Comparison

Ugly's Electrical References vs 2017 Master Electrician Ref.

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Ugly's Electrical References

This app provides electricians and electrical professionals with up-to-date digital information based on the National Electrical Code. It includes formulas, wiring diagrams, conduit bending guides, and calculators for various electrical calculations. The app is designed for on-the-job reference and works offline.

Highlights
  • NEC 2026 updates
  • Mathematical formulas and calculators
  • Conduit bending guide with videos
  • Ampacity and conduit fill information
  • Wiring diagrams
  • Conversion tables
  • Works offline
Features
Read full description

The Ugly's Electrical References App has been updated to reflect changes to the 2026 National Electrical Code (NEC) and the 2026 Edition of our popular Ugly’s Electrical References book. The Ugly’s App offers the most pertinent, up-to-date digital information for electricians, including table change information, mathematical formulas; National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) wiring configurations; a conduit bending guide with videos, ampacity and conduit fill information, transformer and control circuit wiring diagrams, and conversion tables. The 2026 Edition: * Reflects changes to the 2026 NEC * Features expanded coverage of the following topics: * Full-load currents for 3-phase transformers  * Maximum number of conductors in electrical metallic tubing for trade sizes 5 and 6  * Equipment grounding conductors  * General lighting loads for non-dwelling occupancies  * Overview of important NEC code changes from 2020, 2023 and 2026  Electricians and electrical professionals have used ‘Ugly’s Electrical References’ book as their on-the-job reference for over 35 years. This app will serve you even better in the field today.  FEATURING Calculators and Interactive Features • Ohm’s Law Calculator • Voltage Drop Calculator • Ampacity Calculator • To Find: Amps, Watts, Horsepower, KVA • To Find: Inductance, Impedance, Reactance • Three-phase AC Motor Data: Starter, Breaker, Heater, Wire, and Conduit Size • Power Factor Correction • Full Load Current for Motors and Transformers • Locked-Rotor Current Calculator • Offset Bending Calculator • Conduit Fill Calculator • Conversions for Area, Length, Temperature, Time, Volume, and Weight • NEMA Wiring Configurations *Pinch & Zoom for improved readability *Conduit Bending Video Tutorials *Search function helps you quickly find what you need to know *NEC Updater outlines and explains changes to the National Electrical Code© *Electrical Safety including definitions, boundaries, procedures, PPE guidance, and life-saving *First aid procedures *Blueprint symbol identifier *Bookmark your commonly used screens *High-definition images and interactive tables that can be zoomed in for detail *Works offline *Great for electricians, students, engineers, contractors, maintenance workers, and military Interested in a buying more than one copy of the Ugly’s Electrical Reference app for your commercially owned devices? Please email info[at]uglys[dot]net for details on volume purchases. Privacy Policy - http://www.jblearning.com/privacy/ Terms of Service - http://www.jblearning.com/use/ Support – http://www.uglys.net/appsupport The Ugly’s Electrical Reference app is part of the popular Ugly’s Professional Reference® series, which is an imprint of Jones & Bartlett Learning. National Electrical Code and NFPA 70 are registered trademarks of the National Fire Protection Agency and are not associated with Ugly’s Electrical References in any way.

About

2017 Master Electrician Ref.

This digital handbook provides electricians and related professionals with essential electrical formulas, diagrams, and reference tables. It offers calculations, a dictionary of terms, and detailed information on wiring, motors, transformers, and more, all accessible on a mobile device.

Highlights
  • Electrical formulas and calculations
  • Wiring diagrams for various systems
  • Motor and transformer specifications
  • Conductor and ampacity tables
  • Dictionary of electrician terms
  • NEMA standards and diagrams
  • Math and conversion tools
Features
Read full description

Master Electrician Reference (or MER for short) 2017 is your electronic pocket electrician reference guide. MER is for electrical designers, engineers, installers, contractors, facility managers, inspectors, exam candidates, apprentices, electricians, journeymen, architects, and technicians. MER is for people doing residential, industrial, and commercial work. Simply, if you are a Master Sparky or work with electricity in any way, this reference guide is for you! Have you ever lost pages or had damaged pages in your pocket electricians reference? The solution is here: Use MER to keep the most important information easily accessible on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. MER will even do calculations for you; something your old pocket reference book can't do. MER is divided into the following sections: * Simple Circuits - Ohm's law, series and parallel circuits, capacitance, inductance, impedance, and reactance. * Distributed Systems - Distribution wiring diagrams for 120, 208, 277, and 480 volts, color codes, breaker sizes, light switches and bells diagrams. * Electrical Formulas - Formulas for kVA, kW, and HP. * Color Codes - Color codes for capacitors and resistors. * Motors and Wiring - Standard motor and motor starter sizes, tables of full-load currents, locked-rotor information, overload units, OCPD, nameplate information, synchronous motor speeds, three-phase STAR and DELTA diagrams, three-wire start-stop diagram, motor frame dimensions, and motor enclosure types. * Transformers - KVA ratings for single- and three-phase current, transformer formulas. * Conductor Properties - Conductor tables, AWG and metric wire sizes, twist-on pressure connectors, and wire combinations. * Ampacities - Ampacities in raceway, cable, earth, and free air, and derating tables. * Conduit Fill table * Grounding Sizes - Equipment grounding conductor (EGC) and grounding electrode conductor (GEC). * Metal Boxes - Images and sizes of metal boxes, junction / device boxes, junction / pull boxes. * Voltage Drop calculations * Dictionary of electrician terms * Insulation Charts - Table of cable and wire types * Electrical Symbols * NEMA - Plugs and wiring diagrams, enclosure types, standard underground boxes, standard fuse and breaker sizes, standard pull box / junction sizes, standard gutter and wire-ways, standard switchboards, standard busway, standard busbar ampacity, standard panelboard sizes, and standard disconnect sizes. * Math and Conversions - Formulas for algebra, geometry, fractions, temperature conversion, trig tables, unit conversions, metric prefixes, and conversions between inches and millimeters. * Conduit Bending - Includes the guide "The Master Bender Way" on how to bend conduit. See the Master Bender app or MasterBender.com website for more information. * Conduit Weights * Copper Wire Cost * Hole Saw Sizes * Material Raceway Support * Lighting - Fluorescent, high-intensity discharge, incandescent, LED, and low-pressure sodium. * Standard Tool List * Torque - Lugs, bolts, and screws, tightening torque. * Dry, Damp, and Wet Locations * Hazardous Locations * Wiring Methods * Safety - Lock-out / tag-out (LOTO), and a safety manual and first aid. Most pages contain a general scientific calculator. It is expression based: Just enter an expression and evaluate it. It understands trig and power functions, can convert between radians and degrees, and has built-in basic constants like pi and e. MER includes key NEC tables from the National Electrical Code (NEC) 2017. We also have MER apps available for NEC 2011 and NEC 2014 code years. Visit our website at MasterSparky.com for more information.

