Multimeter Angen 683

This post is about my Angen 683 multi-meter that i recently received from AliExpress.

The last time i did buy a multi-meter was in 2017 when i got a M890G and i am still very happy with this 10 year old multi-meter. 

Sometimes people ask, what is a good (or bad) multi-meter and, on internet, you find many opinions about that. It also depends on how you are going to use the meter and it is easy to create multiple blog posts about this topic. In this post i only mention this relative simple ideas about it:

• Any (safe) multi-meter is better than no multi-meter. After a while you probably will need 2 multi-meters (to measure current and voltage at the same time experimenting) however for a starter in electronics start with one.
• If you work with higher voltages (>40 volt) it is important that your meter is safe.
• When measuring it is important that the measuring device does influence the measurement as less as possible: In the current measuring mode the meter needs to have a low resistance and in the voltage mode it needs to have a high resistance. This is especially important when you need to connect and disconnect the meter during an experiment. 
• Multi-meters can have additional features (special measurements or special ranges, temperature, frequency, capacitors, data logging, communication to other devices (bluetooth, wifi), voice output, light, robustness etc).  Some of these features are now common on most multi-meters, look for what you need. 
• For professional use and personal/hobby use can have different requirements (like yearly certified calibration or standardization within a company. 

Back to the Angen 683 multi-meter; Why did i select this one? Much of it was an impulse when i did see this nice meter. (However i did search for reviews and other options before buying it.)  Some nice features are now common available in this, and other, multi-meters that where not available when i did buy my previous meter. (Built in wireless mains sensor, flashlight, using rechargeable battery  etc.). Angen does sell many multi-meters. The price of the Angen 683 was relative low. I did pay just above 30 euros. (For my previous M890G i did pay just above 12 euros in 2017 and now (jul2023) this meter is sold new for around 20.50 euro). On my old meter i did miss the auto range. The Angen has auto-range and auto-selection. The meter is a little bit smaller than my old one however it still has a big display. The result is displayed digital and there is also an analog bar. A nice cover/case for the meter is included.

I have this meter now for a few weeks and i am extreme happy with it, also with the the nice, extreme flexible test leads.

Some reviewers of multi-meters mention that, in general with most auto-range meters, the display is slower that with direct select. For me the speed of the Angen 863 is oké and when i manual needed to select the range on my previous meter the total process was much slower.

During my first measurements i was a little worried when i heard a clicking sound. However that was a relay inside the multi-meter,

The only minus points until now are:

• On the (very nice) case is no indication that it is for this multi-meter. I solved this with a  label (printed with my Nimbot label printer ) so i can easy find it.
• Sometimes the touch screen gets black at small point where i made a selection and this changes back only after a small delay.

As expected the measurements are oké and comparable with what i measured with my other devices. On the internet (also on YouTube) you can find many reviews and tear-downs of this meter and also specs and the manual so i will not repeat that here. 

The Angen 863 is a nice multi-meter and i am very happy with this purchase.