Decent Digital Multimeter for DIY?

[Steve Walker]

Hi -

I'm sick of using £5 Chinese DMM's off ebay. They don't seem to last 5 minutes before the test leads break, and I don't trust their accuracy much.

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I just want something sturdy & reliable.

Testing requirements are mainly home (UK 230v) and car (12v), just ordinary stuff about continuity, resistance, volts and milliamps etc.

Thanks

PS - Have tried anglegrinder... :-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You might have to approach it in a different way. Even my rather expensive Fluke came with what I consider poor leads - rather stiff PVC. So I upgraded them to silicone rubber ones. But they can cost rather more than many DVMs complete.

It also depends to some extend the main use. If you're going to use it for car fault finding, an automotive one will usually be designed to measure higher currents. And have things like duty cycle and so on.

Auto ranging, minimum and peak hold can also be useful, as is auto power off.

You'll usually get much better value on one direct from the far east than a branded one bought locally.

I bought one specifically for car use, similar to this one:-

Snag is the design changes so often it's difficult to give an up to date recommendation based on actual experience.

If I did have to choose, and just have one, it would be my Fluke. Maybe used, if I couldn't afford new. But again, I've heard reports they're not as well made as once.

[newshound]

I have several cheaper ones scattered around various cars, drawers, toolboxes, etc. That way I can usually find one fairly quickly.

If you are more organised than me, a Fluke off eBay would make sense. I find it useful to have spare sets of leads with croc clips (eBay). I also have a home made "extra long" set.

[Lee]

There was a thread about this a while back, had some useful answers.

If the build quality is like the older units then this is worth a look:

Lee

[Andy Burns]

Maybe, maybe not ...

When I bought a second-hand insulation and continuity tester, it had no leads, so I bought a set of nice flexible silicone ones with probe and croc-clip ends, they fit it OK.

However they don't fit very well in my cheapish Maplin/UniTrend meter, waggling the leads in the meter gives different readings, so I tend to use the nasty stiff leads that came with the multimeter :-(

[Steve Walker]

I found some useful info at

- recommends the Extech EX330

Googled that suggestion, and discovered a thorough comparison by a hilariously blunt Aussie tech ("Seriously mate, this is just shit") -

He also recommends the Extech EX330, and it's still available via Amazon for £40 =

I'm tempted. Might buy some extra leads too.

[Brian Gaff]

You know we used to slag off Tandy when it was about as being over priced, but i bought a meter in their sale and it lasted me until I lost too much sight to use it. the leads were very good as well, it was probably a badge engineered well known make of course. I also used to lust after a meter I saw advertised in old construction magazines which had both an analogue meter and digital one in the same box. may have been a gimmick but it was over 100 quid at the time and hence it was never purchased.

Those were the days... Tandy also had a talking multimeter, but I never bought one, I cold have done with it now! Brian

[Adrian]

I've had a few Draper 60792s. Seem to work just fine, do exactly what I want from 'em, and come with a decent rubberised case. Never had any problems with the leads on them. £10-15 is the usual price.

I've had "a few" because, despite being bright blue, they do like to hide. One of them hid over winter right underneath a drip from the shed roof - they're definitely not waterproof.

[The Other Mike]

" I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that"

Think again

Fluke 101 UK stock

39 quid delivered

One drawback of the 101 is no current range

Fluke 107 German stock (no import tax or vat to pay when brought into UK) £57.97 delivered

The 107 does almost everything and is a brand you can trust

I've no connection with either seller, both might be cheaper from China / HK but you may get knobbled with VAT/Duty/Parcelfarce/Rolyal Mail 'Handling Fees'

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I never have been. On Ebay if is says free postage that's what happens. Never did understand why - having been charged VAT etc on stuff of the same cost from the US.

[Tim Streater]

Yeah, I saw a Draper one in a store today for £16 or so. No idea what sort of quality, but I did notice that on the back of the card they use to hang them up, they listed the error tolerances for the device on the different ranges.

I've been using a small auto-ranging Radio Shack 22-802 for the past 15 years, does what I need.

[tony sayer]

In article , Steve Walker scribeth thus

Keep an eye out on ebay or try Stewart of reading, he does them for around that price sometimes. Got one for field use many years ago never let me down and worked fine:-)..

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Steve Walker escribió:

Funnily enough, I got a Wavetek Meterman 15XL meter with decent probes and rugged case for 8 euro (about 6 quid) from the flea market last Sunday. Looks almost new and worked fine once the battery was replaced.

Hadn't heard of Wavetek before but it looks quite Fluke-like with a similar standard of construction (I've used Flukes at work for years, but like you, sick of using cheap Chinese junk at home).

On googling I find Wavetek is actually a division of Fluke, so quite pleased with that.

[Bill Wright]

"Ow! Bloody hell! You connected me to the mains when I was set for 2VAC FSD!"

Bill

[Martin Brown]

What do you do to them? Even my cheapest and nastiest sacrificial multimeter is still going strong as is a venerable Model 7 Avo secondhand in the 1970's (though it doesn't get much use these days).

You can get replacement test leads for most brands.

Around £25 ought to be enough to get a half decent one and you may get frequency, capacitance, diode and transistor gain testing as well.

(an example not a recommendation)

Thing you need to decide is do you want autoranging or not.

You could probably do better on RapidOnline and nicer test leads but the saving might well be eaten up by deliver charge under £40.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've read that Fluke (or at least some models) are now made in China.

FWIW cheap junk is junk regardless of where it comes from, and China make some superb stuff too.

My experience says a £40 or so DVM from the far east is likely to be ok. For many, a Fluke is simply too expensive for casual use.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That would make sense given the low cost 'postage'.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

For DIY I'd make sure it has temperature measurement too. Useful for checking oven, freezers, radiator balance etc.

[dennis]

I like this one

but I can't say the test leads are better than average but I don't need the leads often anyway.

You can get it for less if you find the working two digit code to put on the end of the item number.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Brian Gaff explained :

I have a gimmicky one, credit card sized, which does volts, DC or AC or Ohms, or frequency. On the auto setting it decides itself what you are trying to measure.