a cheap multimeter a bad thing? I have a 15 euros one and honestly it does the job quite well.. It measures resistors, caps and voltages quite well... Why do i need a more expensive one? All the voltages I work with are <=12 and 90% of them <=5volts.. and if the voltage fluctuates a bit then I use my USB oscilloscope and problem solvedSeriously, what is the problem with cheap multimeters?

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 11, 2013, 12:52:05 am
content: Quote from: xchip on July 11, 2013, 12:24:37 amReally? Well watch these:Read this and the links inside the post:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/a-list-of-multimeters-that-do-not-appear-to-meet-their-claimed-safety-specs/It is not all about safety, although your safety should be a concern. If all you are measuring is 5-12V circuits then almost any multimeter is safe for the user. Is it accurate? Is it going to show an accurate reading every time? Will it indicate a voltage that is incorrect and then you damage the circuit you connect because the voltage was wrong? etc.....Only you can decide if you want to trust a cheap meter and that is your call. If you care about the work you are doing or the end result then a cheap meter is something should consider replacing with something that won't let you down when it counts.There are some cheap meters that deserve some respect for low energy circuit use and this is one of them IMHO:

author: xchip
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2013, 09:51:17 am
content: As for the videos you posted,1) I like the second video because the guys proofs what he says by testing the voltmeter against some reference values, and BTW the cheapo multimeter seems to be all right.2) Dave's video, he's is just ranting without providing any evidences or proofs, if a cheap multimeter is so bad it should be very easy for him to proof it...- Dave, we are engineers, you have to back up your statements with proofs as Martin does (in the second video)!3) Even if your multimeter is super accurate your components have tolerances of a 2%, 5% and even 10%, ... who cares about the 3rd digit?- If you care then probably your design is not robust and will just work in your lab and with that particular IC4) High voltages, seriously, do you ever work with voltages >=220V? I'd say we work with voltages <=24Volts! most of us probably don't need all that safety stuff...- shall we do a poll?In my opinion a cheapo multimeter should be good for 95% of us....I am perfectly fine with my 10 euros multimeter, but please feel free to proof me otherwise, facts are welcomeCheers!

author: PedroDaGr8
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2013, 02:35:41 pm
content: Quote from: xchip on July 11, 2013, 09:51:17 amThere are situations where this level of accuracy and higher is very necessary. DAC/ADC work, some audio work, etc.Quote from: xchip on July 11, 2013, 09:51:17 amIf you work on anything connected to mains internationally you are already at 220V. Any voltage spikes encountered would be on top of that. This is important because inductive loads like motors, relays and of course inductors can create VERY large voltage spikes. Once arcing is triggered it will sustain itself at much lower voltages. Also, tube amp guys OFTEN work at voltages up to 400V or higher.

author: xchip
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2013, 03:45:28 pm
content: So if is safe to say that for anything that is not >=110V or that is high precision electronics, a cheapo multimeter will do the job?I am rather surprised how many people here are encouraging people to buy rather expensive equipments without even asking them what do they plan to use it for!Same thing goes for oscilloscopes, 95% of us are fine with a USB oscilloscope.. unless the few guys that are doing RF stuff (that probably hang out in another more specialized forum)Cheers

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 11, 2013, 04:37:04 pm
content: I am going to start another thread about this as we are hijacking this thread.

author: AndrejaKo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2013, 05:02:03 pm
content: I have one of those meters and if I find it insane that they could be sold for $150!The meter to me at the first sight looks very nice and interesting, but is actually quite annoying (at least for my use case).First, the banana plugs. As already mentioned, they have connection indication and detection and that makes them difficult to use with regular banana jacks. I use unshielded banana cables with various type of small connectors at the other end to do measurements on small components. Those bananas have bulge in the middle. The spring at the bottom of the receptacle always keeps pushing them out, so connection is very poor.Next, there's the backlight. I actually like it quite a lot, but it's programed to fade away very quickly, so it's usually only good for one measurement. That means that you must keep pressing the backlight button all the time!Next, there's the bottom of the meeter itself. It's not flat, so the meter isn't stable when standing on the workbench. It can tip over quite easily.There's also the auto shutdown, which is in my opinion very badly implemented. The meter, as far as I see, has a timer which measures for how long it's on. After some time passes, it will beep. Then after some more time passes, it will beep again. After few beeps, it will turn itself off. What I really hate is the fact that as far as I can see, meter operation DOES NOT reset the timer!!! You can have changing measurement values, operate the switch etc. None of that will reset the timer. That is probably the single most retarded thing on the meter. I have another Mastech meter, the MS8226T, and it automatically resets its own timer when the measured value is changing or when the switch is operated for example.Then there's the switch layout, which I don't particularly like. The off position is in the middle, on the left are the volts and amperes, on the right ohms, diode/continuity, capacitance, hFE and frequency.So if you want to switch from resistance measurement to voltage measurement, you need to reboot the meter, since it has to go through off position in order to go to the volts range. That takes a couple of seconds that could have been avoided. Then there's the position of hFE option. It uses mA and COM receptacles, so if you want to get to the frequency range, you must bear the flashing red lights and beeping alarm which happens if there's an incorrect connection.While I'm at hFE, the adapter which needs to be used for that option to me looks unusable, or at least I haven't managed to get any sane reading from it (and yes, I did read the manual and no, its use isn't explained, at least in the version I got with the meter). On the plus side, I don't really need to use that option a lot.In my opinion, I'd move the off position all the way to one side, and have the hFE position all the way on the other side of the switch. This way, we wouldn't need to reboot the meter when going from ohms to volts and we wouldn't need to suffer from unneeded warnings when moving to frequency range.Finally, there are the probes themselves. What I really don't like is that only the very tip of the probe is exposed, the rest is covered in plastic. In some cases, this makes it difficult to connect the probes. For example, they can't be connected to binding posts, or make a connection with internal part of Schuko receptacle (not that I'd recommend using this meter on the mains).On the plus side, I like the design of the meter and the internal PCB assembly looks much better than the older MS8226T I have. It almost looks good to me.I won't write much about the readings, since the best meter I currently have is MS8226T (Flukes are incredibly expensive here!). The read values match, except for non-sinusoidal AC voltages, but that's to be expected since this meter isn't true RMS.All in all, it seems to be a not too terrible meter and the price of around $30 looks about right to me. I'd say that the sale doesn't look like it's too good to be truth, it's just that the normal condition looks too bad to be true, making the sale look suspicious.

author: jamesp15
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2013, 05:16:31 pm
content: List Price = "lets pull some random number out of the air and say it should cost this much" and then "see how much you save!"Like the good ole furniture store "save up to 80% off" ("of our list price")

author: brian851
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 03, 2014, 12:24:49 pm
content: Quote from: AndrejaKo on July 11, 2013, 05:02:03 pmWhy do you say the MS8226T is not true RMS? It is sold as a True RMS.

author: AndrejaKo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2014, 02:12:11 am
content: I didn't mean that MS8226T isn't true RMS. I meant that MS8268 isn't true RMS, so the values provided by MS8268 don't match with values provided by MS8226T.

author: suntop
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 22, 2016, 11:51:07 pm
content: The Capacitance Measurement is CRAP and Awfully SLOW in MS8268mA/uA measurements are not reliable (gives me the feeling that the burden resistor inside kinda lowers the current)LCD Backlight duration is very shortLOW Battery Warning comes out of the BlueWEAK Buzzer

author: ralphrmartin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2016, 04:03:42 pm
content: The price on Taobao is US$17. Not really such a bargain even at the "reduced" price.