EEVblog #56 - Agilent U1253A OLED Multimeter Review & Teardown

[@ClawSpike]

Great review. You did not hold back on the pros and more importantly the cons. A very entertaining review. Keep up the great work Dave!

[@rocktruggy03]

I'm not an engineer and most everything you said went right over my head. BUT, your enthusiasm is great and now I want to run out and spend heaps of cash for a multimeter I don't have any need for!

[@allantamm2185]

6:55 Thank You! I just was looking to buy something as a nice looking gift for my wife.

[@JoannaHammond]

+Allan Tamm I'm sure she'd really appreciate it. :)

[@EEVblog]

Agilent bought Escort in 2008, it is now part of the Agilent basic instruments group. I wouldn't say it's rubbish, it just needs some work. it actually performs very well. The vast majority do not need a bench meter, nor 4 wire resistance measurement.

[@EEVblog]

A common job for a continuity testers is to locate shorts on boards. If you have a fast "glitch capture" buzzer then you can wipe one probe quickly across all the pins of a chip to look for shorts to ground for example. If it's slow, this is painful and you might miss the short.

[@NLS87]

That charging mode makes me cry............... loved the product attention to detail, agilent ftw!

[@EEVblog]

@Bastimon Yes. It's an OLED screen. That's the price you pay. If you don't like it get the LCD version of the meter.

[@tesla500]

I have to say, I lost a lot of confidence in your reviews at the very end. I have one at work, and I agree with the bulk of your review. I couldn't believe you gave this a thumbs up, however; it's thumbs sideways at best, if not a thumbs down. The low battery life, slow autoranging and atrociously slow continuity test are inexcusable. They may be able to fix the latter two in firmware, but the only solution to the battery life is to use AA cells. One AA cell has more energy than the 9V!

[@EEVblog]

Yeah, it probably came across like that because the Fluke is more *my* type of meter I would use every day. Would I buy the Agilent for my everyday use? - no way, because the battery life would just piss me off. But I can't limit my review to my own personal needs. I know there are those who have different needs to me and are not bothered by the various negative points of the Agilent, so for them I would give it my endorsement. So the best I can do is point out the negative things.

[@EEVblog]

I agree. But the problem will always remain the OLED display. Even with a super-duper battery technology, you still aren't going to get close to 100 hours out of it. So it's the price you pay for OLED. Agilent knew this and went with it anyway. The market will determine whether or not it's an acceptable compromise. Many will get sucked in by the sexy OLED display I'm sure :->

[@bruth6138]

Your enthusiasm lifts the human spirit :). My brother is an EE and your workbench looks a lot like his :). Great videos!

[@EEVblog]

A "thumbs up" means that the product is on a whole good and worth buying *if it suits your requirements*. I qualified the thumbs up by mentioning the negatives. Those negatives will not matter to all people, so therefore it will be a good buy for those people. The Agilent has many bad points, but also many good points, too many excellent points for me not to recommend it for those it suits. On whole it's a great meter. Show me where else you can such good update rate and accuracy for the price

[@pnjunction5689]

I have two of these meters (the B-Model) at work and I absolutely love them.

[@lupojacobo9892]

Same here

[@EEVblog]

@brickboiler I don't think there is any way to turn off the display. Agilent have an identical version with LCD and better battery life.

[@abraxalito]

I agree with Dave - fast response can save a lot of time. One example is when checking for shorts to a multi pin connector - with a fast response I can just drag the probe across all the pins in turn and listen for the bleep. With this kind of response I have to probe each individual pin and wait...

[@UpcomingJedi]

Can you hold the meters steady so we can see them instead of shaking them like they are talking puppets??

[@Flapjackbatter]

Ah. Of course! I Didn`t think of that. Well that`s why you are the experts and I`m the hobbyist.

[@camtheham13]

The beeping charge menu could lead to some fun workshop pranks

[@TechAreaChannel]

уровень сарказма в сторону Agilent просто зашкаливает :)))

[@daveblane6442]

I have had 2 of these. both went back -- the AUTORANGING WAS SO SLOW it drove me insane.

[@nicholasbantell2520]

I purchased the younger brother B model. It arrived missing a screw, (i assume it was a rewored unit) and also the diode mode did not even work. One word JUNK. It went back in it's box and back to Agilent. That much money and they can not even send you a working meter with all the screws? I was also not fond of the extra long test lead probes, too big in my opinion. I broke into my piggy bank and purchased a Fluke 289, a bit more but the FlukeView software and meter work fantastic for my needs. Sorry Dave but I must respectfully disagree with you on this one.

