Hot take: I dropped $400 on a fancy digital governor tester and it was a waste

Everyone in my shop was pushing for these new digital testers, saying they were the future. So I got one, a high-end model, thinking it would save me hours. Used it on a job in a Cincinnati high-rise last month, a standard MCE controller. The thing gave me a perfect reading, but the car kept faulting on overspeed. Spent half a day chasing ghosts based on that digital readout. Finally, I hooked up my old analog tester, the one with the dial and needle. It showed a slight flutter in the signal the digital unit completely missed. The digital tool just averages things out too much for my liking. I'm back to trusting my old gear. Has anyone else had a problem like this with the new digital diagnostic stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

julia_carter616d agoMost Upvoted

Ugh, tell me about it! My new digital multimeter does the same thing, gives you a nice clean lie. Sometimes you just need to see that needle have a nervous breakdown.

holly7097d ago

Honestly see this everywhere now, the new smart thing missing the feel of the old thing. Like those digital tire pressure gauges that jump to a number, but the old stick gauge lets you see if it's creeping down. Or when my phone's weather app says "clear" but you look at the sky and know a storm's coming in an hour. The fancy tech gives you a clean answer, but sometimes you need to see the wiggle in the needle to know what's really going on.

rowan_reed686d ago

Digital gauges are more accurate and faster to read. That wiggle you miss is just imprecision, not some deep truth.