Screenshots

Ugly's Electrical References4 screens
2017 Master Electrician Ref.4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: 2017 Master Electrician Ref. at 4.7 against Ugly's Electrical References's 4.4. 2017 Master Electrician Ref. also leads on review sentiment (67% vs 47%) and price ($9.99 vs $12.99). Ugly's Electrical References's advantage is chart position (#16 vs #190). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Ugly's Electrical References costs $12.99 and 2017 Master Electrician Ref. $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

2017 Master Electrician Ref. holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.5K and 1.3K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 47% of Ugly's Electrical References's written reviews are positive against 67% of 2017 Master Electrician Ref.'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ugly's Electrical References ships an update every 3 months, 2017 Master Electrician Ref. every 5 months. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Ugly's Electrical References versus 2017 Master Electrician Ref.: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUgly's Electrical References2017 Master Electrician Ref.
Price$12.99$9.99 — better
Rating4.4 (1.5K ratings)4.7 (1.3K ratings) — better
Positive reviews47.1% of reviews66.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.5K — better1.3K
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#16 — better#190
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS1712.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size63 MB46 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperInformed PublishingPawEng, LLC

Customer experience

Ugly's Electrical References

All ratings1,495 ratings
Positive84.9%
Neutral5.7%
Negative9.4%
Written reviews172 reviews
Positive47.1%
Neutral16.9%
Negative36.0%

2017 Master Electrician Ref.

All ratings1,255 ratings
Positive92.7%
Neutral3.4%
Negative3.9%
Written reviews24 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

User reviews

Ugly's Electrical References

From 1.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Quick reference
  • 👍 Helpful for apprentices and journeymen
  • 👍 Convenient to have on phone
  • 👍 Useful calculators
  • 👍 Great resource

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Videos/audio not working
  • 🐛 Bookmarking issues
  • 🐛 Glitchy navigation
  • 🐛 Difficult to find information
  • 🐛 Annoying review pop-up

2017 Master Electrician Ref.

From 1.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Quick reference
  • 🚀 Best app for electrical information
  • 🚀 Concise and well-laid out information
  • 🚀 Comprehensive electrical references

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App needs to be updated
  • 🐛 Inaccurate information in some areas
  • 🐛 Limited functionality compared to expectations
  • 🐛 Overlapping table of contents

Bugs and requests

Ugly's Electrical References

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Videos not playing
  • Bookmarks not working correctly
  • Navigation issues causing app crashes
  • Incorrect calculation results

Requested features

5 requests
  • Zoom functionality
  • Better search capabilities
  • Spanish language support
  • Offline access to full content
  • Improved bookmarking system

2017 Master Electrician Ref.

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Conduit fill information missing for certain types
  • Login screen freezes
  • Compatibility issues with older devices

Requested features

3 requests
  • Update to latest NEC code
  • Add calculation tools for conduit fill and voltage drop
  • Improve user interface and navigation

In-app purchases

None

Ugly's Electrical References

No in-app purchases

None

2017 Master Electrician Ref.

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Ugly's Electrical References free?
Ugly's Electrical References costs $12.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is 2017 Master Electrician Ref. free?
2017 Master Electrician Ref. costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Ugly's Electrical References or 2017 Master Electrician Ref.?
2017 Master Electrician Ref. is rated higher. Ugly's Electrical References averages 4.4 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while 2017 Master Electrician Ref. averages 4.7 from 1.3K ratings.
Do Ugly's Electrical References or 2017 Master Electrician Ref. have ads?
Neither Ugly's Electrical References nor 2017 Master Electrician Ref. shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ugly's Electrical References or 2017 Master Electrician Ref.?
Ugly's Electrical References ships an update every 3 months, and 2017 Master Electrician Ref. every 5 months. Most recently, Ugly's Electrical References was updated on November 6, 2026 and 2017 Master Electrician Ref. on November 6, 2026.
Which is more popular, Ugly's Electrical References or 2017 Master Electrician Ref.?
Ugly's Electrical References currently peaks at #16 in the App Store charts, and 2017 Master Electrician Ref. at #190. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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