Review on INNOVA 3320 Auto Ranging Digital Multimeter by Yiorgos Reynolds

First I'll review the INNOVA 3300. It's a manual range multimeter with detachable probes that uses a 9V battery and doesn't have a continuity beeper. Revain now shows images of the 3300A in the same product listing I originally ordered from. The 3300A is an auto-ranging meter that the INNOVA website doesn't seem to even acknowledge the existence of. The 3300A has permanently connected sensors, a continuity tone, and appears to use two small alkaline button batteries (which I assume need changing more often, but I have no direct experience with them). The 3300A also omits the battery test modes, which ensure the voltage you read from the battery matches the voltage it can actually supply, even under light loads, and doesn't measure current. I don't like it when multiple products are sold under the same Revain listing. It's hard to tell if the reviews you read have anything to do with the product you actually receive. And I can't tell what version of the product you will get if you buy it now. I have a 3300 manual range multimeter. I originally bought this multimeter in late 2013 for under ten dollars to use in a relatively simple low voltage DC electronics project I was working on. He has done me good service. My only real complaint was that upon opening it I discovered that one of the wires going to the battery had been pinched between the case and the circuit board during initial assembly, damaging the insulation. I taped it around but the gauge seemed to work fine so I gave it four stars here. see if they worked. Check continuity from time to time to try and understand how things work. It worked well for the most part, and the lack of a beep related to the continuity check was the one feature I particularly missed. However, over time the 20V DC range behaved strangely, reading as high as 7V when the probes weren't touching anything. This forced me to use the 200V range, which frustrated me and cost me some wiggle room when in truth I've never done anything where a small fraction of a volt could make a big difference. When replacing the battery didn't fix the problem, I changed my rating from four to three stars. (I'll also note that every multimeter should have a fuse inside - that's another thing to check if it starts acting weird.) However, I ended up disassembling the entire unit and found yellow plastic shavings that accumulated mainly on the front parts the circuit board. in the center of the turntable. I suspect that these shavings shown in the attached image were gradually being worn away by the case every time I turned this dial. In the end, enough of these must have accumulated to affect the quality of the electrical contact, because once I removed these shavings, my 20V DC section worked properly again. That doesn't quite speak to the INNOVA's build quality, but it was a really cheap gauge. (Although the current 3300A isn't as cheap as the 3300.) I tested it with a Fluke 117 I recently bought and got similar readings from an old 9V battery I had lying around (also in the attached picture shown). So my INNOVA seems to be back in fighting shape now. That leaves me with a little mystery. Is that a four star count again considering the issue has been fixed? Or is it a three star gauge due to the poor quality of materials that caused this problem in the first place? I would probably give my 3300 3.5 stars if I could. But since you don't know if you're getting the 3300 or the 3300A, and since the 3300A seems a little cheaper to build than what I saw in the online teardown video, I've decided to stick with three stars . If it costs half as much as the 3320, it might have been worth considering in very low-budget projects. But given current prices, you're probably better off paying $5 more for the 3320. Any discussion of multimeters probably deserves a little context. This is a cheap meter suitable for low impact, low voltage DC electronics, but it's probably not the safest thing to do when working with 120V or higher electrical equipment. Признаюсь, когда это был единственный измеритель, который у меня был, я использовал его пару раз, чтобы проверить розетку 120 В без каких-либо сбоев, но эти дешевые счетчики просто не имеют входной защиты более дорогих счетчиков на случай, если что-то пойдет not so. not correct. And in the event of operator error and/or unexpected power surges, pretty dangerous things can happen. You see twenty dollar meters with four star ratings and two hundred dollar meters with four star ratings. People who rate these products use them for different purposes. Please make sure the tool you use is suitable for your work. The "Cat" rating gives you an idea of how much abuse the meter can take, but some shady manufacturers have been known to exaggerate their ratings, so use common sense. And if you have to dig in close proximity to the power grid, then (1) this gauge isn't up to the task and (2) get a non-contact voltage detector so you don't have to guess whether the wire is live or not.