(FIXED) Extech EX430: Paperweight Mode - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: potatogun96
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 12:56:29 am
content: About a month ago, I purchased an EX430 from Amazon. The price was only $60. What a deal! A week later, the meter arrived. I opened the box from amazon, and the EX430 box was already open. This should have set off some alarms in my head, but the meter did not seem to be damaged and was functioning. I use the word functioning because it seemed a little off.I was testing it against a couple $5 meters, and the cheap meters were measuring about the same. The EX430 though, was off by about a volt or two on the voltage ranges. I didn't think much of it. It is very possible that the cheap meters were off by the same amount. This was the first "Higher End" multimeter that I had used. As soon as I checked temperature, I realized something was wrong. In a 70 degree room, the meter would read anywhere from 40 to 110. This problem was intermittent, along with a few other problems similar to it.Fast forward a month... I was working on building a linear power supply using some parts I received. I was measuring the output of the transformer with the meter on AC auto mode. All of a sudden, the meter died.When I say died, I mean just died. That was it. It would not do anything. I checked the battery, fuses, and looked over the boards. I saw zero problems. I am thinking there was a problem with the main processor when I got it, and it just finally died.So, I emailed Extech on a Sunday night at 11:30 (Late night inventing, as I always do). The next morning at 10:00 AM, I got an email back. They said that they would send me a new meter, free of charge. A couple emails later, the new meter was shipped to me. It arrived today, Friday of the same week. It arrived free of defects, and is working wonderful.It is a 100% improvement from the old one. I am thinking I am one of the unlucky people who received a faulty meter. Lucky for me, Extech was awesome and fixed everything for me. So, in conclusion, Extech is nowhere near the quality of a Fluke, but the customer service I received was second to none. So even after my fist Extech meter being a complete piece of garbage, I will buy meters in the future from them. For the price, the products and service they provide is wonderful. I give them a thumbs up!

author: TerminalJack505
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 01:24:52 am
content: Considering I have the same meter I'm glad to hear that you had a good experience with Extech.My only complaint about the meter is that it takes forever to settle when using auto-range. 3 or 4 seconds, anyway. Which seems pretty slow.

author: SLJ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 01:34:08 am
content: Last fall I purchased a soldering station from Amazon and it had been opened. Made them send a new unopened one and a call tag for the first one they sent me.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 01:36:24 am
content: Sorry, can't read walls of text.There's an invention called Enter:

author: potatogun96
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 01:55:10 am
content: Quote from: TerminalJack505 on April 27, 2013, 01:24:52 amYeah, that is my main complaint with it as well. It is the worst when measuring small values, like mV or less than 1k ohm. If I more or less know what to expect, I manual range it whenever I can.

author: potatogun96
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 01:57:30 am
content: Quote from: SLJ on April 27, 2013, 01:34:08 amThe box that the meter comes in is not heat sealed or anything. It simply opens up when you pull the two sections apart. I figured mine was not closed all the way, or may have been dropped. The meter seemed to be working, so I wasn't concerned at the time. I was going to return the meter when things got really bad, but of course, the window to return it ended the day prior.

author: potatogun96
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 01:58:07 am
content: Quote from: mariush on April 27, 2013, 01:36:24 amFixed that for you.Thanks for letting me know.

author: retiredcaps
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 07:22:55 am
content: Quote from: TerminalJack505 on April 27, 2013, 01:24:52 amWhen Ihadan EX430, I found the same thing with autoranging. In addition, it overshoots a lot. For example, a simple 9V battery would read 17.xx, 9.05, 9.04 and finally 9.03 (correct value) in the 3 to 4 second time frame.

author: NH-GrizzlyBear
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2015, 05:30:48 am
content: Quote from: potatogun96 on April 27, 2013, 01:55:10 amIs there a tear-down or a way to speed it up?