We all know that good power supplies are essential to an EE lab and we also know that the cheap ones are not the best power supplies out there, but the best don't come cheap, so I'm always on the lookout for affordable power supplies. I purchased this one several months ago, but couldn't find the time to review it until now.

Tenma is a brand owned by Farnell and this particular power supply seems to be a rebranded Korad 3003D. It costs about $100 new, which is extremely cheap for a digital power supply. They have a mixed reputation so far, but they also appear to step up when issues are reported, so it might not be that bad. In the EU, the Tenma version seems to be more widely available and that's what I went for.

I recently went on a hunt for a new power supply, because I needed about 2 amps for my new project, while my home made ones could only deliver 1A. Since I'm on a budget, the choices were limited to either old equipment or cheap new equipment, so I ended up with a list of old HP/Agilent power supplies and a bunch of  Chinese supplies like the Korad 5005P and the Rigol 832 in the other camp.

I have to say that the most appealing one was the Rigol 832, but being such a big beast I quickly ruled against it - my bench is not wide enough for it to fit in such a way that I could comfortably use it.

From my new power supply I wanted current limiting with mA resolution, digital display, over current and over voltage protection. On top of that, I wanted it to be programmable so I can automate various tests. This left me with only a handful of choices and in the end, the only one  standing was the Korad 5005P, however due to expensive shipping and high bank fees (could only pay by bank transfer), I had to reconsider.