I purchased a ET13S Thermal Imaging Camera & Multimeter combo with my own cash, $140 US, including macro lens, after June A.E. sales promotion discount. My first I.R. camera, been wanting one for some time! After seeing how versatile and dependable the Tooltop is - right here on the KeepOnTesting YouTube channel.
The goal of this blog is to supplement the excellent review by Darren and other reviewers. I wasn't paid or reimbursed to do this. The device has so many features and unique personality, it's not possible to capture in a quick review. I think I discovered some cool stuff. Keep coming back if you are interested, I will add things as I find them.
The owner's manual was scanned and is linked below. The product was shipped in a plain cardboard box with thermoformed drop-in. The manual lacks model number and Tooltop branding, which allows multiple brands to sell with the same box and owner manual to us consumers. I added the Tooltop brand and model number to the cover page:
My first unboxing impression is regarding how small it is. I really wish there was a case or durable boot to fit this camera. Also skipped was a thermocouple sensor required for external temperature mode. It would have cost them a dollar or two to include these things.
The provided cables are flexible and the 110-degree-exit-angle is perfect for the meter. They fit snugly. Each wire has 42.5 milliohm resistance, excellent for any meter and overkill for one that doesn't do current. When installed they make the meter more stable on the benchtop not worse. Partly because of the very flexible insulated wires. Kudos to the cables!
The screen is reasonably easy to activate with a finger, no stylus or fingernail is necessary (as mentioned in the sales material). More pressure than an iPhone, but acceptable. Remember the PocketPC? The screen has a sensor sheet overlay is flexible like that. Because the screen is recessed, the buttons that appear at the edge of the screen are awkward to activate. The modes of the multimeter are easy to change. Overall, the screen execution is excellent.
I have some gripes about the 4 physical buttons below the screen. They are translucent, but only the power button lights up (green in DMM mode or red while charging). The other 3 are difficult to read. The buttons stick down in their holes sometimes, not popping back up. It appears they go under the label edge and get hung up. The label does sit flat all the way around the edges. I think the adhesive system and button setback could have been better. I've seen the plastic around buttons with a raised-up lip and the label doesn't come anywhere close to the buttons - on other devices.
The Hz/% isn't a toggle; the button takes you out of whatever reading you were doing! The HOLD/RANGE button must be pre-selected in the settings mode, you can't have both features at the same time. Seems like the hard buttons were the least-though out items. The soft buttons are awesome. Hz/% should have been a soft button and Hold and Range should have been separate buttons, always available.
I think they had a change in plans to Lithium Ion because there is complete molded-in bay for 3AA but they didn't install battery terminals. Someone really wanting to use NiMH could likely do a conversion. Shame they didn't do a full battery bay conversion and include a larger cell. The thin battery door has a lifted bulge, not sitting flat, because they put a foam pad on the cell to prevent rattling around and also there is molding flash around the top edge causing interference. The door is what contacts the tabletop, not the feet. A piece of clean-release tape is holding mine against the unit to somewhat solve this minor issue.
When plugged in to charge, you cannot use the DMM mode. A message overwrites the screen, "Do not use while charging". Most likely for ground safety. There is no restriction in IR camera mode. You could use this as a workaround: Put the DMM in Auto mode, switch to IR camera, plug in the charger, and you have volts/resistance measurements in the bottom of the window with continuity. Just remember not to work on something connected to mains while charging.
The Lithium Ion polymer 803040 1000 mAh cell only charges at 200 mA @ 5V, so it takes roughly 5 hours to top off the cell, much more if you have the device "on" while charging. The good news is that the unit only uses around 200 mA to operate, so about the same. Unlike typical Li-Ion charges, it doesn't charge rapidly then slow down at the end; it's linear. Charging ended when the red light goes out. The unit arrived with half charge.
The screen brightness doesn't auto-adjust to your environment, it's only manual. It's easy for my old eyes to read, indoors at least. Outdoors in sunlight on 100% brightness I found it usable enough for seeing the scope of the thermal image and also where to click to save a picture. Makes sense to click the picture then go back into the shade to review the images, or indoors reviewing on a PC.
Here are my accuracy results when comparing the meter's performance to my available standards:
DC Voltage: up to 0.3% higher than the reference (I tested below 20V) No mV range!
AC Voltage: Was correct, but not enough testing to determine %. DC is NOT blocked. Duty cycle is wrong if DC is present, it must be counting how much time the curve is above 0V. Claims to be True RMS which is helpful for non-sine wave alternations.
Resistance: ±0.5%, however totally inaccurate for resistances below 10 ohms (much lower than actual). No REL feature to eliminate the 0.85 ohm test leads. Isc=0.18 mA
Capacitance: ±3%. Not very accurate below 0.2 nF. Painfully slow above 100 μF, and often slow to settle to a steady value. My biggest cap = 22 mF, the device read 22.00 after about 5 seconds wait and 10 more seconds to settle. There is a REL feature on capacitance only, activated by pressing the "-|(-" icon a second time.
