Rigol DM858 Multimeter Review | Voltlog #485

Rigol have responded saying that they have their development team working on a firmware update to solve the issues mentioned in the video as soon as possible. Once the new fw is available, I'll do a follow-up video.

The autoranging bug is a lack of proper, systematic testing at Rigol.....and the lack of "what if" testing that I see sooooo many companies seem to forget about. Net result, robustness of software design is lacking. Hopefully they will fix soon.......it's a dangerous bug!

Don't like the digit font. Can you change it ?

If the DM858 multimeter doesn't have a setting option to swap that simulated VFD font with a normal solid font, the DM858 comes across as a gimmick product for customers who are more interested in form over function. That simulated VFD font adds no value, it only subtracts value.

That measurement display is awful. They're obviously trying to make it look like a fixed-display LCD or VFD, but the implementation looks very bad. Their use of a proportionally spaced font (impossible on a true fixed LCD or VFD) makes the digits jitter back and forth as the numbers change or when the minus sign comes and goes. At 14:10 the changing least significant digits made the whole measurement display jitter vertically by one or two pixels. They should change to solid digits, use a fixed-space font, right justify the measurement and fix the vertical jitter. The bar graph and data logging issues point to a problem in Rigol's design center, and this is where the Chinese manufacturers really differ from western companies. Their product designers and engineers know how to make an instrument that takes measurements, but they don't really understand how it's used by customers. A bar graph on a voltmeter can be a useful tool, but only if it's implemented properly; otherwise it's just a bullet point in the sales brochure. Likewise, data logging is very useful but only if it records time-correlated information. Rigol's implementation is utterly useless. Fortunately, the meter's problems could be fixed with firmware updates, but will Rigol actually do anything about them?

What an ugly font. Why are there all those black stripes within the large yellow numbers? Can you select a solid font as well? The auto-center of the display is annoying when the voltage switches between + and -.

Thanks for this very interressing video. I'm waiting fot the teardown !

That font, just... why?! I also love that the numbers are huge but those lines. Form factor is interesting but if I was in the market that would 100% put me off that model. They used a similar font on the DP900 series power supplies as well. Rigol stop trying to be fancy! Don't try to make this your "thing" like the goofy shaped buttons on some of your other gear.

I think the vesa mounts are awesome, certainly can free up a lot more space on the bench.

I think I would have to try one of these out first to see if the form factor works for me…….am always open to something new. For my YouTube videos it could work for me......large text (font sucks though), not so easy to topple over, touchscreen, Webview DMM, no batteries....hmmm!

A little disappointing from Rigol. I'd expect the QC to better. Seems manufacturers just send out buggy products to get them on the shelf and fix it in post later. Maybe... I use Agilent 34401A meters. Because I can TRUST them, not for their features.

Thank you, but at this price point, I still prefer the old and reliable 34401A.

I was going to get one of these for my bench to sit alongside my DHO914 on a vesa mount, however after watching a few reviews including this one, the broken autoranging from factory and the sub-par zero timestamp data-logging put me off, additionally the main metering font is horrible - keep it simple, it's a meter not a billboard, there are also some UI elements that are simply confusing to work with and as you showed unhelpful error messages. Nobody is going to spend €340-440 on a DMM that has one of its main features completely broken from the factory, they have already put out firmware updates and have not fixed the autoranging which suggests to me that it is more likely to be a hardware bug than a software issue, i.e. unfixable. They need to revise this model's many issues, fix all of the problems and produce a new model/series where everything works out of the box and provide a product option in black like the DHO900 series so those of us who own DHO900's could have a matching DMM.

I'd probably spend that money on a well maintained and serviced Agilent 34401a.

good job sir

at 19:40, on the right is a uamp current source. What is the make/model? Thanks! Great video. A personally do like the device's form factor (foot print).

The autoranging falsely indicating a very low voltage when there's a high voltage present is a recall worth bug. It looks like it may be the weirdness that happens with some opamps when the input voltage gets too close or beyond the supply rails, or it might be some arithmetic bug.

İs there any real benefit to use over classic multimeter like uniT?

Are those banana sockets the standard 3/4” ~19mm spacing apart?

I wish more multimeters had "fast" sampling. Some of the old HP ones could take 10k readings per second, which could be streamed over USB.