3320

---10-23-2017 EDIT--- I still have all 3 of my Innova 3320 multimeters, and they are still working great. Each one gets used a couple times a month on average, so they have more than paid for themselves over what has now been 6+ years of ownership. I also haven't felt a need to upgrade them in that time, so these 3 meters along with a 4th multimeter (that has a clamp style ammeter that I need occasionally) are all I own right now. There is a small quirk I have noticed with this meter, so I figured I would mention it in case anyone else has the same issue. Sometimes one of my meters will start giving a reading that is a bit erratic, almost like it's having a hard time knowing what it's supposed to do. Alternately, the autoranging feature will sometimes also become a bit sluggish in coming up with a final result to display. I mainly notice it when I'm working in DCV mode, and the issue pops up now and then on all 3 of my meters. Whenever one of my meters begins having this issue, a quick full rotation of the mode selection dial back and forth 5-6 times fixes the problem right up. I'm guessing there must be a little bit of dirt working down onto the sliding dial contacts (located directly underneath the mode selection dial) causing a poor electrical connection there over time. The dirt is probably getting in via the small gap around the dial itself. That dirt/residue is being scraped off by the sliding contacts when the dial is rotated back and forth a few times so that's why everything starts working perfectly again. Another thing I thought I would mention is that for the last couple years I have been using Eneloop rechargeable AA batteries in all 3 of my meters instead of regular disposable alkaline batteries. My meters all run perfectly on the Eneloops even though rechargeable AA batteries only put out 1.2vdc instead of 1.5vdc. ---END OF EDIT--- This is a great meter as long as you are getting it for the right tasks. The auto ranging feature works great as long as you are measuring something of a decent value whether it be resistance, voltage, etc. This is not the meter you would want for doing sensitive electronics, fine adjustments of electrical components, computer work, etc. This meter will not be accurate enough and consistent enough to be of much use for those types of applications. This meter is absolutely amazing for its price when it comes to doing (120vac) home electrical, automotive (12vdc) electrical troubleshooting, furnace troubleshooting (24vac), solar installation testing and troubleshooting (12-48vdc), etc. For electrical maintenance and installation tasks I almost exclusively use continuity, voltage, and resistance measurements to look for broken circuits, check for voltage loss across terminals due to corrosion, verify correct wiring after a new installation, etc. This meter also works great for testing automotive sensors for proper function. Most automotive sensors have resistance levels in the 400 to 700 ohm range when operating properly and this meter measures levels like that very consistently and accurately. Where this meter does falter a little is when you need to measure a very low resistance level or a very high level of resistance accurately. The auto ranging feature gets a little confused or slow, and is not good at giving the same result if the same test is repeated several times. The reason I am giving this meter 5 stars is because the issues with this meter are really not issues to me, because the situations that cause those issues can usually be worked around and 99% of the things I use this meter for work accurately and rapidly. I have used many high quality fluke meters and they work great in all situations, but they are also a lot more expensive. I will gladly give up 1% usability for a meter that is one fifth the price. I have also used meters that are cheaper than fluke meters and are still accurate in all situations, but they require you to set the range for every test done which adds time to everything and if you are wrong you can blow fuses, etc. This meter is fast, because I just turn the dial to the right mode, put the leads on and get a result I can use and I can move on. Another really nice feature I have never seen on another meter is the battery tester. It is great for rapidly testing to see if a spare battery you find in a drawer is a new one that became separated from its' package, or if it is a dead one that got lost on the way to the recycling bin. This meter is also nice because if you accidentally damage it or lose it you are not out much money. This meter works so perfectly for the tasks I need it for that I have bought 3 of them just in case they stop selling them, because there are no other meters I like as much as this one that cost less than $75. Then I am able to keep one in the car at all times for emergencies, one in the garage for working on cars, and one inside the home that stays nice and clean for home related tasks.

