Proponents of the Ohm’s Law—such as our electricians—know that in every circuit, three elements often come into play: current, voltage, and resistance. But when we speak of the rate of energy transfer in any live electrical circuit, we refer to power, which is essentially the product between the current and the voltage as measured in watts.
While students of the trade may still be concerned with the minute details of Ohm’s Law e.g. finding out both current and voltage in order to quantify the power that flows in a circuit, real practicing electricians would prefer a more concise approach to handle their job. In the case of making an assessment regarding the amount of energy consumed, they would need to identify the wattage in an electrical circuit in the most efficient way possible.
When curtailed to just measuring power in any given circuit, no tool does this job better than the watt meter.
Best Watt Meters
The watt meter comes in many different form factors and, at times, level of functionality which makes finding the real best daunting, especially for the unaware. In an effort to narrow down the choices to simply just the “best,” we highlight the watt meter products which embody something unique to stand out from the crowd.
1. BALDR Watt Meter
I have seen plenty of watt meters that are currently available on the market. From this observation, I noticed that all watt meters share either one of two themes in terms of design—they are either minimalist which offers a bit of fancy to look at by eradicating the excess details or simply rather shabby to look at.
The BALDR Watt Meter is more on the former than the latter whose main highlight involves the perfect mixture of black and white for color and a display that is truly pleasing to view. As a caveat, this tool does not offer backlight support which makes its use in the dark alone and unaided by light an impossible option.
However, this watt meter is more than just about its looks. It is also about practicality and safety of use, too. Not only does the BALDR Watt Meter provides accurate result, it also has a built-in overload protection mechanism which prevents damage when a certain threshold is reached. View the product
2. Tenergy Watt Meter
From the outset, and unless you look into its label, you can easily mistake the Tenergy Watt Meter as a beeper due to its similar form factor. While appearance is not necessarily the Tenergy Watt Meter’s strength, the tool takes advantage from its other features that could easily make it an option over another. For the most part, it speaks of this watt meter’s capability to make accurate measures on a 60 voltage and 130 ampere range, as well as its backlight support in display which makes it a good companion even at night time. View the product
3. Makerfire Watt Meter
Sharing a similar physical design as a beeper—and therefore, akin to Tenergy Watt Meter, with the exception of the print—the Makerfire Watt Meter may not particularly stand out as far as design goes. But while it lacks in originality in style, it compensates on features that are too amazing to pass up on. Like, being able to monitor if there is enough operating voltage in a circuit during load, check the battery capacity health, validates if a battery is charging properly, and, best of all, prevent the current from exceeding the peak value and thereby offsetting the potential to cause damage. View the product
4. Floureon Watt Meter
Yet another watt meter to incorporate minimalism in its somewhat symmetric design which subsequently creates an overall neat look, the Floureon Watt Meter is a thing of beauty. Although most users will use a watt meter intuitively to get an accurate measure of a circuit’s wattage, this particular tool does not fall short in incorporating measurements for voltage and currents as well at 3% accuracy. In addition, it is also capable of measuring other electrical values which include power, energy, frequency, etc. View the product
5. Reliance Controls Corporation Watt Meter
Of all the entries in the list, the Reliance Controls Corporation Watt Meter has got to be the weirdest as far as design. While its quirky appearance is left to be desired, the watt meter works very well which significantly puts it in this list. Considering the full capability of this watt meter, it is adequate in displaying results when reading between the ranges of 1.0 to 15.0 amperes and 125 to 1875 watts. View the product
6. RC Electronics Watt’s Up Watt Meter
Do not let this tool’s tiny stature get you to thinking that it is also proportionally “little” when it comes to its capability. If “size” is a strong indicator of whether or not a watt meter is capable of providing accurate results, then this tiny might be a child’s toy—but it is not. With a proven result which is at par with anything that made this list, the RC Electronics Watt’s Up Watt Meter is a reliable instrument for its job. View the product
7. Bayite Watt Meter
Like the others which have extensive features to make the list, the Bayite Watt Meter is technically more of a multimeter than a dedicated watt meter. But what makes this instrument a lovely tool to use is in its ability to display four results based on four unique criteria at any given time. In addition to displaying a precise result with the “power” in any given circuit, it also shows outputs for voltage, current, and energy all at the same time. View the product
8. Poniie Watt Meter
For something with high-power tolerance rate, the Poniie Watt Meter is capable of many wonderful things, apart from simply taking an accurate measure of the power which passes through a circuit. By incorporating certain smart metrics, this watt meter is capable to even monitor the usage of any electrical device over time. It is also built with full ABS fire retardant material housing and comes with a heavy duty extension cord. All of these are seen in a cute display which is perhaps the tool’s overall prevailing theme. View the product