Today I will doing a short review of the UNI-T UT136C auto ranging multimeter. I got this for 20.95 USD from ebay which also converts to 28.32 SGD in today’s rate, which is bargain for an auto ranging multimeter. Shipping was free, and I got it in just 10 days, which is fast compared to the usual 3 weeks for shipping from China to Singapore.
It arrived in box, without the retail packaging, indicating this unit must be factory direct. It came with a set of probes, a Chinese manual and a K-type thermocouple. The multimeter was wrapped in a bubble wrap, not the best one, but it came in one piece so it’s ok. For the manual, a Chinese version was included but there is an English version available on UNI-T’s English website as a pdf download. The probes were okay, a little bit thicker than the ones I used in my previous crappy $20 multimeter that had malfunctioned. There is no strain relief at all on the plastic ends of the probes. For that price and a great build quality you can’t really complain that much.
The build quality of the plastic probes feels solid, and its much thicker then the previous ones that I had used. The wires are also quite flexible. However, I would recommend getting another better set of probes. For the main multimeter itself, it is surrounded by what I would call soft touch plastic. Its red in colour, really nice to hold and has an ergonomic design due to its small size. It feels heavy and has a solid build construction. It has a flip out stand that is held in place by friction.
The LCD screen has 4 digits, enough for hobbyist use, which is what I intend to use it for. There is no backlight or single-led backlight so the LCD screen is a might be a bit hard to see under bright light but under normal room lighting it looks ok. Its size is approximately 5cm by 2cm.
There is an auto off option, where it will turn off after 10 minutes, a nice feature if you always forget to turn the multimeter off. It will sound a beep at the 9th minute to indicate to the user. There is an option to turn off this feature by holding down the select button when turning on the multimeter. The buttons are plastic, so none of those cheapy crappy membrane buttons.
The K-type thermocouple provided is not really of a good quality. It can only be used in temperatures of up to 230° C. The multimeter can measure up to the nearest degree. It measured 32 degrees C on ambient temperature in an air conditioned room, but I think it is off by 2-5 degrees, so I would only use this as a reference. As the manual indicates, it has an accuracy of ± 2.5%
The continuity measurements are not latched, but its fairly quick. It is sometimes intermittent even though both probes are literally touching together with me applying some force, but I think this is due to the probes themselves. I recommend users that use this feature a lot to get a better set of probes.
The autoranging feature is quite fast, although the autoranging in the resistance measurement can be slow. For me, I don’t really mind this as I use this measurement very rarely. As for the autoranging on the voltage measurement (which I use the most), it managed to get a stable reading within a second.
I particularly liked the 9V battery holder. The battery holder uses a removable holder which the battery sits into. So none of that fixed wire 9V connector.
As for the accuracy of the measurements of the multimeter, I’m not going to do it as I don’t have the proper equipment.
In conclusion, I would definitely recommend this multimeter to anybody who is starting hobbyist electronics. With its great build quality and price, its a good multimeter to start with.
DIY Projects 
Hi Hassan
LikeLike