This little meter is outstanding! I own a Fluke DMM 179 and of course that meter is top of the line. But would you believe this Equus 3320 is 99% spot on with its readings when compared to a recently calibrated Fluke 179!! I compared measurements with the Equus 3320 and the Fluke 179, in AC Voltage, DC Voltage, Resistance, and DC voltage for the Equus in the Battery test modes. It had literally almost identical readings to the Fluke! The circuit board appears to use mostly prime spec electrical components, so I suspect it will remain accurate for a long time as long as it's not abused. This meter sells on Amazon for less than $20, and has auto ranging. This means instead of having to dial in the max value manually the meter figures out what DCV range to use (if you were measuring DC voltage for example). It's the same deal for other measurements like resistance, AC Voltage, etc, just set to that measurement type and the meter figures out the correct max range. Most auto ranging meters below $99 have slow auto ranging acquisition speed (this is the time it takes for the meter to figure out what range to use). Many of the cheaper auto ranging meters take several seconds to figure out the correct range and then display the measurement. Not the $19 Equus 3320, it was just as fast as the Fluke 179, which is a second or less in the voltage measurements, and under 2 seconds for resistance (resistance auto ranging takes slightly longer on all meters because the meter must send a small amount of current across the device under test first before trying to acquire the range). The battery test function (which my Fluke 179 does not have) is the main reason I purchased this meter. The battery test goes beyond just measuring the voltage of the battery any cheap meter can do that all day long. The battery test function in the 3320 puts the battery under a current load (10 Milliamps for both 1.5v and 9v batteries) and then measures the voltage. This gives you a much better idea of if the battery is really good or not and will really perform in your devices. Some batteries on a bare voltage test show good voltage, but that good voltage will quickly drop to unusable levels once the battery is put under load. So testing batteries with a meter that has a battery test function is far superior to just checking its voltage. This feature alone makes the $19 price for this meter well worth it! As a few other reviewers have said, it can only measure 200 Milliamps of current in AC (whereas DC can measure up to 10 Amps). Most other multimeters can measure 10 amps of DC or AC current. So if you are looking to measure any substantial AC current this is the wrong meter. In fact for any current measurements I recommend a current clamp like the ExTech 623 or ExTech 380942 since you can clamp right over a live insulated wire (while the circuit is operating) and take your measurement. With any standard multimeter (like the 3320) you have to wire it in line with the circuit first (with the circuit powered off) and then you can take your measurement. But if you are looking for a compact, accurate multimeter for your garage or home (where you will not need AC current measurements) then look no further you cannot beat the accuracy, auto ranging speed, and the price of the Equus 3320. ----------------------------------------------------- UPDATE 11-19-2015: A couple of reviewers wanted a testing update now that I've owned this meter almost 5 years. It's still pretty accurate in almost everything I tested (except AC volts below 50). This time around I setup a pretty extensive test; testing the Innova / Equus 3320 against 2 different Fluke meters (the Fluke 179 as before and the Fluke 87-5). Both of the Fluke meters are top of the line in quality and well known for maintaining accurate readings over long periods of time. So I wanted to test the 3320 against 2 top of the line meters to make sure 1 of the Fluke meters wasn't out of spec giving inaccurate readings. The readings on both Fluke meters were identical (or almost identical) in all tests below. Also this time around, I tested a lot more ranges and values. The 3320 did pretty well against the 2 Fluke meters. The only noticeable variance the 3320 showed was when measuring lower AC voltages (below the standard household 120 volts). One other thing to note is the range switch on the 3320 seemed a bit looser than when I originally purchased the meter. If I played with it when it was on a range (especially the AC volts range), the readings on the meter would change and then re-stabilize after I stopped messing with it. That's definitely something to watch for on your meter, especially if you use it often. For me I've only occasionally used this meter since I purchased it in early 2011. I keep it in my small network installation tool bag that I use when doing office network installations. It's small, and comes in handy for continuity testing, and basic voltage testing, as well as battery testing (as mentioned in my original review). However, as you'll see in the test results below, Fluke is absolutely the way to go if you want accurate readings you can count on year after year (the Fluke 179 & 87-5 are almost bang on, after many years of continuous use). So I use the Fluke meters most of the time when I am: 1) Troubleshooting auto electrical systems, 2) Doing electrician work around the house or, 3) Electronics bench work. But again for a $20 meter, the 3320 sure gives you a lot. Below are all the values and ranges I tested. The values shown in each meter's column, is what that meter was displaying during the test. In all tests except resistance, all 3 meters were hooked up to the same setup on my electronics bench, and tested simultaneously to ensure the most accurate readings I can create outside of a NIST certified lab. I used a couple of stable bench power supplies I have for most of the testing, and then a standard AA and 9volt battery for the battery test range on the 3320. For the resistance tests, I used several resisters (the same resistor for each value was used on all 3 meters). More accurate and controlled testing can be done, but you would really need expensive laboratory test equipment that is too expensive for most home electronics benches. The tests below however, give us a reasonable idea of how the 3320 is doing 5 years later. All values shown in the rows are in the same measurement range as shown in the left most column for that row. For example if the left most column says mA for milliamps, then all values in that row are also in mA. If the left most column is KO (for Kilohms) then all the values in that row are also Kilohms. Abbreviations are as follows: V = Volts mA = Milliamps A = Amps O = Ohms KO = Kilohms MO = Megaohms Now on to the test results! DC_Volts_____Fluke_87-5_____Fluke_179_____Innova_3320 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.5__________1.500__________1.500_________1.494 16___________16.00__________16.00_________15.95 30___________30.01__________30.01_________29.9 50___________50.02__________50.02_________49.9 Battery_Test________Fluke_87-5_____Fluke_179_____Innova_3320 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.5_volt_AA_________1.577__________1.577_________1.570 9_volt______________9.45___________9.45___________9.41 AC_Volts_____Fluke_87-5_____Fluke_179_____Innova_3320 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30___________30.53__________30.54_________22.8 45___________45.00__________45.00_________41.9 122__________122.0__________122.1_________121.4 DC_Current_____Fluke_87-5_____Fluke_179_____Innova_3320 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 90_mA__________90.0___________90.0__________89.9 190_mA________189.9__________189.9__________190.3 1_A____________1.019__________1.019__________1.011 5_A____________4.999__________5.001__________5.0 9.8_A___________9.79___________9.8___________9.82 Resistance_____Fluke_87-5_____Fluke_179_____Innova_3320 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 100_O__________99.9___________99.8_________99.8 2.2_KO_________2.198__________2.199________2.19 100_KO________100.3__________100.4________100.5 4.7_MO________4.710__________4.711_________4.70 10_MO_________10.19__________10.19________10.17

