Mini Digital Sound Level Meter

by Parts Express

Product Description

Mini digital sound level meter is less than 6" in length making it perfect for your pocket or tool box! Great for measuring and monitoring noise and sound in any environment.

Product Details

• Item Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B001THX3M0
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,053 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)
  • #4 in Home Improvement > Electrical > Tools & Testers > Multi Testers
  • #28 in Home Improvement > Power & Hand Tools > Measuring & Layout Tools > Scanners & Testers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great value with an irritating design flaw, May 18, 2010

By 

Maine AV8R (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mini Digital Sound Level Meter (Electronics)

This does what it is advertised to do. It performs a little better than I had expected.
I bought it to monitor sound levels at a night club and as a way to judge applause levels at Karaoke Contests.

However... the power button should have been recessed. If you carry this in a bag, or in your pocket, it will be turning on and off all of the time and this will seriously effect battery life, as the automatic backlight will also turn on in these situations. The 9v battery uses the old fashioned pig-tail contact, so constantly removing the battery is impractical and will eventually ruin the pig-tail connector. It is a minor inconvenience (I'll have to purchase a hard case for my application.)
The wind screen is also a slip on piece that slides on and off far too easily. There is no lip or retainer and it slides off easily. Although it is not necessary for the unit... it does help protect the microphone diaphram.

Still, at $30, it seems to be rather accurate and will be extremely useful for me as a DJ to monitor my sound level at gigs. The tripod mount is a great feature also, I place my unit on a mini-camera tripod and occasionally activate the unit to make sure I'm not deafening my crowd.

PRO's: Good value, pretty solid design,

CONS: bad power button - should have been recessed; resolve yourself to the fact that you will lose the slip on windscreen. Fortunately, it isn't required to use the unit.

The cons are minor irritations, otherwise, I'm happy with the unit.

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So easy, a kid can use it!, December 11, 2009

By 

Just a Mom (Nevada) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mini Digital Sound Level Meter (Electronics)

This meter is so easy to use! We bought it for our 8-year-old to use for a school science project and it's a great little measuring device. The simple buttons, the relatively large screen, and the max-reading feature are all great. It really helps give perspective on what might be damaging our hearing in our everyday lives. I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a device since I didn't need OSHA-level performance. The price point was appropriate for this unit.

92 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Value For Money In a Small Package, July 15, 2009

By 

Stuart Steele (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mini Digital Sound Level Meter (Electronics)

This sound level meter is of good quality and accuracy for its very low price. I use it for taking incidental reading in the car, at home and out-and-about, just to get a feel for how loud the environment is. For this, it does a fine job, but I can't recommend it for anything more pressing because it has no slow/fast setting, has no high/low capture or reading lock, and suffers from a rather generous +/- 20% claimed accuracy (taken from the documentation included with the product). This is not to disparage the meter; it does not claim to have any of these features, but just to note to any readers that they will definitely want something more feature-rich if they want these capabilities.