# Bill and Dave's Excellent Equipment

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2019-08-19
- Length: 1h 11m
- Episode: 455
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-08-19-bill-and-daves-excellent-equipment
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/455-bill-and-daves-excellent-equipment/

## Summary

Dave Jones and Chris Gammell discuss the Vion Bluetooth multimeter, a Kickstarter product that failed to deliver promised features like capacitance and inductor modes, highlighting the risks of crowdfunding and poor UI design. They analyze the complexity of multimeter chipsets versus custom microcontroller implementations and critique Rigol's amateurish user interface compared to Keysight's professional design. The conversation shifts to sourcing components, discussing long lead times, NCNR policies at distributors like DigiKey, and the availability of register-compatible STM32 clones from manufacturers like GigaDevice.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-08-19-bill-and-daves-excellent-equipment#t=0) Introduction and Vion Multimeter Review
- [7:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-08-19-bill-and-daves-excellent-equipment#t=453) Crowdfunding Risks and Dev Board Utilization
- [15:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-08-19-bill-and-daves-excellent-equipment#t=933) Multimeter Chipset Complexity and Design
- [19:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-08-19-bill-and-daves-excellent-equipment#t=1153) Test Equipment: GPIB, Lock-in Amplifiers, and Rigol
- [37:34](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-08-19-bill-and-daves-excellent-equipment#t=2254) User Interface Design and Navy Touchscreen Failures
- [50:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-08-19-bill-and-daves-excellent-equipment#t=3041) Component Sourcing, Lead Times, and Clones

## Topics

- [Test & measurement](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/test-and-measurement)
- [Crowdfunding & preorders](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/crowdfunding)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)
- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)
- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)

## Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

## Mentioned

- Vion (product)
- Rigol (company)
- Keysight (company)
- GigaDevice (company)
- DigiKey (company)
- LCSC (company)
- STM32 (chip)
- Paduk (chip)
- Holtec (company)
- Keithley (company)
- HP (company)
- Stanford Research Systems (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [44: Light Up Strikes Back](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2014-03-26-44-light-up-strikes-back) (Embedded.fm)
- [The Spark Gap - Episode 43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-spark-gap/2015-11-11-the-spark-gap-episode-43) (The Spark Gap)
- [36: Drive the Boat with a Wii Mote](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2014-01-22-36-drive-the-boat-with-a-wii-mote) (Embedded.fm)
- [Hard Earned Lessons Learned with Wayne Frick of ChirpSounds – Part 2](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/predictable-designs-podcast/2020-06-22-hard-earned-lessons-learned-with-wayne-frick-of-chirpsounds-part-2) (Predictable Designs Podcast)
- [13 Reasons Why New Hardware Products Fail](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/predictable-designs-podcast/2022-11-23-13-reasons-why-new-hardware-products-fail) (Predictable Designs Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-08-19-bill-and-daves-excellent-equipment. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to The Amp Hour.