I bought one of these 10 years ago and it finally died. It worked so well for all my electrical needs. It’s auto ranging so very user friendly. I bought another one and the price is the same as it was ten years go. This is the best meter for the money by far.

It works well and as expected with one flaw. The continuity tester (beeps when there is a complete circuit) has a delay of about a 1/2 second. In other words, if you touch the two probes together, you would expect it to beep instantly. It does not. It beeps after a 1/2 second. If I'm testing a project or circuit for a short, testing if a solder joint is solid, I need it to beep the instant that the probes touch the test points. One other issue that I have with it, is that it has a battery tester function. 4 pre-set voltages (1.5, 6, 9 and 12). Gives you a green yellow or red light depending on the battery's charge. Fine, except what about all of the new batteries that we use these days? NiMH, NiCD, LiPO, LiFE, etc. Each with it's own unique voltage range. I do a lot of DIY that involves batteries, also R/C modeling that uses a variety of battery technologies. The 4 pre-set voltages this meter comes set to are basically worthless to me. I tested a charged LiPO in both the 1.5v and 6v ranges, each showed an error. Sure, I can (and do) just use the DC tester but it seems a waste to have included this feature. Otherwise, it is well made, the silkscreened labels on the front are solid and easy to read. Display has huge characters also easy to read, though no back light. Built in bumper pads are tough. It has an elastic loop on the back, I assume so that you can attach it to something to hold it up so you can use both hands and read the display. Elastic material is pretty cheap and will not last (it will stretch and fail like the waistband on an old pair of underwear), but it should be easily replaced with a quality thin piece of bungee cord. Good price/ value, but not a pro or pro-sumer piece of gear.

