Fantastic Review!!! In all honesty, almost everyone on TH-cam could take infinite lessons from your review. Beautiful, straight ahead, no bullshit, all useful info, no "cutesy" for your girlfriend/wife, no slow speed of a turtle, no useless info, no slick editing, no "I got this free so I will lie about it", No "I am obviously taking painkillers so I think I am profound when I am not" and best of all no bullshit "Hollywood" "Me Show" intro!!! .....just beautiful. Thank you so much!!!
I appreciate that. I'm just a tell it like it is kinda guy and if there is a dirty truth (as is the case with this particular model) I point it out and move on. I have been inactive lately, but I have more coming, so stay tuned. Thanks again for your comments.
@@Sui778 I will. I like that big display and the price so I probably will buy either that one or the Owon model right above it. Soon, there will be no more cheap effective electronic gear and guys who repair things will be invaluable. I too tell it like it is.
Thanx for the video and your perspective. One of my hobbies is refurb and cal of Simpson / Triplett Analog meters. The calibration (depending on model) requires 5, 10 or 50 Microamps.. I built a source and can get the output to the desired Microamps for the cal. I bought this DMM because it is (was) the only affordable one I could find that has a resolution of 050.00 Microamps on the 500 Microamp range.. comparing it to a variety of DMM's I believe not only is the resolution great It appears to be quite accurate. I am also very impressed with how easy the display is to read, I have larger displays but on this one the contrast and color scheme is top notch.
Perhaps it also wanted to compare the speed of reading values at Low, Med or High settings. There are definitely reading speed differences in the settings. Tony Albus already states in his review that the measurement speed is much better if you set the expected base value. It's a pity that you don't show the reading speed at different settings of the converter and the reading speed. It would be a better demonstration than still looking for the exact measurement value.
For some reasons, this thing refuses to read capacitors on the board while other cheap garbage meters have no problem doing so. With vague accuracy but at the very least they give you rough idea that cap is at the very least not a resistor or dead completely. So i kinda dont like it for that reason.
Yeah - I don't use mine to measure capacitors - that mode is definitely too wonky, and I'm not a fan of the diode function either. It's great for voltage, which is what I use it for.
You are wrong, if you want to test capacitors on board you need to use an ESR meter for that. I bought many ESR meters but for my job I prefer the GME-236 is fast and precise. Peak Atlas ESR is a good option inclusive. I have one fluke 87v, one Fluke 28ii, one 289 series 2 but I never use it for test capacitors. Due to my age my eyes are failing, i bought the XDM1041 for test continuity and DC voltage only, I like the big display. I have one Siglent SDM3045 in one workbench and bought this one for my other bench. Best Regards.
Thanks for this... But let me ask you this: the manual and the spec sheet say that the 1041 has four ranges for capistance; 5nf, 500uf, 5mf and 50mf. That's a lot of gaps there, or its a heck of a lot of range to cover in each setting, isn't it? Are there more ranges or something?
That's basically what it has - and I don't like it either. Capacitance isn't very well implemented on this, it's almost like it was just an afterthought. The sparse amount of ranges probably goes a long way to explaining why the unit gets so wonky when attempting to measure capacitors with greater values.
Pretty much - but to be fair, all general purpose meters really aren't all that great for cap readings compared to LCR meters if you need it to be really precise.
Your review mentions and shows your unit with an RS232 port. I've seen the same meter with a USB port and then some with the RS232. Any commentary on why some have RS232 and others have USB and more importantly, how do you get the USB version and software? Thanks for your review, very interesting.
@Peter As far as I know the newer units all have USB rather than RS232, but you might want to confirm with the seller that the unit they are selling has that. Chinese resellers are notorious for being a bit erroneous in their advertising. You have to get the software for the XDM1041 from the Owon website.
@@Sui778 Mine comes with USB port but configuration is for RS232, I thing they put a RS232 to USB converter inside the new units. When you setting the software you need to configurate all the parameters for the RS232 inside the meter. Best Regards.
Good review. I like skipping the actual unboxing, myself. I wonder if the new firmware update addressed the capacitance and diode issues? I would like to see more direct accuracy comparisons to your 8804N. I like the Uni T better of course, but love the price of the OWON. Thx!
