Fluke fluke

[Doug Tymofichuk]

Martin,

I used to have very high regards for Fluke products, but in 
recent years my opinions have reversed. Their products 
always seemed to be good quality in the past, and when 
their 70 series first appeared in the early 
nineteen eighties they revolutionized the low end DMM. In 
the last few years I've had some very bad experiences with 
a Fluke 87 DMM and a 97 Scopemeter, resulting in hours of 
lost time and misdirected troubleshooting. The 87 had to be 
sent back for repairs three times before it began to be 
*somewhat* reliable. There have also been some problems 
with warranty claims on units, with Fluke refusing to take 
responsibility when another of their products spontaneously 
self-destructed. I will not buy another Fluke product now, 
there are too many good alternatives available, usually for 
less money.

regards,
Doug

On Fri, 14 May 1999 14:32:49 +0200 (MET DST) Martin Czech 
<martin.czech at intermetall.de> wrote:

> This Metex M4640A multimeter was cheap.  So cheap that I was
> suspicious....
> 
> 
> Ok, take it to the lab, pull out the 2000 Euro  Fluke, 
> whoaa, what is this ? 10% Error. Oh no, wasted money.  No , 
> can't be. Pull aut the 13000 Euro HP3458A, this is the best 
> I can get in our lab. Ahhhhh, smiiiiiile. The Fluke is 
> corrupted, not my el cheapo Metex.
> 
> 
> So, what can I expect:
> 
> (I write this precious data down, best into a mail, so I 
> can't loose it.)
> 
> 
> DC-Voltage
> 
> HP3458A   M4640A   Error %
> 
> 0.05097   0.05098  0.019    no scale error due to no divider
> 0.08495   0.08495  0.000
> 0.11906   0.11906  0.000
> 0.14803   0.14805  0.014
> 0.19903   0.19904  0.005
> 
> 0.19903   0.1987   -0.165  (Range)
> 0.20003   0.1997   -0.165
> 0.40005   0.3996   -0.112   
> 1.00000   0.9992   -0.080
> 1.50012   1.4989   -0.081
> 1.9976    1.9961   -0.075  divider network makes about 
> 0.08% error
> 
> 1.9976    1.995    -0.13   (Range)
> 4.2977    4.293    -0.11
> 8.7979    8.791    -0.078  
> 10.000    9.992    -0.080
> 16.300    16.290   -0.062
> 19.986    19.973   -0.068  divider network makes about 
> 0.07% error
> 
> So the M4640A ADC seems to be very linear, to my surprise, 
> but the resistive divider network used for 2V and 20V full 
> scale introduces some scale error.
> 
> 
> Ohms:
> 
> HP3458A   M4640A    Error %
> 51.157    51.21     1.2
> 99.79     99.95     1.6
> 199.61    199.6     -0.005
> 389.3     389.3     
> 817.6     817.4
> 1593.7    1593.3
> 3307.7    3310      +0.070
> 9999.7    9999
> 17944     17942
> 100088    100070    -0.018
> 179530    179500
> 1.1121M   1.1116M
> 4.7038M   4.704M
> 10.057M   10.058M
> 
> 
> Huu, that's really good for el cheapo. I don't belive the 
> first two values, cause I had serious contact problems.
> 
> El cheapo multimeters are quite good today, better then I 
> expected. 0.1% tolerance is the spec sheet value.
> 
> m.c.
> 

----------------------
Doug Tymofichuk
dougt at cancerboard.ab.ca