Extech VB450 Vibration Meter

Had an initial issue with the datalogger not working properly. Kudos to Extech Customer Support for working it through with me and finding the issue. The datalogger is now working perfectly!Can't say the same for Amazon customer service though. The first thing they recommend is a return and refund when this product wasn't working properly initially. At the very least, even if they are not technically competent on this product, they should have reverted to the manufacturer for support. Personally, I think that the Customer Service standard of Amazon is sub-par.

This is an amazing piece of measurement gear, particularly for the price. It works perfectly, though it took a little fiddling for my computer (Windows 7) to find it. The software works just fine and is simple to use. Sure, it's doesn't have a slick interface, but engineers generally don't care so much about that. We care more about the accuracy and precision of the data, and the fact that this device comes calibrated is really great. Most of the inexpensive vibration analyzers you can buy are only 1 axis. This one is 3 axis. That's a huge difference. The fact that the software does a really nice vector sum is another bonus in my opinion. The device is well built and obviously designed for use in the field. The battery compartment is probably intentionally made vibration resistant, and thus difficult to open, because if the battery is rattling around inside the unit, then it will record false data. It's a well engineered device and it deserves a much better rating that it's received thus far.

We had high expectations for this data logger. Install went very easy and unit was ready to record data. Was able to get the data for the first test but when we tried to use the VB300 a second time the software wouldn't recognize the device.The replacement device did the exact same thing as the first unit I had ordered. Worked once then failed. Tried on three computers. Called tech support and they confirmed the device had failed and there was nothing we could do to resolve this without a replacement. What a piece of junk and waste of our time.Also on both VB300's the mounting magnets are glued in the plastic base - once you attach the base to something the magnets will fly out of the base. They could easily be repaired but this is a quality issue that the consumer shouldn't need to deal with.I'm sending this back for a refund and hoping to try something else that isn't a one time use item.

As others have posted, these have an unusual battery that is hard to find locally and expensive. The storage capacity is very small - I was only able to log data for about 12 hours before it was full at the fastest of 50MS. If you need to log for a longer period, you will have to slow down the speed which makes it less accurate. The battery didn't last for more than 2-3 days even with the LED blink turned off. Don't waste your time with these. Use an Arduino with an accelerometer! for 1/3 the cost of these.

Did not come with the magnetic mount for the probe tip

I would recommend this unit over most of the vib meters in the $1-2k range - just add in a cheap laptop and you have a piece of equipment that is much more versatile & powerful than the mid/low range standalone meters. I plan on buying 2-3 more for field use - one for each of my crews doing field alignments on rotating equipment.This unit has the ability to display real time FFT data including a frequency vs magnitude plot, which is very useful in troubleshooting vibration issues on equipment in the shop or field. There are plenty of free courses & resources on the internet that tell you what the different peaks, etc on the frequency domain FFT mean, so look these up ahead of your trip & keep them on your laptop.I felt a lot better about taking this unit to a customer site in an "unstable" country than the $10k CSI vib meter that was my usual go to. It's small & inexpensive enough that Customs didn't even care and I wouldn't have felt bad if I had to leave it behind. It looks like a puffed up thumb drive, not a meter. No import/export paperwork, no separate shipping, just carry it in my computer bag & go.With the included software I felt like I had all the functionality I needed to verify a vib issue in the field and complete a root cause analysis, including a report with professional looking graphs, etc. I tested it at the shop vs the CSI meter I usually use and found that it takes care of all of the same essential functions that I use in a diagnosis.I had some issues getting the unit to connect to my laptop, but I was able to call Extech customer support and Forest was very helpful. He solved my problem quickly and I had no issues the rest of the trip.Buy some extra batteries as these 1/2 AA lithiums are tough to find outside of a specialty battery shop. If you're using it for real time analysis connected to a laptop, you don't need a battery as it gets its power from the USB port.

The data logger works fine as well as the software. The usb connection has issues though. Recognition is a big problem. This is important as it's required to start the logger and download the data. I was able to use it on one pc for a few tests, then it would no longer connect. When you try to re-install the usb drivers, it can't uninstall the previous drivers and goes no further. I have installed and used it on another pc successfully, but it still takes time for it to connect. I am losing confidence in this device.

Works well, easy to use. We set up to monitor construction activities around overhead train.

Good product

I got what I paid for, it captures the data which I can read from my PC. It is an okay unit for a low price. Read the specs carefully and make sure the 50ms sampling rate is suitable for your application. The output is saved as a tab delimited file, which can be read by Excel, but a few minutes of manipulation is required to make the time stamps useful. As far as I can tell, it can only make one recording after each connection to the PC. Once you have made a recording, you must reset the unit from the PC before it will make another recording. This can be a nuisance.

good