Diode Voltage: within 1% for LED's. Standard diodes reported lower than other meters. Doesn't do Zeners above 3.3V. Beeps briefly when forward voltage is presented, a confirmation that almost goes unnoticed. Voc=3.945V, Isc=1.74 mA
Frequency: Accurate. Measures down to 1 Hz, as long as the voltage is at least 1.0V. Near the threshold, only square signals are recognized. I did not find an upper limit because I don't have a high frequency signal generator capable of >1V (yet). I had it reading up near 1 MHz with adequate voltage input.
Temperature interior/probe: Accuracy not measure, but seems correct. Selecting the temperature mode icon multiple times switches between °C and °F. Once you do that, the choice will stay, even in other modes, until restarting the DMM. Internal device temperature has tenth (0.X) precision. The external Type-K thermocouple shows up with integer precision while the internal temperature continues to show up underneath. I couldn't find a thermocouple calibration feature or maximum spec. I assume 1000C.
Current: Not available. Considering the other excellent features and small size of the device, I can personally let it slide.
When using the Hz feature, the internal temperature glitches to 0C and then 133C. Very strange, seems like there is some sort of sensor or resource conflict exhibiting itself in this mode.
The continuity beeper volume is only acceptable for a quiet lab/office environment. I would not depend on it in a moderately noisy setting. There is no flashing indicator or display flashing for visual as a backup to the buzzer. This is a missed opportunity. The screen shows a solid bar on the top when no continuity, and takes the bar away when there is continuity detected. It's freakin' backwards!
The analog bar across the top of the screen is actually useful. It refreshes adequately and has a good balance of inertial and responsiveness. It works in most modes, best when manually selecting your range. However, you cannot manually range capacitance or frequency.
I discovered the time-history graph feature allows storage and export of interval measurement data. ".VOM" files are created in the internal memory when you click the "save" icon. Look closely, a grayish floppy disk shows up on the screen background as a clickable icon. It doesn't give much of a reassuring response when it saves the file. When viewing using the PC software, it tries to smooth the curves, creating strange waves on the screen at times. I prefer to open the .VOM files in Excel and create my own graphs. The file names are purely sequential, no date in the file names. So don't leave your data hanging around, or you might not remember what they were for.
The recording graph works in voltage modes only, however it can be made to appear in other modes (just can't start it). You can choose to increase or decrease the time interval in the tools menu (0.5/1/2 seconds). While the data can be reviewed on PC, it can't be reviewed on the device. I could not get recording to work in other modes, seems like probe temperature would be a useful item. I could not figure out what continual sampling on/off does. I suppose it changes how the screen updates on the device. Turning this on does not increase the data points exported in the .VOM file.
The NCV "where to point" arrow is at the center of the top of the device, but it actually works much better at the top left of the device because of where the wiring is located inside. Once you learn this, it's quite responsive and discriminating. The LIVE feature works great too. It's activated by pressing NCV a second time, and you can press it again to go back to NCV. If you are not familiar with the difference between these modes, please go read my other blog here on KOT.
Second-tap summary
NCV: toggles LIVE mode instead
Temperature: toggles °F and °C
Capacitance: toggles REL on and off
IR/DMM: switches between camera and multimeter
Hz/%: toggles frequency and duty cycle
Now that I know about all the multimeter features of my new toy, I can get back to the main reason I bought it: As a thermal imaging camera. I plan to find cold air leaks around my house, in addition to troubleshooting appliances, developing electronic circuits, and automotive checks.
I will probably keep it with me so I can explore the thermal world around me. I consider this device is a bridge to the day that they include a thermal camera with every cell phone!
IR camera temperature range selection guide:
"LOW" range = -20C to +150C;
"HIGH" range = +100C to +550C
When using "AUTO", all temperatures are covered, but there is 2+ second lag to switch back and forth.
I did try out the macro lens. Only needed when holding the device very close. The lens holder is shipped flat, and when you install it on the curved back it has to physically bend with some force applied. I was expecting a more graceful experience, but at least it retains firmly and didn't make any crackling noises. Hope it lasts over multiple installs.
Reviewing pictures on the PC is simple. The capability to click on the temperature is terrific, not available on device. Readings on PC are always °C, even if you used °F while saving the image. The number of pictures possible is around 48 theoretically. Each image is 240x320 and uses 159,744 bytes on disk. The usable drive capacity is reported 7,819,264 bytes (7.45 MB). File names are sequential, picking up where it left off even if you delete the images or format the drive. The unit continues showing the % capacity on the device from the last picture save if you delete the pictures from your PC. The device doesn't sync the time/date with the PC on connection, you'll have to set it manually.
Now for some images. Can you guess what my car is? Hint: I bought it in 2002 and it's yellow. These images are after parking in the garage for a few minutes.
The big yellow temperature is where the center point is located, the small red number is the max on screen. Green is the minimum on screen.
I'm using the second color option "rainbow" for the car pictures, and the third color option "fusion" for the last image. Proving, selfies aren't too difficult to do....
