Thanks for United Kindom customer's feedback on our GVDA GD109 Small pen type multimeter
Everything is getting smaller, except perhaps televisions. While voltage testers have never really been all that large, it often struck me that it would be really nice to have one stuck in my pocket for the odd time I need to check something and haven't had a multimeter with me.
It will take a very small Philips screwdriver (not included), and you remove the bottom screw on the back only. The cover takes a slight bit of prying to pop off. Batteries slide in negative first. It also has an instruction booklet that is well written and is not in butchered English. It does have a section in Chinese as well. Also has an online tutorial for those in need of instruction.
The negative probe fits in to the bottom of the tester and has a cover on the probe. Interestingly, the positive has two covers, with one leaving just the tip exposed, and then in removing the second cover you have a full-length probe.
I tested it next to some more expensive equipment and the readings were very similar. Certainly within a reasonable margin of error for most electrical work (this has a +/- .5% margin for DC and +/- .8% for AC). I like having auto-sensing on these. Flipping dials around is not only annoying, but I have blown two multimeters not noticing that I clicked the knob one setting too far and had it on ohms instead of AC voltage. Now it usually is replacement of a fuse, but I would prefer not even having to think about it. My auto multimeter simply disconnects the resistance setting if I touch it to live current.
This little thing is easy to read and so convenient. It has AC, DC (nope, no rock bands), and resistance in Auto mode, as well as pushing the function button to get frequency measurement, capacitance, diode, non-contact phase detection, and you can have it operate like many other testers this size that tell you when there is a live wire - unlike those little pen testers that light up or beep, this also will display whether is is a weak electric field (L) or a strong one (H).
Great little tool to have, and far more useful than those detectors that beep whether you have .5 volts of current or 125 volts - many a time my wife has claimed a circuit is fine on her car restoration project because her detector is beeping. I take my meter and show her she has virtually no current and she needs to find the problem. Those little detectors are useful, but this one is so much more so.
