Im gonna comment on this meter again as Its become a favorite of mine, I think this little 132A is one of THE best little cheapo meters out there for solid functionality and range offerings. Its not loaded down with near useless gimmicks that often only half work like NCV, trans. testers, weak flashlights etc. instead you get a meter with every major fundamental function a good meter should have and its fast and accurate, a major part of a good meter. This is a serious little meter especially for a cheapo that actually comes with a decent set of leads compared to so many that dont. Unlike too many meters on the market (Every single range) on this meter works as it should, its fast, accurate and even exceeds its specs in some areas. This small meter even has a REL key and max/min, many cheapo meters omit these. For me the backlight bleed is easy to live with given how clear the display looks otherwise when lit. I also have the big brother to this one and it also has proven to be a very good value in functionality and speed. I think Astro AI might be a brand to watch in the future.
Still one of the best working small meters out there, accurate & fast with a large easy to read display and well made. I cant fault it for no NCV, as they dont usually work well anyway and its not really a core feature of a good meter for the most part also its usually no more than a perceived "value added" feature used as a marketing tool. Anytime you might see an electrician use something for NCV he usually uses a separate stand alone device anyway.
Thanks for the review. I was seriously considering this meter recently, I ended up buying the Owon 16B instead because I really wanted the BT function. Seems like if you don't need that then this meter would be a good alternative. But it's more expensive than the 16A you reviewed a while back and gave 4 stars too. Good thing they're cheap, getting both is a fairly painless option.
Thank you very much for great detailed review. I am far from being understanding all these electrical works, but heard "everyone has to have this at home". What is the basic check, that this thing can help at home or with the car?
Hi Darren I loved that no nonsense review. I liked how you were working through all the functions on the dial. I was waiting for the uA,mA and A current tests especially DC as I have some solar panels I would like to test.
@@KeepOnTesting No worries thx for the reply. I am trying to test a solar panel and not having any luck with Astro not sure If I should test in Parallel or series with a load.
Ive had this meter for awhile, it must have done well when released as theyve raised the price since it came out and they still seem to be selling, mine was $17.99 back in december of 2018. After I got its big brother/5000 and it worked better than expected I was curious about this one. I have to admit it took me awhile to warm up to its ho-hum looks etc. but after you use it a bit you find it more capable than expected and the numbers dont lie its accurate and fast with a good set of (useful) ranges and nothing wasted on badly implemented NCV, live wire, or weak flashlight features - as well as something you dont always see in a cheapo meter it has a REL button along with Max/Min. I do wish the capacitance range was bigger but as shown it does indeed double its published spec, though for some odd reason the example I have will read a 22,000 uF capacitor and I dont see why, its not rated anywhere near that, but ill take it-! lol As noted its a budget meter and the input protection is not geared to high current & voltage along with many others in this category, but used with common sense Its a good little meter, and I was going to say a tad high in price, but then I feel its worth an extra couple bucks to have such a decent set of leads with a budget meter, as mentioned in the review they are way better than the norm were used to seeing in this class and as noted in the review it follows the emerging trend of better leads starting to be supplied from the manufacturer, these are pretty decent compared to many and not the same old cheesy chop sticks you usually see - I got a noticeable improvement in continuity sensitivity after cleaning the probes with (fine) steel wool and alcohol. Your point is fair on the jack inputs, but again it does have substantial case support posts in the back case half to hold them tight in the barrels. Overall you could do a lot worse and I like to think of this as "The Little Meter That Does" what its supposed to with no pretense of being anything its not meant to be and does everything its designed to pretty well - no laser beams or light shows just a serious little well ranged bench/home meter that fits smoothly in most pockets or toolboxes. If they beefed up the capacitance range that would really round this meters capability out pretty nicely. Come on Astro you raised the price so give up the capacitance, I know its there to be had because mine has it with the same chip. All negatives aside its one to consider if youre looking in this price range, though there are some serious contenders.
I never knew a test meter review could be so entertaining...mr walker is kinda mad! , in a nice way.... Just ordered one of these for odd jobs around the house and man cave, amazon limited time deal...