[@friedmule5403]

I don't like that it charges via the leads, it make it unusable while charging! Now it only last for about 8 hours would it not be better that it charger while making longer measurements? :-)

[@tookitogo]

Adding a separate charging jack would make it much harder to meet the CAT rating.

[@random55912]

I used to buy the U1252 at work which has an LCD display and last much longer battery wise. Really liked it!!! I especially liked the leads which were shipped with the A variant but not shipped with the B-variant. Anyone knows a good source for the test leads in europe?

[@klystron44]

It's such a relief when he likes them!

[@mamboth]

Also you nearly got it right about counts and accuracy, but you need to remember that the more counts you have the less important that LSD becomes. So if you work on 415V Electrical systems having a 4200 count DMM is far better than a 4000 count DMM even if accuracy is similar because it does not need to change to a higher range meaning the effective LSD error is not worse by a factor of 10 which it is if you range up

[@uzimonkey]

Good Guy Dave: Complains for entire review, gives it a thumbs up.

[@DerHeimatlose1]

Did he ever test the B-version ? I didn't find a test about it

[@mumbles1justin]

Wheres the U1253B review?

[@OneBitStream]

@EEVblog No worries. Are you planning to do a blog on it at any stage? Love the blog. Cheers.

[@Arek_R.]

Why they dont used li-on battery? Eg. 3Ah should be ok.

[@hansonsux]

Having used one ot these at work, I would like to tear it down with a hammer.

[@fhautomacao2197]

So the "A" in the model number stands for ATARI? =)

[@Bastimon]

@EEVblog Yeah, that sounded a little harsh, so let me clarify .. in fact I really appreciate what Aglient is doing here, everyone about to buy this meter knows what he is going to get, i just find it nice that a company is taking the "risk" of using a new technology in a thing such as meter.

[@tesla500]

Not sure about the update rate, but the Fluke 287 has pretty much similar or better accuracy, and graphing capability, for US$465, compared to US$450 for the Agilent. Hopefully Agilent will fix the problems in the next version of the meter. Just adding a DC power jack would turn it into a nice bench meter, no worries about battery life.

[@rfjgfude]

"tight ass"- yup!... that has been Agilent's downfall. HP never spared any expense when they made their equipment. Agilent, unfortunately has hired one too many bean counter. Great review, I was really glad I found this!

[@Flapjackbatter]

Can anyone explain to a hobby-electrician when you would need a fast-responding continuitytest ? (And why a less fast one doesn`t do the job ?) Btw , I think the 20-30 min eevblog-episodes are better than the 10 min ones. It gives me just enough time to eat breakfast while watching the blog.

[@philbx1]

Hey Dave, just a thought on one part of your video. Yes, I think it also strange that such a hi-tech item doesn't have a new-ish power supply (battery). USB is pretty much a standard in anything now, another strangeness. Maybe (just kidding), they could include MIDI tunes of your choice. OLEDs look good though!

[@scotshabalam2432]

17:52 Dear Symphonies, please add Agilent U1253 multimeter musicians to your retinue.

[@MrMonomonster]

So you got Agilent kind of mad at you so they did not send the B model?

[@cmj20002]

So how does it compare to a Voltcraft vc890?

[@ErnestLingerfelt]

how is the screen when in full sunlight / is it still visible as inside ?

[@markslab28]

watch the video derp!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@KenWPeek]

The Agilent U1252B is the one you want. It has a couple of more functions than this one, and has an LCD instead of an OLED display, so you get really good battery life. It appears to be much more accurate than the 0.025% spec as well-- almost as good as my Tektronix DMM4050 (a rebadged Fluke 8846A 6-1/2 digit DMM) -- the DMM4050 wins by one extra digit, but it is for the bench, not the field. You might want to review the U1252B-- it is like "night" and "day" compared to the U1253A/B.

[@gjv2008]

Is there a good reason why you couldn't use a mobile phone type Li battery for something like this? I guess it's easier to keep a spare PP3 in your toolbox.

[@JosephMassimino]

The one thing that stopped me from buying one was the reports from users who said that the display gets dim after a while, and so dim that the meter becomes unusable. There is no excuse for that, and if Agilent/Keysight doesn't extend the warranty to cover the failure of the display, that will be the end of Agilent meters for me.

