Uni-T UT204A vs Mastech MS2108, two cheap clamp meters compared

Just bought the Mastech, same case but the selector is fine, with end stops. Leads are CATIV 10A 18AWG rated to 1000V. Overall I like it, a nice simple TRMS meter for general use, and quite nice. Got mine from Frankie, good price and worth it for the price. Bought because I want the true RMS measure, the DC as well was just a bonus.

UT204 (non-A) is a better choice if you want True RMS.

Although you are trying to give it an impression of a professional review a more observant viewer and listener will find it significantly biased if not misleading.

Why dismantle it! if you can't put it back together ?(Sorry but you have damaged it with those unsteady hands) -My Mastech MS2108 meter is absolutely fine in line with the other review.

This is a professional review: watch?v=oQbIjp1QdUg

Unsteady hands in front of a camera perhaps. You can believe me or not, the thing had stripped screws and the light cable broke just by taking it apart a coupe of times. I had a sample of one and that does not mean that all of these meters are bad. I got a bad one.

Yes he does very nice reviews. I have not watched this video yet but I will now of course. Keep in mind that this is not his first Mastech. He had issues with others too. Quality control must be a very low concern for Mastech.

I would welcome specific points to your assertions. I am happy to answer any further questions and/or possibly change my views if you can point out my bias specifically. If you mean by misleading that I am lying intentionally to support some hidden agenda, please specify!

I just watched the review of the MS2108A here watch?v=oQbIjp1QdUg . Yes his meter is much better than mine. The difference is that it is a different model. It is NOT TRMS and the circuit board is completely different. It is obvious that his was better assembled than the meter I received. I have still not changed my mind on the MS2108. It is built down to a price and will not last even if you get one properly built in the first place.

It's funny how I get the most opposing views on the Mastech brand. Some people love their meters, some hate them. In my experience if there is such a big range of opinions on a manufacturer or product then there is some basis for believing that there are problems.

Light ages, I can't help but notice that your  Mastech in this video looks identical to the Klein CL200 I just bought, including the case, and the leads.  Do you know if Klein bought them out? and if so, did they just use already manufactured meters and rebranded them? or did they modify the design and remanufacture them? would love to see you do a video comparing the Mastech with the Klein. thanks

As everyone knows, Google has  made total mess of the comments system and I cannot reply to some comments. Sorry but it is not my fault.

I like your Canadian OUT

Have you tested the clamp measuring DC current down to miliamps?  I'm curious if this would be a good cheap unit for electronics

I have an MT87 clamp meter. It seems very sturdy, but also cost very little.  I can't seem to find a decent review on it anywhere. Im curious if its is a piece of crap, or if it does the job. Would you have any idea about this one, and would you be willing to review it?

First I'd like to say thank you for the in depth comparison and I wouldn't buy the Mastech MS2108 at any price. I'm just looking for an AC clamp meter to test several inefficient high demand devices around the house before replacing them with new ones. The UT204A should work fine.

Now he tells me.  A few weeks late.  Anyway, at least I got some great leads from the Mastech.  RMS is good too.

Have you tried out brymen clamp meters? I have a top of the line bm869 multimeter and its great apart from the viewing angle and contrast of the display, now im looking for a general purpose clamp meter and considering the brymen bm189 or the newer and more expensive bm079. i dont work in distribution boards but sometimes have to measure DC currents over 10A.

I bought a much cheaper and better featured one. It's German and is called HoldPeak HP-870. It's cheaper than both of these, does true-RMS and measures DC up to 1000Amps. Do check it out as an alternative. The only thing it doesn't do that the Mastech does is in-rush current and the LED working light.

Great vid, thanks. Can you please tell me what clamp meter will measure ac / DC amp draw? Really don't want to spend much on a clamp meter. I want to measure the amp draw from an 11hp DC motor. Thanks

you're just biased man

I would never call either one of these meters "industrial meter".
And I wouldn't trust the cat ratings on either. Without the UL rating is fear the blast of both of them.
Lucky for me I'll stay with my fluke for the big jobs, I'm just looking at these for a cheap clamp for DC estimates and won't be using any of the other features. For that maybe the mastech so I have a decent spare set of probes?
Do you have a video to compare amperage readings?

