MultiMeter choice

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

I know; I have both. I just like getting the old (must be at least 30 years old by now) analogue out from time to time. I had a much better one back then but my brother 'swapped' it for a cheaper one, the bastard. Anyway, even as a relatively cheap meter from ~1980 it's pretty well built and ready for another couple of decades. I'm careful about selecting ranges on it and have never managed to do an end-stop clang (learning about that on college AVOs was preferable and was rewarded with a clap around the ear at school).

My DVM is a cheap and cheerful job, but while it works well I'll keep it. I have no need for minute accuracy anyway, but I do rather fancy something decent.

After all, tools need no justification.

[John Rumm]

How about something like:

[John Rumm]

Great ugly clunky things ....

Give me a Fluke any day ;-)

[Rick Hughes]

must like weight lifting

[Bob Eager]

Actually, at the moment I have three! But one is 'for parts' to fix one of the others...

[robgraham]

The weakness with the cheap ones is that they tend to run on 9v batteries and don't have an auto-off feature - worth keeping an eye on that.

Rob

[Frank Erskine]

I have a Fluke as well... :-)

[Jules Richardson]

Frequency's one of those "ooh, I see how that could be useful sometimes"* things, but at least in the case of my meter the manual's woefully light on details of what kind of signal it expects (in terms of min/max amplitude, waveform etc.)

• in particular, it'd be nice to use it to check RPM when tinkering with various things with IC engines, but I'm not sure if there's a sensible way of interfacing it to a spark plug lead without risking damage and/or incorrect readings.

A lot of meters seem to have the buzzer as a feature of the [lowest] resistance range; it trips automatically on something like You pay extra for the ones with rubberised drop protection armour around

I think I paid about $90 - probably about 50 quid at the time - for my Amprobe around three years ago, which is probably somewhere in the middle-ground when it comes to features and performance (it's not auto- ranging, but as I said elsewhere I don't care for them anyway, and it has occasionally-useful stuff such as temperature measurement)

cheers

Jules

[Jules Richardson]

I've never understood the attraction to Fluke - they don't seem any more robust / accurate / feature-rich / lightweight etc. than plenty of other 'lesser' brands on the market.

Or are they the only brand with leads that don't magically tangle into knots the minute your back is turned? ;-)

cheers

Jules

[whisky-dave]

The 318 and 328 I cited earlier both have auto off which is another pain co= me to think of it, handy for most but when used as a measuring instrument o= ver a period of time it can be annoying using it for a few hours taking mea= surements and having to switch it back on again.

[Adrian C]

I've got a Maplin UT70B

which is this thing UNI-T UT70B Portable Intelligent Digital Multimeter

don't have a great deal of confidence in it. It's slow to change ranges, so much so that I almost never use the autorange function. A good second hand Fluke DMM is on my shopping list.

[John Rumm]

I had to search around a bit for one with a continuity range that tripped on less than a couple of ohms. 40 ohms which seems common struck me as not particularly helpful in many cases!

[John Rumm]

They are not particularly feature rich, but are generally fairly bomb proof in both mechanical and electrical senses.

However the main point i was making (with tongue in cheek) was that AVO8 are fairly unsightly bricks.

A good set of silicone insulated leads is nice...

A good alternate lead set can improve many cheap meters.

[The Other Mike]

Typical Fluke reps test to sell their multimeters in 80's

100ft fall onto concrete (rep then banned from site)

Slung at breeze block wall

Seen both with my own eyes, both survived.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

I still fancy one of them just for the sake of it.

That too.

[tinnews]

to think of it, handy for most but when used as a measuring instrument over a period of time it can be annoying using it for a few hours taking measurements and having to switch it back on again.

Mine has auto off and it always makes me jump when it turns itself off because it beeps.

[ARWadsworth]

I have no idea what damage a 1000V IR test does to battery chargerers. But I could hear them whistle as I tested today. I am not umplugging them twice, I did warn them.

[Frank Erskine]

Of course the big problem with the AVO8 is getting a suitable 15V battery (Ever Ready B154).

[tony sayer]

Robust, accurate, and possible to calibrate them if you need that...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Last time I saw them listed new, about 700 quid?

Indeed. But I do have a Model 8. Looks nice alongside the Ferrograph test set. ;-)