[@brickboiler]

The battery life is bad because of the display. My question is; does the display time out or turn off during data logging? Will it last 24 hours logging with the display shut off?

[@sagaertj]

Hmm , i wonder how long before the batteries are drainded....

[@miwhcyvybaksjd]

What do you mean when you say "at 50,000 counts per second"?

[@RWoody1995]

+Matt Maloney I don't think he said 50,000 counts per second, he said it updates 7 times per second even though its a 50,000 counts meter and that was relevant because higher counts normally means it would be slower updates per second because higher counts means a higher resolution (50,000 counts = four decimal places are measurable so long as the first digit is below 5) and yet this meter updates 2-3 times faster than other similar meters.

[@dani777dani]

+Matt Maloney example 50.000 50 volts and .000mA or 49.999 49 volt and 999 mA, if is more then 50000 +1 the dot is moving

[@mohamedalrawy7754]

Error appears when using Is there a solution

[@brettwest4949]

Hey Dave . Was wondering if you would be willing to do a review on the fluke 179. Thinking about getting one and there are crappy reviews right now.. So what do ya say Dave... Please?

[@reidcircuits826]

I have one of those meters :D

[@jan.tichavsky]

At 3:58 that CADDOCK part looked like RF module but I googled it later and found that it's precision voltage divider resistors.

[@Br_Shop]

What u think about the 5 Dollar harbor freight brand sometimes free. Multimeter.

[@JoshuasRecordings]

Burris Yard Man I hate them. I got one and it absolutely sucked! It was so far off and never worked right, it could not even measure AC. It would just say 0.0V no matter how may volts I put in it. Then, I saw the installer for "A better way solar" with it (the same model), he left it at our house (and never came back for it) and I looked at it. The display was messed up, it would output 2V for the continuity check, and it could not measure AC!

[@fedora296]

Hi Dave could you do a review on this АРРА 505 digital multimeter and if is worth to buy it please

[@blacktoothgrin86]

im looking at getting a electronic specialties 595 have you got to try one? whats your opinion? if you havent tried that model how do you feel about the brand in general?

[@lukefenderrhodes]

i bet everybody here would agree if this gentlemen could brake brand spanking new electrical stuff on purpose,,,,,,, then fix it,,,,,,,,,,,,, he could have his own tv show. very nice

[@dixsusu]

Hi what is the LCD version for this model ?

[@Scottyman99]

This would be a REAL winner if it didn't use a 9 volt battery and a few other minor tweaks. 4 or 5 AA or AAA 's would be ideal. Permit Energizer Ultimate Lithium Batteries and it would be fantastic! I'd buy one. 8 hour battery life is unacceptable. The design engineers need a new job.

[@lorenzovanhethul1355]

I got some lithium laptop cells. Still good. I can put that package on the back of the dmm. 4 battery's and a buck converter and there you go.

[@3madeamps]

I'm looking for a great reading meter for Capacitance ... what do you think ... I have a new UNI-T UT139C and ill test a 100pf cap and it will read 110pf one time then 120pf next time then test the same cap it will read 96pf ... help looking for a good meter for less than 70 bucks

[@erebostd]

3madeamps #3 in nc you won't get a better one for that price, sorry to say. But it's really the best meter in that price range, just get used to it :)

[@3madeamps]

will $125.00 buy a better one ???

[@erebostd]

3madeamps #3 in nc Sure, take a look at the Fluke FLK115/TL175E for example :-)

[@dezscott46]

Stick with my Fluke as I work outside most of the time .and what good is 8hrs battery life

[@playvectrex]

Hi Dave, did you ever get the U1253B meter? I was wondering about the differences. Did they fix any of the negatives you found? At the end when you summarized what was wrong, you forgot the super slow continuity test. This is one of my pet peeves on meters. If it's slow I immediately go look for a different meter.

[@martinkuliza]

I'm the same Slow Continuity = Fuck That !!

[@ppstonesanchez1590]

Well, for those who do not know, the Dave´s analysis of this multimeter is sarcastic, where it is obvious to realize the quality of the equipment reviewed.

[@OneBitStream]

Hi Dave, did you end up trying the type B? What is your conclusion?

