Review on Honeytek A6013L Capacitor Tester: Accurate and Efficient Results by Steve Cooper

I bought this to quickly test capacitors although I have a few other meters like Fluke 289, Reed R5001, Extech etc. I thought it would be a good addition to my tools considering the price. At first I was a bit skeptical about $25. I received the item and it was well packaged and in good condition. I opened the box and found a meter, some short wires, and a piece of paper with copied instructions in a very popular Chinese interpretation of English that is very funny at times and frustrating at times. The case was made of cheap plastic and featured an orange rubberized shell with a stand on the back. Like most test devices, the device came with the battery installed. There are three probe connectors on the underside, the two external connectors appear to be identical and it doesn't seem to matter which one you connect to. Both are labeled the same and numbered the same in the instructions. I'm not sure why you need two identical ports, but I think it's a good idea to have a backup or maybe use two different style sensors at the same time. After connecting the sensors and turning the device on, I found a clear LCD screen with a fairly bright backlight, which is nice. The white light will disappear after the time has elapsed, which is nice. I set out to test some known values of capacitors, electrolytics, foils, etc. All values seemed to be within tolerance, but I found that the meter's tolerance changes slightly as you get into the pF capacitors. Also note that the probe wire adds about 20pF to the meter so you either have to zero the reading or subtract that from the reading, which doesn't matter much. All measured ranges, except for very high pF capacitances, were within 5% of Fluke 289 measurements, except for a 10% difference at very small capacitances compared to Fluke 289. It boils down to this: This meter is $25 value! It's not lab accurate, but I wouldn't expect it to be at this price point. For $25, you get an easy and fast way to measure and test capacitors in a small, lightweight package that you can just toss in your tool box or bag and take with you. And for $25, fear of damage, loss, or theft is minimal. I would recommend this meter to anyone looking for a reasonably priced capacitor tester that is reasonably accurate over most of its range