A lot of hams swear by the AADE LC Meter. It seems like a relatively accurate instrument, and the price is right—$100 for a kit, $130 for an assembled unit.
Today, however, I just received a press release from Agilent (the company that used to be Hewlett Packard), touting two new LCR meters – the U1731A and U1732A. These look like really nice instruments that hams will want to take a look at.
The U1731A sells for $275, while the U1732A sells for $330. As far as I can tell from the spec sheet, the only difference between the two is that the U1731A has two test frequencies—120Hz and 1 kHz—while the U1732A has four test frequencies—100 Hz, 120Hz, 1 kHz, and 10 kHz.
As you might expect with a professional instrument, there’s a three-year warranty on the instrument. There are also a number of useful options for the U1731A/U1732A, including a carrying case ($20), SMD tweezer ($30), and AC power adapter ($35).
Looks like a great instrument to me. It would be interesting to get one and compare it head-to-head with the AADE meter.
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