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Reviews For: Daiwa CN-101L 1.8 to 150 mHz peak reading wattmete

Category: SWR & Wattmeters & Dummy Loads

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Review Summary For : Daiwa CN-101L 1.8 to 150 mHz peak reading wattmete
Reviews: 39MSRP: 89.95
Description:
Cross Needle SWR & Power meter, panel back-lighted.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.daiwa-industry.co.jp/radio/ham_e/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00393.2
W9OS Rating: 2012-11-22
Not Bad Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I use this meter in conjunction with my Johnson KW Matchbox.Much easier tuning with the cross meters. Have Alpha 76A ,MS-4 and CN110L all in series..They all reed about the same power and SWR. On 2m I only had a 100C Bird slug when I picked up a KLM 160W brick.The 43 meter pegs and the Daiwa showed 155 out .Good enough for me..
KF7VXA Rating: 2012-08-19
Great Meter Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've been very pleased with this meter. I have compared it to a couple other known accurate meters and have found this meter to be very close.
The readings are consistant between high and low power settings and the SWR is accurate.
For the price, this is a solid, well built meter.
It's over 3 times less money than a Bird, so don't expect it to be as accurate as a Bird, but for the price, it reads very close to the true readings.
It works as good as it looks, a great value for the money.
I bought it after returning 2 MFJ 842's as they were all over the place. I appriciate a decent meter that is afforadable.

The one thing I'd like to see is a 100 watt scale, otherwise it's been perfect for a person on a budget.
K8JHR Rating: 2012-07-10
Just OK - not outstanding Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Meter works OK ... no issues, other than it does not always agree with the other meters in the shack, including 3 made by Palstar, a couple made by Ten-Tec, and some others I have borrowed from friends.

Old Chinese Saying = Man with two watches never knows what time it is. And so with meters like this one. Accuracy is rated as 10% (+/-) - so with that large a divergence, one may expect some differences between it and similar meters under the same circumstances. Nevertheless, while it does its job (which is to give me a reasonably accurate indication of power and SWR) it is, nevertheless, the only meter in the shack that does not agree with the rest.

So, I guess the bottom line is: Looks OK, Works OK, and is reasonably accurate. But I cannot give it a 5-star rating, because I feel it is just of fair, average quality among similar items at the price point. I presume the newer Chinese-made MFJ meters work as well for substantially less money.

Just MY take. // K8JHR //
KW2HV Rating: 2010-05-01
Inaccurate, Not a true PEP wattmeter Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I find that this meter is very inaccurate.

A) I have a resonant antenna on 40M - SWR on 7.160 is 1.2:1 as measured on SWR analyzer. Palstar AT4K and an MFJ tuner both concur. The Daiwa says 1.7:1. My dummy load shows 1.4:1 - unacceptable

B) The PEP reading meter is a joke - shows 800W when it should be showing 1500. The Palstar and MFJ are a lot closer.

C) I do find that in CW the wattmeter is more accurate showing readings close to the Palstar and MFJ.

I realize that this is a cheap meter however I didn't expect it to be this badly inaccurate. I would spend the extra bucks and get something more accurate. It makes no sense to spend $5000 or more in a good rig and amp and get this lack luster performance in your testing gear. In my opinion its a POS.
N9MXY Rating: 2010-03-19
Rock Solid! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this meter going on 10yrs now and it took the purchase of an MFJ antenna tuner to appreciate how good it is! No matter what power you run through it,10W or 1kW the SWR is consistent, unlike the mfj that would turn a 1.3 into a 1.7 or higher as the power climbed. I guess the detector being inside it's own steel case on the Daiwa helps that. The watt meter is within 10% of my fluke test meter that measure watts across a 50ohm load. Not true peak on the peak mode but it does smooth out the movement giving you a better indication of modulation levels. IMHO
DL1OLI Rating: 2009-12-28
very good value for the price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this CN-101 meter some years (I think 1998 for 150 DM) ago. At this time I needed a SWR/PRW meter that could handle more than 400 Watts on 2m band. This was the only one available. It can be used with up to 1KW on 144 MHz. It was very useful for the repair and adjustments on my 4CX250 tube PA. Maybe it is not the most accurate meter, but it is OK for my use. After I swapped the 4CX250 for a solid-state amp, I use it primary on HF and 6 m band. It had never had a fault.
WD0FIA Rating: 2009-06-18
Great meter for the price! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Is it a Bird? No! But it costs less than an element for one!

I bought three of these from Ham City (Juns) for $84.95 each. They are all within 5% of the reading my Bird gives. They all vary slightly from each other in readings. I am using the for "relative" readings, not precision. They work fine for that! For precision readings, look elsewhere! These are NOT what I would recommend for a service bench.

That said, I have to say I think they are a great unit for a reasoable price. They don't look or feel like cheap junk. Nice metal cases, attractive meter, solid feel. The removable rubber end caps keep them from scratching furniture or radios.
NZ0T Rating: 2009-05-28
Good for the $$$ Time Owned: N.A.
Good meter and easy to use. Not real accurate especially on the higher bands but for around $100 I didn't expect it to be a Bird.
KT4WO Rating: 2009-05-28
for 100$..good. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is my 2nd, and both are what one would expect for $100 meter that covers 1,8-150Mhz. Is it a Bird 43?...No...and the folks that compare it to a Bird and then complain,,,well...Did they think it would be as good as a Bird for just 100 bucks?
For the cost vs bandwidth.. Its a good meter.
Would buy again.

KT4WO
KC5VH Rating: 2009-05-28
Fine meter Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used a CN-101L for several years with TS-830S, SB-200 and now an IC-746PRO. It always performs perfectly. Power out accuracy? Close enough for a ham shack, maybe not a repair shop. Does power accuracy matter if it tells me the rigs are working like they always have before? Power is so I can tell the other guy what I'm runing and he doesn't care anyway. SWR is a little higher than my Icom meter, which is fine because it keeps me from runnung high SWR.