EXCEL XL830L Volt Testing LCD Digital Multimeter, Multi-Tester

This is a great value-for-money little gadget, even if you just use it for testing batteries and fuses. I bought a cheap £2 analogue battery tester from China which took 3 weeks to arrive and in the meantime decided to investigate digital testers. I couldn't believe that this multimeter was available from a UK based seller for just over £4 including a 9V battery and postage! (from UK TRADE CENTRE LTD). So I ordered one and 2 days later it arrived! I was prepared to be disappointed but on opening the no-fuss cardboard box I was pleased that the device was exactly as shown on the amazon product page and had a very reasonable look and feel for under £5. The display is very clear with a nice blue backlight, the selector knob is pretty rugged and not loose or cheap feeling at all. I tested out a few measurements at 2V and 20V setting (voltage) of some batteries I had previously checked in a more expensive battery tester and the readings were in very good agreement, less than 1% variation over about a dozen batteries. I also had a fancy USB power monitor and again this multimeter had very close agreement with voltages. It even has a pretty good yellow plastic protector case, so you can throw the meter in your tool case without too much worry. Definite 5 stars for such a cheap but useful tool. The continuity meter is not as good as a Fluke meter obviously, it has a slight delay, so useless for sensitive electronics, but is perfectly usable for checking audio cables and similar. I took some photos of inside and outside of the meter, quality is as expected but not too shabby. Be careful to lift the case from the bottom so as not to snap the two small plastic tabs at the top, and if you remove the pcb and the dial comes loose take care to ensure the two ball bearings go back in the dial in the small holes either side of the dial. I wouldn't use this for any high voltage work except maybe to test a mains plug, but for basic home use it is an ideal tool to have. Particularly good for testing button cell batteries, just put it on 20V setting, lay the cell batteries with positive flat side down and use one probe to touch the top and hold the battery down and the other probe to touch the side, you can test a dozen cell batteries really quickly in succession like this.For such an inexpensive gadget there are some cons, the instruction manual is generic rubbish, even refers to unsupported functions like temp measurement and test signal output, but just search youtube for a video on how to use a multimeter. The hold button is next to useless when using the probes, you don't have a free hand to press the button! (quality meters have a min/max reading while you are measuring so you don't need to press a button separately). No autoranging. No proper input protection (so don't use for high voltage/current work). No capacitance mode. And it's only a 2000 count meter, the lowest digital range available.edit: another con, probes are terrible, wire just breaks off after a little bit of twisting and you can't access the back of the metal probe to resolder it! Suggest you use a bit of duct tape at the entry point of the wire into the plastic shaft, that should prevent twisting for a while, you'll get better longevity. In any case you can get pretty good probes for a couple of quid,so I won't remove a star.

Good product for the price. User guide mentions temperature test option but there is no setting on the dial that I can find but no big deal. There is a backlight and protective case and it's supplied with nine volt battery and you will need a small Phillips head screwdriver to take the back battery cover off when it is time to replace the battery. The rotary dial moves around nicely and you know exactly which which setting you have it on as you would expect from more expensive models. The backlight is certainly bright enough and you have plenty of options for testing and I can't complain as it is ideal for what I need it for. I tested the voltage on AAA alkaline batteries to see which ones were dead and it seems accurate .Included in the box with the meter is the user guide and testing leads It will suit my needs as I do not have much use for one and bought it to check a fridge component. I am very happy with this meter and I recommend it to anyone who does not need a professional grade one and who just needs it for checking household items or components. A great buy.

Bought this to replace a 25 year old multimeter which finally gave up the ghost. I don't need to use it much so I bought this XL830L model for only £4.29, almost too cheap! It arrived quickly and is exactly as advertised. It has far too many functions for me but the main power test, continuity test and battery test functions all work fine. Nice touch to have a little stand at the back and a backlight. Instructions are brief but adequate and written in good English! Nice little box to keep it in as well.Came with working battery and the compartment lid at the back is secured by one cross head screw, not difficult to remove at all - with the right screwdriver - so I assume some of the negative reviews about this part must refer to a different model. Only issue is that the battery is a tight fit in the compartment so takes a bit of fiddling to get out.Probably not something you would use if you were a professional, the leads seem a bit lightweight for regular daily use, but for occasional domestic testing mains, fuses, batteries etc. it is ideal. Still don't know how they do it for 4 quid!

Purchased from SEEM. Would have given 0 start if possible. Extremely poor quality, there is NO glass (transparent plastic) on the lcd for impact protection as shown in pictures. When I opened the multimeter from back side. The fuse is SOLDERED Directly on the board and cannot be replaced biggest quality problem. Also the board is smaller than the older XL830L that I have purchased in the past. The two buttons for hold and backlight have press rubbers which are not fully going on the board, half of the push rubbers are free in air as the board under them is very small second biggest quality problem, note these push rubbers are like the rubbers under the buttons of XBOX 360 controller. The lcd on my old xl830l is in a big black plastic shell and a separate black unit which is then soldered and screwed on the board under it. But in this there is no board under the lcd, lcd itself has no plastic shell and lcd is fitted straight on the case of the multimeter in the front, that is there is not protection of any kind on the lcd. On the inside LCD is fitted with "wires strip" to the front of board with very flimsy "wires strap". The test leads are good. The looks on the outside are good but still it is extremely poor quality product. Do not buy it.

As the title says, the multimeter I received is not the one shown in the picture. Far from it - it is much smaller and has a smaller display.However, the product does work and I only bought this because I wanted a cheap multimeter that does the job.The continuity tester function is sluggish and the screen updates are slow compared to more expensive multimeters, but hey it's cheap.