[@MartynPS]

Could you have a quick look to see how the ohm meter works (does it range from a high voltage to a low voltage, or vice versa). I have witnessed one such meter which goes from high to low (10V down) and did not do much good to the circuit the componant was situated...

[@Bastimon]

@Bastimon Another thing I don really get is why devices clearly meant for professional electricians/EEngeers often offer hardly any costumisability, why can't I, as the one going to USE IT EVERY DAY dedice when it should beep or how long the screen stays on etc. I guess some things would sell MUCH better if they gave the customer a some more control.

[@lisbelbarzaga8238]

what is the internal resistance of this multimetter?

[@jamesmk2003]

Do I have to change fuses every day?

[@tookitogo]

Only if you have no idea what you’re doing and are incapable of learning. :p

[@philpem]

It rattles?! :) Got a U1251A today -- take the clip off of the back, then shake it. Notice that the rattle has stopped...

[@abraxalito]

Sure, yet on a high-end meter as this, the choice of a 9V battery is an unbelievably poor one to me. Look at the energy density - the best of the 9V ones I found is 250mA (6 cells). 3 of the best AA cells would deliver 2500mA (at half the voltage) meaning 5X longer battery life. Really that's a no-brainer to get 40hrs of useful life. Come on- even the laptop I'm using now gives me 8hrs use!

[@motoibogdan]

I also have one of these meters. Replaced the 9volt battery with 2 lithium 14500 cells in series. They fit nicely in the available space and the meter recharges them just fine. Funny thing is that i also have a small fluke 112 and i use it more often because of it's better continuity tester and autoranging. I keep the agilent for more precision stuff.

[@tookitogo]

Motoi Bogdan Charging lithium batteries on a charger made for NiMH is extremely dangerous!!!!!

[@motoibogdan]

of course it's dangerous. But it's not a consumer product and we're not average consumers aren't we? In this case, i've done some measurements, and there is no risk of overcharging those lithium cells if I: 1. use them until discharged or at least 2/3 discharged 2. recharge them for 1hr8 min (the default agilent recharge cycle) With both conditions met, i've charged these cells for more then 6 months without trouble. however if you charge the cells and try to force another charge cycle, the meter will try to charge the cells to almost 4.4v/cell and that's indeed dangerous. I simply don't do this.

[@JAKOB1977]

wow, only 450USD dollars... here in the highly taxed region of northern Europe the U1253B cost a tad over 850USD (5299 DKK as a private buyer that needs to pay danish VAT) dk.rs-oline.com/web/p/multimetre/6997367/? The naked base Fluke 87 V is only 750US, so around 100USD lower,. That's a lot for a multimeter, even here, where we have money like crap, or one should think so with those prices. thx for a solid review. Keep em coming.

[@kappen1000]

Spot on! What an excellent review.

[@criscros7]

I hate it when a 9V block is connected with a snap on clip. They're so darn fiddly to get off the battery. Often enough it's almost impossible to get the clip off with your fingers and you either have to use a knife to get in between the terminals and the clip or a screw driver to get in between the terminals to lever the clip off. Most of the time, the clips are of poor quality and break after a couple battery changes or the cable comes off.

[@EdwinFairchild]

i own this crap. the display has now dimmed to where its hardly visible in the dam dark. wont be buying from them or keysight again

[@eurokid83]

I haven't been very impressed with the Agilent/Keysight hand held DMM's. The quality is nowhere near the level of Fluke. I have a older U1241A and it's kinda glitchy, continuity beeper isn't loud enough, it just feels cheaply made. It works pretty well and you get a lot of features for your money but I just don't have the same confidence in it that I have in my Fluke 87-V. They need to step up their game big time if they want to be a real competitor in the hand held DMM market IMO.

[@scancool]

yeah I have one of those 9V batteries in my toolbox and some of those thin metal scrubbers and the whole thing got on fire, it was scary at first, but then it was funny.

[@tuxontour]

@Dave I do like you 121GW but you might want to re-think about the world slowest autorange. 16:30 that meter is faster and more stable than the 121GW.

[@frank26080115]

pro-tip, use Smarties boxes to carry 9V batteries

[@AlexForencich]

@DanFrederiksen That 1 billion samples per second is only for voltage (not I or R or C or temp or ...) and is more than likely only 8 bits. This meter, on the other hand, has to work out at least 16 bits, each bit twice as precise as the last, making it at least 256 times more precise than the Rigol. And it does so with extreme linearity and accuracy. Multimeters and oscilloscopes cannot be used interchangeably when high speed or high precision measurements are needed.