@Jay McLemore Unfortunately reports I have seen are that the latest firmware update did not fix the issue with the capacitance function - or make any other noticeable changes to the unit. I do not know this with absolute 100% certainty but I've seen attempts to update to the latest firmware that result in basically nothing other than the version changing in the utilities view. I suppose I could do a direct comparison on known components between the XDM1041 and UT8804N but in the meantime I can give you a quick rundown: Voltage- UT8804N is more accurate below 5V and slightly more accurate above 5V. Current - UT8804N is slightly more accurate. Diodes - UT8804N is significantly more accurate. Resistance - UT8804N is somewhat more accurate. Capacitance - about the same on values between 500pF to 10nF, but the UT8804N is more accurate on higher values and can measure all the way down to 22pF whereas the XDM1041 can't measure anything below 500pF. It's the terrible autoranging that makes the XDM1041 fall really short in this category. Continuity - about the same. Frequency - UT8804N is more accurate and has a wider range. Temperature - UT8804N is more accurate and can run two thermoprobes at the same time. Relative feature is superior on the UT8804N - can do multiple levels of REL whereas the XDM1041 can only do one level of REL. UT8804N has 20 times the memory onboard and can save auto data recordings in unique (and separate) filenames. The display is really nice on both - but the UT8804N has better facilities for dual displays and other secondary information. Finally - overall the UT8804N has faster (and better) autoranging and is generally faster to pick up higher value resistance and capacitance values. This does not make the XDM1041 a bad buy - it is very useful save the shortcomings on capacitance (and diodes to a lesser degree) - it makes a good secondary bench meter - but I cannot recommend this as a main do-it-all bench meter.
@@Sui778 Hi I have many multimeters, I have one Fluke 289ii, Fluke 28ii, Fluke 87v and many others. I have some problems with my eyes, I use the continuity mode only, some times I measure some voltage. I am thinking to buy this meter for the screen only, what about continuity? I don't undertand why I buy Us$600 dollars multimeter for test continuity only. Best Regards.
@@treadmillrepair754 The XDM-1041 is just fine for continuity and voltage readings - very accurate voltage readings as a matter of fact, especially on the DC side, and it's no slouch on the AC side either. Continuity is very responsive.
NIce job, thank you. What is the "rel" button doing ? I used "rel on" to compensate for the loss in my probe cables , in ohm mode the display goes to zero (and not 0.439 Ohm) when I CC the probes , but is it really a "zeroing " ? what mean "res" (sorry "rel" ) ? Thanks - PS I noticed you can define up to 1000 lines of recording, auto or manual (did not see how to display them btw !) Find no mention of the "REL" feature in the manual ;)
REL feature just zeroes out stuff before you take measurements. Just simple math to help compensate for better overall accuracy. In the case of your 0.439 ohms, it basically would subtract that amount to start at 0 before you measure the resistor - works similar with the other measurements as well. Not sure what you are referring to with "RES" - perhaps resolution? I'm not a fan of the onboard recording features of this unit - it's very basic and unorganized - you can't save a set of readings as a file onboard although I think the software probably could. I also don't like how recorded readings get appended on the end of a previous set of readings - kind of useless.
@@Sui778 Thank you (it is really writtent "Rel" on my 1041 (res was just a typo) , I guess it mean "release" so "zeroing" could do) I would not say I am much pleased with that multimeter You could measure 1-2 Ohm, I cannot, for instance (or I did not see where to optimize my readings I obtain an "overload" when reading R002 for instance ) I can read a moving 0.01 0.06 Ohms when courcicuiting some probes, is it normal that the values change at every trigger ? may be with double display I could see mean or max min values , when measuring shunts it would be convenient . Regards
@@IsaacOLEG I was particularly disappointed with the 1041's accuracy on diodes and the capacitor mode, while generally quite accurate for a standard DMM it is TERRIBLE with the auto-ranging on capacitors and it takes forever to get readings. You are not going to get the same readings on a component every single time - it will vary slightly - that even happens on the better meters I have. Now if you are saying it's wandering a bit - well I see that happen on some meters and others it settles. I'm not a big fan of drifting either. What I do like the 1041 for is voltage readings - it does a very good job of that - I use mine for monitoring voltage when charging up battery packs and such.
This meter has a lot of little inconsistencies. It was also odd that they didn't supply a thermocouple in the first place. The x041 series in general feels a lot like Owon just kinda slapped a lot of things together and a lot of it was just an afterthought.
