A multimeter is the Swiss Army Knife of electronics. You really do need one to debug your circuits when things aren’t working. GRRRRRR! Where is that dodgy connection?
I’ve managed for years with a very cheap multimeter, but recently RS Components sent me this ISO-TECH IDM99III for review. Could it be “the one”?
IDM99III digital multimeter
My brief is “an honest video review”. I receive no payment or kickback for doing this, but I do get to keep the product. I’m getting quite a lot of stuff in for review at the moment, from lots of different sources. It’s a good thing I like doing reviews :) I don’t go out of my way to be horrible about a product, but I won’t lavish it with praise unless I think it’s deserved.
I will be doing reviews like this periodically. I hope they’ll be useful to you, readers and viewers. Well this is a video review, so I’ll let the video do the talking…
Summary
For those of you who don’t do video, here’s a summary (but there’s much more in the video)…
I really like this multimeter. The probes are 130cm long and have well insulated, removable alligator clips at the ends. The display is large and clear and has a switchable backlight for dim environments. It has three positions for the positive lead, and if you try to set the dial in the wrong place for the position it’s in, it will sound the beeper and warn you that you’ve messed up. It’s already saved me from accidents a couple of times.
Each dial position has an alternative function accessible with the blue button. Four buttons across the top give you control of…
- Range – manual or auto
- Volt sense – senses high voltage nearby
- Min Max – stores min and max values for the measurement period
- Smart hold – lets you hold the value
It’s got a rubberised plastic protective case and a magnetic hanging strap
I’m using it daily now and really enjoy owning it. (Part # 757-5116 from RS Components)
What does the software on the CD do? Does the multimeter have some way of connecting to a PC to display/log readings on the PC or something? Not that I’m personally going to be spending over a hundred quid on a multimeter… happy with my £20 Maplin jobby ;)
I haven’t looked at what’s on there Andrew. I couldn’t see anything in the manual about it and there doesn’t seem to be any ports on the meter for e.g. a USB lead. It might be a digital full version of the manual. I don’t have it with me at the moment, so I can’t check.
Thank you for the honest review Alex. I like how video reviews are slowly gaining traction in the online world, i find them much more informative and useful than written reviews.
Dear all, May i ask? is the iso-tech is same as the rs pro? i saw the same model.