I have a small electronics lab, and I already own a Heathkit 2240 "digital LC bridge", a piece of bench test equipment from the 1980s that still does a good job for me. But the 2240 does not allow testing reactive components (capacitor and inductors) at different frequencies, and it does not provide much other information, such as leakage. I also wanted to have a second piece of equipment to double check the readings I get from the 2240 whenever I might question the readings. LCR meters tend to be very pricey, and only a few are in the low hundreds of dollars. Even no-name Chinese LCR meters are usually several hundred dollars. There are a few LCR meter kits that are under $100, but I doubt that these will be very reliable and/or accurate. This Extech brand model LCR200 appears to be a newer replacement for, or complement to, an older Extech model 380193 (note the very different model numbering scheme). Although Extech is supposedly a US company, I don't think they design or manufacture anything, and probably are more into rebadging and distributing equipment from Taiwan and China. Still, they are a name brand with a support presence in the USA. The price difference between the 380193 and the LCR200 was only a handful of dollars, so I went with the newer LCR200 model. Upon inspection, this appears to be a decent quality entry-level piece of gear, not to be confused with bench or professional level test equipment. I would think this is probably adequate for occasional/casual component identification and testing. The plastic case is just like pretty much any other piece of decent quality handheld gear, and does not feel at all wobbly, weak, or flimsy. Indeed, this Extech case feels about the same as B+K and Fluke handhelds I have. The large backlit LCD display is pretty decent, and easy to read. There are 13 'rubber' pushbuttons for selecting modes of operation: - Power on/off - Display backlight on/off - Self-calibration - Test frequency select - Hold - L/C/R mode select - Enter/Sort/Setup button set - Up/down/left/right navigation & value adjust button set; the LEFT button does double duty as a secondary parameter select button, the RIGHT button is also used to select SER/PAR, which pertains to how the meter tests for series or parallel LCR values, and normally this mode is selected automatically, and finally the DOWN button also allows selecting the meter to test multiple components against a stored reference value. The meter normally determines whether the component under test is a capacitor, an inductor, or a resistor, but you can override this with the L/C/R button. The meter displays the primary parameter (L, C, R) with larger numbers, and it displays the secondary parameter using smaller numbers below the primary display. Using the LEFT button, you can choose which secondary value to display: - D (dissipation) - Q (quality) - R (resistance) - ESR (equivalent series resistance) - Θ [theta] (phase) The meter defaults to a test frequency of 1kHz. Using the FREQ button, you can change this to 100Hz, 120Hz, 1kHz, 10kHz, 100kHz. The best frequency to test at depends on the component type, value range, and other factors, as well as which secondary parameter you wish to evaluate. The HOLD button freezes the reading on the display, and pressing it again cancels the hold. The meter allows sorting components by comparing them against a % deviation from a reference value that you set. You use the navigation buttons to set the parameter value, and then select from pre-set tolerance settings of +/- 0.25%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 5%, 10%, 20%, +80%/-20%. Pressing the CAL button will start an automatic self-calibration sequence to improve accuracy, and this takes about 30 seconds to complete. The meter comes with the box, a thick printed manual (but only 11 pages are in each language, so it is actually pretty brief), and a pair of very short test leads, which plug into the meter using banana plugs and terminate with insulated alligator clips; these are for connecting components whose leads will not fit into the integral connectors on the front of the meter. The meter automatically powers off after 5 minutes inactivity. Not included is an optional AC adapter power supply. Extech does not offer this as an accessory; you will need to obtain a 9VDC regulated supply rated for at least 1A. I have not tried this, but I believe that a normal barrel style connector is used. There is a connector for a "Data Out" cable, but the manual states that this feature is not actually implemented on the LCR200. Apparently, if it were active, it would be an RS-232 serial signal, although the connector type looks to be a 'phone' type socket, as is normally used for small headphones. Extech offers two accessories for this meter: - LCR203....this is a set of test leads with tweezer type terminations, for connecting to 'chip' components. - LCR205....this is a fitting which plugs into the front of the meter, using the integral connectors, and allows connection and testing of surface mount style components. I have done some basic testing of known components, and it was easy enough to use, and I got the results I expected. I have no plans to use the more advanced features of this meter, and only expect to use it for component identification and value verification. The readings I got from my known test components were very close to the reading I get from my trusty old Heathkit 2240, for what that is worth. It makes me feel better that both pieces of equipment seem to agree closely with each other on each component type and value that I compared them with. It is unlikely that if either meter was significantly unreliable or out of calibration, that they would agree so closely across the board. However, I 'do' have a couple complaints..... 1) Most LCR meters I have used employ "Kelvin" connectors for plugging in the component leads. These usually take the form of two contacts per component lead, and if the component lead is not inserted into the contacts, then those contacts close against each other. The idea is that one contact sends the testing current into the component lead, while the other contact is used for measuring the resulting signal; this minimizes inaccuracies due to the meter trying to read the LCR values of test leads in addition to the component under test. These Kelvin contacts usually take the form of two sheet metal plates that press against each other with a light pressure spring force. That force should be light enough that it is easy to insert the component leads between the plates. On my Extech LCR200, the 'Kelvin style' contacts have a spring force that is much too strong, and component leads just bend rather than fit in between those contacts. Even trying to press the blade of a small jewelers screwdriver (flat blade) into the connectors is difficult. The only way I can use this meter is by bypassing those connectors and instead connecting using the included short test leads with alligator clips on their ends; not as convenient as the integral connectors on the meter. 2) Is does not seem that this LCR200 actually uses true Kelvin connectors; because of the alternate test leads that do NOT have the Kelvin segregation of injection and measuring contacts, I conclude that the built-in contacts are most likely without the Kelvin functionality as well. I would say that they probably left his feature off to shave the manufacturing costs. I have sent an inquiry to Extech about the recalcitrant spring connectors, not sure what kind of reply I will get. I see no other reviews of this meter that mention the connectors at all, so I don't know if this issue is common. UPDATE 8-19-19: I contacted Extech tech support by email, and the first response was from a person saying that they needed to escalate to a higher level tech support. The second email claimed to be from the higher level tech support person, but had the same person's name! That message just directed me to re
