Amprobe ACDC-52NAV AC/DC CAT IV 600 A TRMS Navigator Clamp Meter

Ok, let's establish one thing at the onset, clamp meters are a necessity for HVAC work, and everyone has their likes and dislikes, so picking a clamp meter is a lot of personal preference. Some guys will carry nothing but a Fluke, others will carry anything.The ACD-51-NAV has most of the features you'd ever need, so we'll start with the good.It has a great display and backlight, one of the easiest to read of any clamp meter. It is very accurate, so no worries there. It will easily read to .1 AAC, or 100 milliamps. Most meters cannot discern this low an amp reading thru the clamp. It has a neat voltage feature where it detects AC or DC and reads appropriately, no switching between then, unless you just like doing that, in that case, there's the manual selector. Capacitance is both fast and accurate. Continuity is loud and quite fast. Resistance is 100K ohms, and relatively fast and very accurate. It does microamps DC for checking flame rectification. It does Acitve power and power factor, for EER, SEER calculations, and capacitance justification on motors. It does inrush and will catch even very low inrush such as a fan motor starting, and can even do active power on low amp loads, most meters cannot. There's just not much it doesn't do well. It's built strong and feels good in the hand. The rubberized coating is fantastic. The joystick navigation which seemed like a gimmick when I bought the meter has become one of the best features. It is easy, straight forward and quick to get whatever reading you need.The bad:Not a lot to gripe about here, but a few annoyances. It will not measure millivolts, so no thermocouple checking. It has no magnetic hanger. Although i could care less, it has no lead storage, but some folks like that. Really, if you can live without millivolts, this is a fine meter indeed. I occasionally see a thermocouple, so I have to have another meter for those odd times, but in reality, it's pretty seldom. Certainly not enough to keep me for carrying this meter day in and day out.No meter does it all. Believe me, I've tried most of the HVAC meters and they all have their hangups. You just have to use one and see if it fits your needs. I like to use my meter to see if remote fans or small blowers are running, which may draw less than an amp, so I want a meter that can easily confirm that. I also love the feature that detect AC or DC voltage, it's one of those things that seems like a gimmick til you get used to it and it's fantastic.Other meters leave out so many features. The Flukes are missing way too many, don't have continuity beepers you can hear, no inrush, no millivolts, no hangers, etc, so they're a no go for me. Fieldpiece are great and have all the features, but some of the newer ones can't read really low amps. UEI meters are ok, but are slow to respond. So as you can see, everything has it's pros and cons.Try one of the Amprobe clamp meters and I think you'll see, they're pretty darn good.

This is in my opinion the best value multi-meter on the market! I love the build quality, but the functionality is awesome. In addition to what you'd expect from a multi-meter, it will also measure THD, Harmonics, Phase Angle, and Inrush Current. It does more functionality than just about any multi-meter I have used. The amp clamps are able to measure AC and DC power also. Very nice, I attached photos of the screen when testing the power from my Generator. I was surprised that the low load THD was nearly the same as what I am getting on Grid power. Awesome awesome meter! I think you can even pay a little more and get this NIST calibrated. Overall I highly recommend this meter, I am very happy with it, and the power quality measurement for AC power being added, as well as the other extra features, are a HUGE bonus over the Fluke clamp meter in the same category. Now surprisingly, this company is also owned by Fluke so you know it's a good product.

Positive points - Very good clamp meter, with adicional functions only found tipicaly on power clamp meters, which helps for troubleshooting. The non contact voltage indicator in really usefull, so as the led flashlight in the clamp. Big bright display, and selection of function by joystick is practical and still fast. Tested it with voltage standard plus, and the readings are reliable. Already opened it (to clean out dust), and internal build quality is very good, so it is build to last many years, and based on imput protection components, certainly meets cat IV 600v rating.Negative points - joystick is prone to dust or particules that can block it, so watch out for use on very rough environments, and shock proof to 1,2mt, based on my experience, is too optimistic (still works fine and it is resistante, but breaking the plastic tips on the egde of the left part of the clamp is too easy)

This is an excellent industrial meter for motors, HVAC, power panels, etc. The meter has a large number of features, but the Nav button makes it easy to select the desired feature. Accuracy seems very good. Used Hamonics and PF on VFD and the readings seemed consistent with theoretical predictions, and confirmed the high harmonics that VFD places on supply. The voltage sense and clamp light are nice safety and convenience features. This is now my primary meter for power and motor work.

all ok

This is a very handy clamp ammeter for with an affordable price. You can take wide range of measurements, even checking phase rotation, harmonic content, and power consumption on three phase circuits. There are peak hold and auto range / range hold functions. The clamp is LED illuminated when the trigger is pressed to open the clamp. Pretty much any AC or DC measurement you need to make at frequencies in the KHz range is available. The manual does a good job of explaining how to explaining how to make measurements with this meter.There are a few things the could use improvement. The upper limit of resistance measurements is less than I expect. Being able to rotate the clamp would make it easier to see the display in tight spaces. Finally, the battery life is good, but seems like it could be longer. Over all this meter is a good value and less expensive than the competition.