Master Electrician Ref. Lite vs Ugly's Electrical References
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Master Electrician Ref. Lite
This electronic pocket reference guide provides essential information for electrical professionals. It offers calculations, code tables, and detailed sections on motors, ampacities, grounding, and more, all accessible on your mobile device.
- Motor and wiring information
- Ampacity tables
- Conduit fill and grounding sizes
- Voltage drop calculations
- Conduit bending guide
- Integrated scientific calculator
- NEC code tables
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Master Electrician Reference Lite (or MER Lite for short) is your electronic pocket electrician reference guide. MER Lite 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 Lite to keep the most important information easily accessible on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. MER Lite will even do calculations for you; something your old pocket reference book can't do. MER Lite is divided into the following sections: * 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. * 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). * Voltage Drop calculations * 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. * Standard Tool List * Safety - 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) 2011. Visit our website at MasterSparky.com for more information. If you like MER Lite, you will love the full MER. It contains much more information. The full MER are available in versions covering the NEC 2011, 2014, and 2017 code years.
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.
- NEC 2026 updates
- Mathematical formulas and calculators
- Conduit bending guide with videos
- Ampacity and conduit fill information
- Wiring diagrams
- Conversion tables
- Works offline
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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.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Master Electrician Ref. Lite at Free against Ugly's Electrical References's $12.99. Master Electrician Ref. Lite also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and iOS requirement (11.4 vs 17). Ugly's Electrical References's advantage is chart position (#6 vs unranked). On review sentiment, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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
Master Electrician Ref. Lite is free to download; Ugly's Electrical References costs $12.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Master Electrician Ref. Lite holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2.5K and 1.5K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Master Electrician Ref. Lite's written reviews are positive against 47% of Ugly's Electrical References's.
Master Electrician Ref. Lite ships an update every 4 months, Ugly's Electrical References every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Master Electrician Ref. Lite | Ugly's Electrical References |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $12.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (2.5K ratings) — better | 4.4 (1.5K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better | 47.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2.5K — better | 1.5K |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #6 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 11.4 — better | 17 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 46 MB | 63 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | PawEng, LLC | Informed Publishing |
Customer experience
Master Electrician Ref. Lite
Ugly's Electrical References
Bugs and requests
Master Electrician Ref. Lite
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or 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
In-app purchases
Master Electrician Ref. Lite
No in-app purchases
Ugly's Electrical References
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Master Electrician Ref. Lite free?
Is Ugly's Electrical References free?
Which has better reviews, Master Electrician Ref. Lite or Ugly's Electrical References?
Do Master Electrician Ref. Lite or Ugly's Electrical References have ads?
Which is updated more often, Master Electrician Ref. Lite or Ugly's Electrical References?
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