@@lazal3m I haven't tested an AN870 personally so I cannot say for certain, but I have tested nearly 20 meters and the XDM1041 has outperformed all of them except my main bench meter on most measurements - but it is below average on diodes - tends to measure those a little too low for my taste.
When you measured small caps you were saying "it shall read lower than ... higher than ...." but you did not say what is the actual expected value so those tests were useless for us, viewers Also you did not say what the declared tolerance was of the measured caps and resistors so we do not know how did the unut perform
@@Sui778 thank's, for almost half the uni-t price this owon might be a good choice, despite the capacitance and auto range issue. Plus i like the push button function rather than rotary switch for bench DMM. Very good and detailed video anyway.
@fajarsan I'm more of a rotary guy, but to each their own. The XDM1041 would probably be fine for most people - the capacitance issue can be circumvented to a good degree by just measuring higher value caps using manual ranging. But if you need precise diode readings - there are better choices out there. The other thing you need to understand (and you probably observed) the XDM1041 isn't the fastest DMM in the world - it does tend to drag its feet a little. It's a great meter for my battery pack projects because its voltage accuracy is very good.
we are using the words "precise" and "precision" incorrectly here. if the meter shows a diode to be .501v every time you take a reading then the meter is PRECISE and has good Precision. if the diode should read .62v then the Accuracy of the meter in that mode is low but its Precision is still high.
Fantastic Review!!! In all honesty, almost everyone on TH-cam could take infinite lessons from your review. Beautiful, straight ahead, no bullshit, all useful info, no "cutesy" for your girlfriend/wife, no slow speed of a turtle, no useless info, no slick editing, no "I got this free so I will lie about it", No "I am obviously taking painkillers so I think I am profound when I am not" and best of all no bullshit "Hollywood" "Me Show" intro!!! .....just beautiful.
Thank you so much!!!
I appreciate that. I'm just a tell it like it is kinda guy and if there is a dirty truth (as is the case with this particular model) I point it out and move on. I have been inactive lately, but I have more coming, so stay tuned. Thanks again for your comments.
@@Sui778
I will. I like that big display and the price so I probably will buy either that one or the Owon model right above it. Soon, there will be no more cheap effective electronic gear and guys who repair things will be invaluable. I too tell it like it is.
If you're talking about the 1241 you might want to look at that to see if the capacitance mode behaves itself better - it's awful on the 1041.
@@Sui778
Yep, that's my concern.
Thanx for the video and your perspective. One of my hobbies is refurb and cal of Simpson / Triplett Analog meters. The calibration (depending on model) requires 5, 10 or 50 Microamps.. I built a source and can get the output to the desired Microamps for the cal. I bought this DMM because it is (was) the only affordable one I could find that has a resolution of 050.00 Microamps on the 500 Microamp range.. comparing it to a variety of DMM's I believe not only is the resolution great It appears to be quite accurate. I am also very impressed with how easy the display is to read, I have larger displays but on this one the contrast and color scheme is top notch.
I have a hand-held Hioki meter from 1985. It has a resolution on 10 nano amps in the 20 microamp range. Not bad for a 3 1/2 digit meter.
Perhaps it also wanted to compare the speed of reading values at Low, Med or High settings. There are definitely reading speed differences in the settings. Tony Albus already states in his review that the measurement speed is much better if you set the expected base value. It's a pity that you don't show the reading speed at different settings of the converter and the reading speed. It would be a better demonstration than still looking for the exact measurement value.
For some reasons, this thing refuses to read capacitors on the board while other cheap garbage meters have no problem doing so.
With vague accuracy but at the very least they give you rough idea that cap is at the very least not a resistor or dead completely.
So i kinda dont like it for that reason.
Yeah - I don't use mine to measure capacitors - that mode is definitely too wonky, and I'm not a fan of the diode function either. It's great for voltage, which is what I use it for.
You are wrong, if you want to test capacitors on board you need to use an ESR meter for that.
I bought many ESR meters but for my job I prefer the GME-236 is fast and precise.
Peak Atlas ESR is a good option inclusive.
I have one fluke 87v, one Fluke 28ii, one 289 series 2 but I never use it for test capacitors.
Due to my age my eyes are failing, i bought the XDM1041 for test continuity and DC voltage only, I like the big display.
I have one Siglent SDM3045 in one workbench and bought this one for my other bench.
Best Regards.
@@treadmillrepair754so how do you like it for capacitors?