Same question. It's the cheapest meter I can find with a min/max button. I want that on the 4A/10A DC current range. Some meters have the buttion but it only works on voltage. Shame Darren didn't answer your question but if I find out I'll come back and let you know.
Not a bad little unit. Have had mine must be over 6 months because can't find history on Amazon, I think where I got it. No point having frills if you can't deliver like some units try to do. Can't remember what I paid, but happy with value for deneros. OMG. ???? @ 7-13 ???🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍👍
Wow, is there a meter you don't have Derek ;) I liked the Astro alot..just wish it had a little more weight as it easily goes with the test lead flow..if you know what I mean!
Hey, Darren, if you got it down to the AstroAI DT132A and the Amprobe AM-510, which one would you go with? I kind of like the AM-510 more but its average RMS makes the DT132A with TRMS seem better. Or would you recommend an entirely different dmm for the price range? (DT132A at $25 and AM-510 at $37 right now, so the range would be around $25-$37)
If you can grab an AM-510 for 37$ I'd say go for it..TRMS doesn't make a huge difference for most although it's always nice to have.The build quality on the Amprobe is very good and it's hard to do better at that price point. I love the UNI-T UT191T..but its 58US so it's over your budget.
Darren Walker I could possibly splurge for the UNI-T UT191T. How much better would you say it is than the AM-510? I’d assume better safety along with the TRMS, but I mainly use dmms for smaller-scale electronic repairs, like game consoles. However, if you think the extra $20 investment would make a serious difference in the long run, I’m more than willing to cough up some more cash now so that I don’t have to buy a new dmm to replace my fried/busted one later down the road.
@@dmontello Its a whole lot better than the AM-510...It also has Temperature (C and F) LoZ and LPF modes. Auto backlight. The UT191T is IP65 Rated (Weatherproof), True RMS the list goes on.. Great design , and I love the overall look and feel of this device. One of my favs!!
Darren Walker Okay. Thanks for all your help by the way, man! Your insight is truly game-changing. One last thing: what is the difference between the UT191T and UT191E? Temperature or something? Is the E version even worth contemplating?
@@dmontello Get the UT191T, it has Temp the other does not...its only a few $$ more but well worth it! Glad I could be of assistance ..Enjoy your new DMM..let us know how you like it !!
Covered in Plastic..? Ok Take the plastic shrouding off the boots (input jacks) Red goes into the right POSITIVE Terminal and the Black into the COM Terminal.The far left is the High Current A input. Do not plug anything into that as you won't be testing high current anytime soon.
@@KeepOnTesting There trick is there are end caps stuck in the ends of the boots. I was expecting fully-exposed banana plugs. But they are fully shrouded so you can't touch them while plugging them in. All that comes off are the end caps. They fit so snugly into the boots that it's not obvious that they are not molded into the boot!
@@KeepOnTesting Yes I'm fine now. The caps were easy to pull out - once you noticed that there were end caps in the ends of the boot that were not part of the boot itself. The end caps are made of the same plastic as the boots themselves and fit so well that it is not obvious that they are caps at all when you look at them.
Good meter lots of features for the price. Can not find much about this meter. D.C 100 microvolt and 1mv a.c resolution can not grumble at that concidering every thing else is ok.
Hi Carlos, I lost that footage on the editing floor. I can say that the AstroAI had no difficulty measuring high current up to 6 A. Remember the input Protection is not very robust on this dmm so be careful with high current measurements.
@@KeepOnTesting Hi Darren, thanks for your answer and comments. I actually was more interested in seeing it measuring low currents (uA - mA), since I have seen reviews in other multimeters showing that from mA and downwards, the precision is poor or for example just using a single fixed decimal position and filling the left digits of the display with zeros.
I am looking for an auto range multitester that is equipped with protection from 220 volt voltage so as to avoid damage when measuring 220 volt voltage but the selector position is wrong. whether this multimeter is equipped with such protection
You need to be careful and not change the selector switch while plugged into the mains. Multimeters like Sanwa or Fluke should protect against such errors but its better not to try! The input protection of this AstroAI is definitely not up to this test.
It shows alot from a bench electronic standpoint..If a multimeter can light up any led then its usually a versatile and decently engineered instrument..if it struggles then chances are very good you might be buying a dud!
