Review of Uni-T UT603 LCR Meter, is it worth the 40 USD?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Spawn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 01:42:22 am
content: First of all, sorry about the video quality, I was trying different light setup with diffusers and on the cam screen it was looking okay but there was still too much noise in the image.And video took longer than I expected, especially for a 40 USD meter…What do I think about the meter?Well till now all Uni-T meters I got in my hands shown some decent build quality, but is build quality everything if the meter is not accurate? Even way off on some ranges when you measure capacitance?Would I recommend this meter?No, if you are serious in your electronics hobby get a decent meter, this just won’t fill your needs.If you need some inductance measurement once or twice a year like me, just go for it, but be aware of its wrong measurements in some ranges (see video for what I mean)Manual:http://www.uni-trend.com/manual2/UT602603%20Eng%20Muanal.pdfLet’s see some pictures:Since I didn’t have any reverence for the Henry values I had to setup this poor man’s inductance measurement setup, or is it not that poor with too much equipment involved

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 03:08:20 am
content: If you're interested, I've posted a while ago some pictures and a few impressions about the smaller brother of this meter, UT602 :https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/uni-t-ut602-lr-meter-%28teardownpicturesnotes%29/This one was about $32 on site, but only paid about $28 with coupons. Looks pretty much the same, only it doesn't have capacitance.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 05:42:40 am
content: This just shows how variable quality is with Uni-T. You never know if you are buying total crap or something useable. I would class this one total crap.

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 09:11:31 am
content: Amongst that meter range, only the UT601 (CR meter) shows the measuring units on the right-hand side of the LCD:The cap ranges are much better, starting at 200pF, up to 20mF. Oddly, the accuracy pot for capacitance measurement can be adjusted from the front panel.The resistance ranges are also different, starting at 20 Ohms, up to 2000M Ohms.If you're mostly interested in inductance measurement, the UT602 has an extra range on the high side (200H) and has the data hold feature.

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 10:31:56 am
content: I did not like your review much. It looks like it was cobbled together hurriedly, without much thought and without proper instrumentation. It was far too long and you mumble a lot, making it hard for the listener to understand you.Especially if your review is a negative one, you should test the meter with known values of inductance, resistance and capacitance, to back-up your findings. Any electronic shop will have a range of them at an affordable price.The method of working out inductance with a resistor and a function generator is fine for ballpark figures, but is not very convincing to test the accuracy of an LCR meter.Ideally, a high-end LCR meter should be used for a fair comparison.You didn't mention that there are 5 adjustable pots on those PCBs, which can be tweaked to increase accuracy. UNI-T has a high volume production and at that price point, they don't spend much time adjusting the meters beyond their published tolerances.I look forward to a follow-up review with the help of a decent LCR meter, if you ever get one.

author: sorin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 10:36:38 am
content: total crap, useless.for that do you need that if not measure ESR?

author: Spawn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 12:48:01 pm
content: Quote from: Wytnucls on February 05, 2013, 10:31:56 amYes it was far too long and I took the video in the middle of the night so I couldn’t speak up, I should get an camera with external mic and my English is just not there to speak like it was my first language, about the induction measurement I watched couple other reviews and most of them didn’t know the value either so I was relying on that. I should cut out the parts where I was looking for components and such, just set it up before hand and then do the measurement. Short story of excuses here but I was waiting on couple other equipments to do review and it took so long so I made this one meanwhile, to be honest I was not even going to review it.Thanks for your feedback I really appreciate that, this is learning progress for me to make some proper videos, I hope the ones before looked better than this one.

author: Spawn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 12:51:12 pm
content: Quote from: Lightages on February 05, 2013, 05:42:40 amI am with you there Lightages, it is like playing Russian roulette with Uni-T, the build quality is okay in mostly but the measurements are variable.

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 01:40:48 pm
content: Your English is fine. Maybe you should shoot shorter segments, with a clearer idea of what you will do and say before you start each one. It will require more work to edit and splice afterwards though.I think most people buy these cheap LCR meters for the inductance range, which is lacking on a normal multimeter. If the inductance measurements are not within the stated accuracy, then the meter is a total waste of money.UNI-T doesn't have the best of reputation, but they wouldn't knowingly sell a meter with measurements falling outside of the published accuracy. If that meter gives erroneous readings, it is probably faulty and should be adjusted or repaired.Most of them struggle with any value below 20uH, so if you work with small values, rather get a more expensive LCR meter equipped with a wider range.

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 04:20:56 pm
content: Also you didn't tell us what waveform is used by the LCR meter to measure the inductance.My 20$ Uyigao uses a 50% square wave 4Vpp at 150Hz. I suspect the UNI-T uses something similar.The last coil with the ferrite core you measured at 40mH, may have been saturated at your higher frequency, giving you a wrong measurement, due to non-linearity. Try to measure it with another LCR meter, to be sure.Also check the output on every inductance range of the meter with an oscilloscope, to make sure the signal remains consistent on each selection.

author: Spawn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 04:49:31 pm
content: You might be right there on most parts, but the question is, am I willing to take all that hassle for a 40USD LCR meter? If I cut out some unnecessary parts of my video and put all things you mention it would be like 60 minutes review and I think it is not worth it, I think what I have said is enough for most average users to know what to expect from this meter. I don’t need to prove I was doing good, this is just overall basic functions in this meter and my own findings. People are free to do a video and show me wrong, I don’t mind that reallyDon’t worry about my calculations, that’s how it is measured and it is not dodgy.And I sure will not buy another LCR meter just to show how bad this meter measuresI am getting another equipment first maybe I will take my own advice from the video and get a Mastec from Franky, but not right now.