Thanks for this... But let me ask you this: the manual and the spec sheet say that the 1041 has four ranges for capistance; 5nf, 500uf, 5mf and 50mf.
That's a lot of gaps there, or its a heck of a lot of range to cover in each setting, isn't it? Are there more ranges or something?
That's basically what it has - and I don't like it either. Capacitance isn't very well implemented on this, it's almost like it was just an afterthought. The sparse amount of ranges probably goes a long way to explaining why the unit gets so wonky when attempting to measure capacitors with greater values.
Considering caps tests issues I would say that manufacturer released the product thzt completely disqualifies it as a
Cap meter
Pretty much - but to be fair, all general purpose meters really aren't all that great for cap readings compared to LCR meters if you need it to be really precise.
Your review mentions and shows your unit with an RS232 port. I've seen the same meter with a USB port and then some with the RS232. Any commentary on why some have RS232 and others have USB and more importantly, how do you get the USB version and software? Thanks for your review, very interesting.
@Peter As far as I know the newer units all have USB rather than RS232, but you might want to confirm with the seller that the unit they are selling has that. Chinese resellers are notorious for being a bit erroneous in their advertising. You have to get the software for the XDM1041 from the Owon website.
@@Sui778 Thanks for the reply and answer.
@@DIYerGuy No problem!
@@Sui778 Mine comes with USB port but configuration is for RS232, I thing they put a RS232 to USB converter inside the new units.
When you setting the software you need to configurate all the parameters for the RS232 inside the meter.
Best Regards.
@@treadmillrepair754 I must have gotten an older unit then - mine's just a straight up RS-232 port.
Good review. I like skipping the actual unboxing, myself. I wonder if the new firmware update addressed the capacitance and diode issues? I would like to see more direct accuracy comparisons to your 8804N. I like the Uni T better of course, but love the price of the OWON. Thx!
@Jay McLemore Unfortunately reports I have seen are that the latest firmware update did not fix the issue with the capacitance function - or make any other noticeable changes to the unit. I do not know this with absolute 100% certainty but I've seen attempts to update to the latest firmware that result in basically nothing other than the version changing in the utilities view. I suppose I could do a direct comparison on known components between the XDM1041 and UT8804N but in the meantime I can give you a quick rundown:
Voltage- UT8804N is more accurate below 5V and slightly more accurate above 5V.
Current - UT8804N is slightly more accurate.
Diodes - UT8804N is significantly more accurate.
Resistance - UT8804N is somewhat more accurate.
Capacitance - about the same on values between 500pF to 10nF, but the UT8804N is more accurate on higher values and can measure all the way down to 22pF whereas the XDM1041 can't measure anything below 500pF. It's the terrible autoranging that makes the XDM1041 fall really short in this category.
Continuity - about the same.
Frequency - UT8804N is more accurate and has a wider range.
Temperature - UT8804N is more accurate and can run two thermoprobes at the same time.
Relative feature is superior on the UT8804N - can do multiple levels of REL whereas the XDM1041 can only do one level of REL.
UT8804N has 20 times the memory onboard and can save auto data recordings in unique (and separate) filenames.
The display is really nice on both - but the UT8804N has better facilities for dual displays and other secondary information.
Finally - overall the UT8804N has faster (and better) autoranging and is generally faster to pick up higher value resistance and capacitance values.
This does not make the XDM1041 a bad buy - it is very useful save the shortcomings on capacitance (and diodes to a lesser degree) - it makes a good secondary bench meter - but I cannot recommend this as a main do-it-all bench meter.
@@Sui778 Thank you for information. I think I will probably go with the Uni T.
It's a good one! But I will say I like the XDM1041 for what I use it for - this is a great companion to my DIY battery pack projects.
@@Sui778 Hi I have many multimeters, I have one Fluke 289ii, Fluke 28ii, Fluke 87v and many others.
I have some problems with my eyes, I use the continuity mode only, some times I measure some voltage.
I am thinking to buy this meter for the screen only, what about continuity?
I don't undertand why I buy Us$600 dollars multimeter for test continuity only.
Best Regards.
@@treadmillrepair754 The XDM-1041 is just fine for continuity and voltage readings - very accurate voltage readings as a matter of fact, especially on the DC side, and it's no slouch on the AC side either. Continuity is very responsive.
Just curious - is that menu ( OWON) always on or is there a way to see the display without it?
Yes - the menu is always on.