Update: A word of the wise, avoid leaving the switch anywhere but the off button when not using it. My switch sometimes will not switch entirely to off.. had it stuck between off and DCV (accidentally of course) and the batteries were shorting out causing them to heat up and nearly destroying my unit. The unit seems to be ok with no adverse affects other than wondering what to do with my alkaline Duralocks (which lost 0.2 volts in the process) because i don't think i really want to leave them in the unit. This is sort of a bad defect which i hope to notify the company so they can do a fix on newer models. Unfortunately my old one died so i got a new one since i love it's little load tester on batteries. This works great on AA, AAA, 9V NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) cells especially can tell when those cells are out of power it has enough load on the cell to bring it under 1.2 volts and on completely depleted cells you can really tell as the voltage would continue to drop. It's also got nifty lights to let you know what condition the cells are in, i believe it works best on alkaline cells but it also works with NiMH cells as you can always tell when you should recharge/top off the battery and you don't have to guess with this unit. If a NiMH cell is under 1.26 volts you can recharge it (and i prefer using a smart charger such as the Maha C9000). I haven't tried it with this current unit i just bought, but my old one worked with NiMH cells perfectly well although the batteries that come with it last pretty much forever. My old unit i bought in 2004 or 2005 still had the original batteries in them but they seem to still produce around 1.3 to 1.4 volts but when you put them in something like a flashlight that voltage would drop to about 0.6 volts so the only drawback is that they didn't work well under a load but i decided to throw some Duracells in this since they had a longer expiration date which is what it think these current cells have which are dated December of 2016. While they did last forever i think it wasn't good for the internals as my older one started to exhibit strange behavior even with fresh (alkaline) cells in it. Soon after an electronic piece (like a diode or something) shattered and the device quit working. I might try to replace that part and see if i can get the older one working but it appears that this new one has some different parts in it (or maybe updated parts?) so i don't know whether or not to attempt to get a replacement part based on the new unit. One thing to note is that there is a gap in between the two halves (so you can take the unit apart to get to the batteries) so avoid going near water with this (as you would with any multimeter). Not that i would accidentally drop this in water it's still a way for dust and dirt to get on the inside so i'll probably just put tape or put plastic wrap around the unit so that doesn't happen. Either way with all the other multimeters on the market this one is my favorite, wish more came with a battery load tester with light indicators. These lights are really bright too, that's another update on this unit from my old one was that my old one lights up but was not as bright as this recent unit. The only issue i really have with this multimeter is there is no way to turn off the auto shut off feature, when i am doing extensive testing on some batteries i tend to want to keep the thing turned on.. often times i'll have to turn it off and back on again to resume testing otherwise using a different multimeter is the only way i can really do this, however.. this unit does have a minor load like about 0.10 volts so it's hard to choose between a basic multimeter or this. Sometimes i just use a regular multimeter so i don't have to play around with the multimeter i can just let it sit and do it's thing. If i need more this is the multimeter to get!

Intrigued by the theory behind "Earthing" -- the concept that our direct current (DC) human bio-electric physiology is negatively impacted by our immersion in the ambient alternating current (AC) and other man-made electromagnetic fields (EMFs) of our technological society -- I wanted to purchase a multimeter in order to do some testing. Now that I'm in my 50s, it is taking more and more conscious effort, time, and money to get the nutrition, exercise, and stress-reduction necessary to maintain good health and recover from weekend warrioring. Earthing research indicates that when you ground yourself, the entire body readjusts to a new level of functioning ... which is actually the original level we have been designed for and/or adapted to. There are dramatic stories of people recovering rapidly and completely -- an unexpectedly -- from many kinds of injuries and diseases, especially inflammatory diseases. People who have lived Grounded / Earthed for many years say they do not want to go back to living ungrounded because they feel the difference ... that living Earthed reduces their stress response and broadly elevates their quality of life to a level that seems not otherwise possible. The research is also suggesting that many of the killer diseases that have been rampaging through our culture since WWII may be directly or indirectly connected to living ungrounded in a technological society. There is a reason we ground our computers, microwaves, refrigerators, etc. For those and more personal reasons, we should be grounding ourselves, too. So I, a non-techie, went in search of a cheap, easy to use multimeter that would enable me to do extensive human body voltage testing in various environments, as well as all the other household do-it-yourself kinds of testing. After reading bunches of reviews, I purchased, tested, and returned several multimeters from Home Depot, Lowe's, Wal-Mart, and Amazon before settling on the Innova Equus 3320 as the best for the price. This multimeter accurately provides voltage readings down to thousandths (0.001) of a volt, which is necessary for effective and rigorous body voltage testing. In comparison, most multimeters in this price range don't go lower than 2 volts -- and some don't go lower than 200 volts! This multimeter also has a very easy to read ... and easy to understand ... dial face. This includes separate settings for quickly testing 1.5, 6, 9, and 12 volt batteries -- something most multimeters in this price range do not have. In fact, most multimeters don't have this at any price. The Innova Equus 3320 also has all the other basic testing abilities and front-face dial settings of it's more expensive cousins. The large digital screen is very easy to read, but on the downside is not backlit. I would have been willing to pay $2-$3 more for that feature. It also does not contain the memory option of temporarily recording the last reading, for comparison with a second reading. For the testing I am doing, that's no problem. For extensive body voltage testing, I usually need to take a minimum of 8 readings within 1-2 minutes. No multimeter I came across stores that many readings, but even if the multimeter had that capacity, my needs are better served by simply jotting down the numbers immediately as I take the readings ... rather than needing to go back a second time to pull the numbers out of the multimeter's memory. I highly recommend the Innova Equus 3320 multimeter.

Works as it should son loves it

I purchased this in 2013 on Amazon, and it has lasted until now. The numbers on the display are starting to not work, so i can't see the result of what i'm measuring. For the price, this was an ok result. I would not use this professionally though.