DT9989 scope meter review

[DanielWH]

Dear  Kiriakos, through those pages   http://mjlorton.com/forum/index.php?topic=64.0 I have learned
that You have got a sample of scope meter DT9989 and that You have made or are preparing
review of this scope meter. I wanted to buy it but then I have read some  bad comments
on Czech pages about this scope meter. So I would like to ask You about Your experiences
with this scope meter.
I have find another scope meter “ OWON HDS1021M” in the similar price
range but also I have found no review of this scope meter on the web.

[Kiriakos GR]

Hi Daniel,

It is true that I had come in contact with CEM about this subject.
What happened was that the company told me in the beginning to wait so to finalize the product.
Four months later I got their reply that they are ready to ship one over, four days later they changed their opinion due further needed improvements, and they set me on hold again.
The same story ( Go & Stop) repeated it self and another two times in the next three months.

Their behavior it did made me to feel as a huge idiot, and I do not wish any further communication with them.


What I do know is that they tried to present it this month in the Electronica 2012 (Germany),  CEM came with the team of companies of Morocco, and they was there as retailer under a different company name.

Personally I do not have any idea if they made this DT9989 to work properly.

What it matters to me, is that their management is totally unreliable.
I do respect all the companies that I cooperate with, and I have extreme understanding about their difficulties in finalizing a product.
Personally I have spit blood and buckets of sweat countless times, so to deliver top class work at my customers.
But I hate lies and the polite fooling around behavior.

I am sorry that I did not added anything useful as technical information, and my text is a plain rant, but I was too proud to write this by my self with out been asked in public about this matter.

But I will give you one more generic advice about the portable scopes, go for a large screen, the 3 inch screens are very small for true waveform analysis. 

[Phyllomedusa]

Well, I had been interested in the DT-9979 and contacted them several times without success as we always search some useful and not too expensive tools for automotive testing.....
I just asked for the retail price and availability.....no sample product no discount or anything.

After several tries I told them that it's fine not to sell anything but at least someone should reply as this is a very unpolite way (which may work for global players with a monopole position on the market) and then got a reply.

They told me they were sorry, the model isn't ready for the market yet, but they would build one for me to buy.

So it's seems to be a common problem there......and I don't want to pay about 250Euro with shipping and customs to be the beta tester when I can get a slightly used Fluke 287 with 50Euro on top.

Funny enough....the meters are sold here and there on the internet. When CEM's statement is right, these would be prerelease models.
So it could be a try, but you'll probably have problems when there is an issue with that device. If you want a handheld device and you're short on money...the Owon may be much better and is on the market for a while.
In the 400Euro region you get a lot more opportunities (Hantek DSO1000 Series, Siglent SHS806).

I use a Hantek DSO1202B (200MHz with 1M Memory), which was about 460Euro shipped and after customs.

I don't want to bring you away from the CEM (it might actually be very good but I newer had one in hand) but there COULD be issues and there are alternatives for it.

[DanielWH]

Thank You for Your answers. For some proper analysis I have got Rigol DS1064B on my bench
but I would need some small portable scope more for some approximate measurements
for service and for some measurements where I need the scope ground to be isolated.
And the budget is unfortunately limited.

The comment I have read on Czech pages about DT9989 could be summed up
this way : multimeter part is for the money very good but the scope part is usable only for signals
bigger than 1V and max. 1 MHz and only for very approximate measurements.

So I wanted to know if this guy had only bad luck and bought bad piece or it is a common
feature of this scope and I did not find any other comments about this scope on web.

I know that Owon bench scopes is a reasonable quality so I will assume that this handheld
scope will be reasonable quality as well. After I have read Your experiences with CEM
I will not risk.

Thank You once again.

[Kiriakos GR]

The comment I have read on Czech pages about DT9989 could be summed up
this way : multimeter part is for the money very good but the scope part is usable only for signals
bigger than 1V and max. 1 MHz and only for very approximate measurements.

The final specifications are about a 10MHz scope meter.
I would expect to be usable up to 2MHz which would offer a minimum of five sample points at this frequency. 

My use for it would be just to check the output of one Uninterruptible power supply at 220V, or similar DC/AC inverters, so to detect distorted AC. 

Yes there is similar solutions from known brand names, and I do understand that the cost is high.
The financial condition in all Europe downgrades our buying power by 45% , even the reasonable priced meters, today looks expensive.
But the market is still moving, I have the hope that something else as scope meter will show up in 2013. 

[Phyllomedusa]

well...could work, but we don't know ....so maybe don't risk it. Here we have really no info. In eastern europe CEM and Hantek seem to be much more used than here in Germany or France.

With my Handheld the multimeter-mode is junk.....but I always have my DMM's with me, so that's fine .

Sounds stupid......save the money and have a look for a used fluke 123 or so? I saw them for about 500 Euro from time to time......that would be high-end and usable

BTW: what do you want to test with the Handheld scope (Electronics, Engines, Electric motor drives?).....I am always eager to learn what others use the tools for