NIce job, thank you. What is the "rel" button doing ? I used "rel on" to compensate for the loss in my probe cables , in ohm mode the display goes to zero (and not 0.439 Ohm) when I CC the probes , but is it really a "zeroing " ? what mean "res" (sorry "rel" ) ? Thanks - PS I noticed you can define up to 1000 lines of recording, auto or manual (did not see how to display them btw !) Find no mention of the "REL" feature in the manual ;)
REL feature just zeroes out stuff before you take measurements. Just simple math to help compensate for better overall accuracy. In the case of your 0.439 ohms, it basically would subtract that amount to start at 0 before you measure the resistor - works similar with the other measurements as well. Not sure what you are referring to with "RES" - perhaps resolution? I'm not a fan of the onboard recording features of this unit - it's very basic and unorganized - you can't save a set of readings as a file onboard although I think the software probably could. I also don't like how recorded readings get appended on the end of a previous set of readings - kind of useless.
@@Sui778 Thank you (it is really writtent "Rel" on my 1041 (res was just a typo) , I guess it mean "release" so "zeroing" could do) I would not say I am much pleased with that multimeter You could measure 1-2 Ohm, I cannot, for instance (or I did not see where to optimize my readings I obtain an "overload" when reading R002 for instance ) I can read a moving 0.01 0.06 Ohms when courcicuiting some probes, is it normal that the values change at every trigger ? may be with double display I could see mean or max min values , when measuring shunts it would be convenient . Regards
@@IsaacOLEG I was particularly disappointed with the 1041's accuracy on diodes and the capacitor mode, while generally quite accurate for a standard DMM it is TERRIBLE with the auto-ranging on capacitors and it takes forever to get readings. You are not going to get the same readings on a component every single time - it will vary slightly - that even happens on the better meters I have. Now if you are saying it's wandering a bit - well I see that happen on some meters and others it settles. I'm not a big fan of drifting either. What I do like the 1041 for is voltage readings - it does a very good job of that - I use mine for monitoring voltage when charging up battery packs and such.
current test?
38:15, the font used for the temperature unit is not consistent with all of the other fonts.
This meter has a lot of little inconsistencies. It was also odd that they didn't supply a thermocouple in the first place. The x041 series in general feels a lot like Owon just kinda slapped a lot of things together and a lot of it was just an afterthought.
I am currently using an Aneng AN870. Would you say that this is a good upgrade? I can buy the XDM1041 in my area for $65 shipped.
For that price I would say it's probably a good upgrade.
@@Sui778 If price is not a factor, would you recommend this over an Aneng AN870? Is it more accurate? Thanks!
@@lazal3m I haven't tested an AN870 personally so I cannot say for certain, but I have tested nearly 20 meters and the XDM1041 has outperformed all of them except my main bench meter on most measurements - but it is below average on diodes - tends to measure those a little too low for my taste.
@@Sui778 I appreciate your advice. Thanks and have a great day.
@@lazal3m where are you that it is that cheap?
good review!
Oh yes I am subscribing (-:
When you measured small caps you were saying "it shall read lower than ... higher than ...." but you did not say what is the actual expected value so those tests were useless for us, viewers
Also you did not say what the declared tolerance was of the measured caps and resistors so we do not know how did the unut perform
Watch my older videos. Then you'll understand why I didn't declare the values - they already have been established over and over.
Did uni T had the math function button ?
Yes, the UT8804N has math functions - just that UNI-T refers to math functions as "Stats". I show them in the video I did for that one.
@@Sui778 thank's, for almost half the uni-t price this owon might be a good choice, despite the capacitance and auto range issue. Plus i like the push button function rather than rotary switch for bench DMM. Very good and detailed video anyway.
@fajarsan I'm more of a rotary guy, but to each their own. The XDM1041 would probably be fine for most people - the capacitance issue can be circumvented to a good degree by just measuring higher value caps using manual ranging. But if you need precise diode readings - there are better choices out there. The other thing you need to understand (and you probably observed) the XDM1041 isn't the fastest DMM in the world - it does tend to drag its feet a little. It's a great meter for my battery pack projects because its voltage accuracy is very good.
@@Sui778 thank's for the info
we are using the words "precise" and "precision" incorrectly here.
if the meter shows a diode to be .501v every time you take a reading then the meter is PRECISE and has good Precision.
if the diode should read .62v then the Accuracy of the meter in that mode is low but its Precision is still high.