In article ,
says...

On Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 7:46:08 PM UTC-5, Ralph Mowery wrote:

On ebay there are devices like the Peak that are not in a case but are
functional. They are only about $ 20. They do not rip you off like
Peak in that one device will check the transistors and capacitors
(active and passive components).
I have one and put it in a case. I works very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ49GCnf0V4 Review of the Peak Atlas.

It acquits itself quite nicely against some pretty high-end meters. So on the "pro" side:

a) it is accurate against some industry-standard devices.
b) it is self-contained and serves both to measure capacitance and ESR. Doing two things well rather than many things less well.
c) it will discharge capacitors without damage.
d) it is NOT made in China.
e) it will measure in-circuit and out.

I keep four meters on the bench:

B&K LCR meter
Fluke "true RMS" VOM
Peak Atlas Transistor/diode checker

And the aforementioned meter. In my traveling kit (Kutztown twice per year, and when 'in the field', I keep a very vintage Radio Shack Japanese VOM, and the AnaTek ESR meter.

Paying a premium for my meters to get reliability, predictability and function is by no means any sort of rip-off. I have been known to pay $40 for a pair of box-joint Linesman Pliers (ChannelLock) rather than $8.99 for a similar-in-size piece of Chinese Junque.

Good (new) tools are not cheap. Cheap (new) tools are not good.



You should have looked at this persons comparison:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbHGpA1jrJE

The ripoff by Peak is that they could have combined two devices in one
meter as it is mostly software. They chose to only enable passive or
active devices to they can sell two boxes and double the profit.

I agree it is good to pay more for a quality instrument, but lately
there seems to be some very good quality items comming from China,
especially if you look at the price of them. I just bought a 200 MHz
scope and a function generator made in China from a company in the US.
They work very well.

Bein a ham radio operator I have bought some of the trnsceivers from
China and have contacts with many more. Some of them work very well and
a lot less then the Japan vesions. There are also some junk copies of
the Japan radios that do not work well at all.