I was considering the mastech for checking the capacitor on my home's AC, but the meter's accuracy is only 4% and my parts supplier said to replace the capacitor when its capacitance drops by 5%. So this meter isn't accurate enough for me. Any suggestions. I am new at this.

I NEED ONE CLAMP METER

Great vid, thanks!

Not to sure if its a typo or a new version of the board but on amazon they are saying true RMS

I'd love to see more reviews done as thoroughly as this one.

you tested two CLAMP meters but I didn't notice any testing with the clamps ?

I just bought the recent version of the 2108, and the quality has been much improved since your video. Very heavy duty seeming unit. And I only paid 38 bucks for it. Guess we'll see how well it lasts. Thanks for the video.

Heck, I had lead snap in with my more expensive meters. Sometimes the lineup is a bit off but once it snapped in it was very secure.

Thanks a lot!

Forget the averaging meters... you can't measure LEDs or other electronic whatnots with that. You'll need RMS, unless you plan to travel 30 years back in time to use the meter.

That Mastech design seems to have been copied by a number of manufacturers, including Aimotek, Hyelec and Bside. Most just call them MS2108, I'm wondering if the design went open source or someone just documented the heck out of the manufacturing while working on it.

edit: On the bright side, the Hyelec copy at least improved on the design a tiny bit by making the wheel better, and then the majority of the copies seemed to have copied that.

Nice information

ive just bought a ut204 with rms and dc clamp meter, the price has now dropped to 17 UKP from amazon uk seller, just got it and did a quick test (does not have thermo measurement or capacitance)

Thanks for the review.
I like to buy clamp meter for my car.What you would you advice me to buy if between Mastech 2115 a and. UNI-T ut 216c.

Regardless of all the caveats associated with a sample size of one, I'll say I've been pretty happy with the Mastech MS2108. It's held up well through several years of residential and commercial HVAC/R work. It was savagely chewed on by a stupid dog, and looks a little sad afterwards, but still works OK. I've checked and it's still well within its specified tolerances on all test ranges.

I do wish it had temperature sensing capability (characters exist in the display for this), a backlight that stayed on until shut off, and -- yes -- an easier to see control dial. A white paint pen on the dial solved that.

Mine also does the odd bit of "floating" around in both current ranges. On DC, the meter performs some kind of zeroing process (and indicates such in the display) but it doesn't stick. Perhaps it's a firmware bug? I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum, thinking as I do that the UT-204A looks a lot cheaper than the Mastech. (For whatever it's worth, I didn't break anything in the MS2108 whenever I've had it open, and the build/soldering quality was much better than your example.)

I'd buy the Mastech again if my current example ever dies.

Meter made from which country ?

I have had that Mastech one for close to 10 years now, still going strong. Weird thing is that everything he says about the selector dial is not like that on mine. The dial on mine is very crisp and solid, hard to stick between two settings and it has hard stops on the OFF positions. It's almost as if the Mastech in the video is a clone knockoff, but that would be ridiculous seeing that it's already a cheap chinese clamp meter. Perhaps bad manufacturing or QC on it, and this was a bad one?

Hi, I bought a MASTECH MS2108 a year ago.
But now the the voltage measurement is incorrect. Is it possible recalibrate it? Thank you very much.

Where is the point comparing two clamp meters without showing the clamp measurements? :)

I have the Masstech (redistributed by German company WÜRTH as AS 600). I also had to resolver the cable to the LED. the meter is ok. But you can’t see what you selected. Annoying. Thanks for the review.

explode in the hand? If you put it on the thick wires in a power panel it could explode in your hand?

Mastech is good but there's a lot of variants for the same model the one you have is different from the one i have because mine have the model number near the display, is the same but mine said clearly "MS2108S".