[@JesseGyger]

When are they going to use a couple 18650's for multimeters?

[@Sentinel-1]

"Never" is their very likely answer. Because they need to build literally a bunker for them due to high possibility of lithium battery explosion on malfunction. Such DMMs would never pass safety tests.

[@PauloConstantino167]

Damn, this guy is getting free top end equipment from the manufacturers ?? Damn!!!! We watch him and he gets all the free stuff!!

[@EEVblog]

@CurtisStephenson Have not tried it yet, sorry.

[@EEVblog]

@justincgs A non backlit LCD usually almost zero power! That's why some good LCD multimeter can get 1000 hours battery life, and the average is maybe 300hrs.

[@sdttnkara]

I miss your garage lab dave :(

[@Radioismybomb]

Try using the VAPEX tech 220mAh rechargeable 9.6 volt pp3 battery... yes 9.6 volts unlike most rechargables that only give you 8.2 volts.When out of the packed when delivered i checked the volts on my new VAPEX tech pp3 9.6 volt battery i got almost 10 volts reading so they are very similer to an alkaline battery etc. Great and hilarious review.Best wishes or in ham radio we say 73's from the UK.

[@EEVblog]

@CurtisStephenson I don't have one, so would have to acquire one first. No plans. The other new Agilent's look more interesting.

[@Ribbitmefoot]

The battery time of only 8hrs is rediculous. Clearly it is the OLED display that eats the juice. This is why other manufacturers such as Fluke, Greenlee etc do not incorporate OLED in battery powered hand held meters, I guess.

[@holycatsbatman]

@LinuxGalore I think the update rate for e-ink is very slow compared to an LCD/OLED/what-have-you. Works fine for books, but you can see how long it takes to update when you flip to the next page.

[@michaeleric01]

this is the third neg eevblog video on Agilent

[@ronettreker]

Putting an OLED display on a test equipment, especially a hand held one sounds like a really bad idea. LCD displays are far superior in bright light. An OLED display kind of tries to surpass the ambient light while LCD, being reflective, uses the ambient light, therefore being much more energy efficient than OLED.

[@0x00zero]

There's also the short expected life.....my gear is typically 20 years old and still working. Apparently, these meters also suck down batteries like crazy.

[@christianedelmann6880]

@@0x00zero at least it look pretty easy to replace. I wonder if they sell replacement parts?

[@lupojacobo9892]

Wrooooong

[@rumbepack]

the autoranging in this 2010 device is still faster than his own multimeter lol

[@haroonansari6011]

Hello friends can any body tell me what are the symptom of leaky capacitor because some time capacitors looks ok and its capacitance value also not so bad but still it has some leakage . I read from somewhere that the value of D and Q must be check by LCR meter so is there anyone who has idea about that ?

[@lupojacobo9892]

I have 3 of them and none of them rattles

[@FrozenHaxor]

Now Agilent is going to make the components facing upwards so Dave is ranting less on their products as they seem to really care about EEVblog opinions :D

[@jurgenkruger3932]

Meanwhile, you can get the new OLED display replacement for 60 EUR. So I still keep mine still running and every day use.😊

[@EEVblog]

The Agilent is actually better than the Fluke in many respects. Update rate, accuracy, and features to name some. But yes, it sucks on some aspects. I'm not compromising one bit, as explained in a comment above why I gave it a (qualified) thumbs up.

[@EEVblog]

@MonkeyFCoconut Sorry, never got the B model.

[@Metalhead-4life]

That thing should use 4 AA batterries. Eneloops

[@TheLukey21]

Why don't these use something like a 3000mah 18650 in a multimeter it would last ages in a normal meter.

[@Bastimon]

8 hours .. wait, 8 hours??

[@michaelpilliod1039]

Have the B model Keysight and 2 flukes. I don't ever use the fluke anymore. Maybe if you are outdoors and working on high voltage the fluke would be better. In a lab this is waayyy better.

[@tookitogo]

I have the Fluke 87V and two U1252B’s. The U1252B’s are just quirky enough that I can’t trust their readings 100% the way I do the Fluke (and my Keithley bench meter). And the continuity test is just too slow.

[@Jeepjones85]

I love that bright display but not that bad solder joint. Drop it one time and I bet it comes lose