Owon B41T+ or Aneng AN870 (Zoltek ZT219) for a hobbyist? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: robdejonge
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2020, 04:09:48 am
content: I'm buying a new multimeter and am finding myself obsessing about details I'm not even sure matter all that much. I play with microcontrollers, sensors, etc. and hope to eventually expand into learning more about circuitry in general. This is a hobby. I will not be touching any mains voltage. After a lot of research, I figured I was going to get the Zoltek ZT219 or one of its incarnations. And then last night I saw the Owon B41T+ which first appealed because the display is less cluttered but then I noticed the bar graph which seems to perform reasonably well and the data logging capabilities. I could see myself using that on occasion to understand things better. I've been told by a sales person that the Owon is calibrated, but to me that sounds like non-sense at this price level.There are two things that are bugging me, see the attached table for details :The tolerance in the DC voltage ranges is 0.05% for the Owon and 0.50% for the Zoltek. That seems a big difference. But it could also really not matter all that much. And besides, aren't meters of this price level really that accurate? Anyway, this seems to be in favor of the Owon.Trying to decipher the spec sheets, I noticed the Owon does not have 3 ranges that the Zoltek does have. This seems odd to me, why would you not do certain ranges if the display allows it? Perhaps a limitation of the internals.Looking for any feedback from the community on my issues listed above,arguments weighing these two against each other,or recommendations for a different model.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2020, 04:43:33 am
content: Quote from: robdejonge on November 11, 2020, 04:09:48 amWeird that Zoltek would put that value. It's as if an intern copied and pasted the numbers from another meter.The Aneng 870 is definitely 0.05%. It says so on their page, I own one and I can confirm it's true.https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33004463675.html(mine actually beats that spec)

author: robdejonge
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2020, 04:46:15 am
content: Thanks for the quick response, and great to hear the Aneng/Zoltek has those tight tolerances as well. I take it you are happy with your purchase then.Any thoughts on 'missing ranges' on the Owon?

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2020, 04:53:50 am
content: Quote from: robdejonge on November 11, 2020, 04:46:15 amYes.Quote from: robdejonge on November 11, 2020, 04:46:15 amIt's nothing to do with the "display", the chipset must have a more limited set of ranges.

author: robdejonge
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2020, 10:31:37 am
content: So, when measuring in the 'hundreds of mV' and 'hundreds of mA', the resolution is 1mV/1mA for the Owon. Is that an issue? I mean, I would think it isnt desirable but lack the experience to judge if those ranges are required when selecting a multimeter. Please pardon my ignorance!

author: MosherIV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2020, 01:49:00 pm
content: QuoteIt is unlikey you will use range lower than the 10V range.The milli and micro Volt ranges are generally used for analogue work, microprocessor work is generally regarded as digital work.The noise generated by the micro will generally swamp anything less than 1mV ( 0.001V )

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2020, 03:17:34 pm
content: Quote from: robdejonge on November 11, 2020, 10:31:37 amNot really a problem, IMHO.Quote from: robdejonge on November 11, 2020, 10:31:37 amThe thing you need to understand is that one multimeter isn't enough.You need at least two or three if only to be able to check them against each other (for confidence in readings) or whenever there's a strange reading and you're not sure if it's the meter or not.

author: robdejonge
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 09:33:39 am
content: In the end, I decided not to go with the Owon. The reason was something very different than the missing ranges though. The burden voltage for that meter was 850mV. After learning what it actually meant, and wondering if this would be a problem for me, I concluded that it had the potential of influencing things I'd want to be measuring in my projects to a degree that concerned me.I ended up deciding to get the Holdpeak HP-770D. I ordered just one for the moment!Thanks to both of you for your replies and your patience. Much appreciated.

author: Stinger
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 06:50:27 pm
content: Hello,I no know Owon, but AN870 have bad LCD contrast.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 07:22:09 pm
content: Quote from: Stinger on November 13, 2020, 06:50:27 pmMine doesn't.