Best Multimeter Under $200.00?

I have a $90 Radio Shack 22-174 that's been good to me so far. Of course, I'm still nursing my old analog RS meter from about 25 years ago (er, 22-221, $25) too.

Nicest meters I ever used were the big Weston moving needle jobs the physics lab in college had. External current shunts, beautiful wood boxes, huge mirrored scales. A bygone era :-)

My first DVM cost me over $100, 20 years ago.

My last DVM cost me around $3, when Maplin (a bit like Rat Shack) had a huge crate of them. I don't think there's even much difference in quality, except that there's no battery-replacement hatch and you need a screwdriver. But then buying a PP3 battery costs as much as this thing did ! I bought a handful of the things, left them in various toolboxes, and don't need to worry about losing them. It also comes ready-moulded in JOAT-yellow.

If it has an audible squawker for continuity tests, a 10A range, and ideally tests diodes too, then what more can you ask for ?

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

Find an electronics distributor in your area.

Less than $50 gets the job done if you exclude Fluke.

HTH

You should be able to pick up a Fluke 78 for about $200. See:

I use an old, large Radio Shack one that I purchased better than 20 years ago... Probably about $20 back then, would be surprised to see it as more than that now.

-Michael

When HF had their $10 DMM on sale for $4 I bought 3 figuring I'd just pitch them out when they died. It's been about 2 years now and 2 of the 3 are still going strong. #3 is still in the box. They work just fine for 110/220VAC, 12VDC stuff as well as continuity & resistance. Keeps the Fluke 8020A out of harms way.

Art

for my use has always been a Simpson 260. I have always favored analog redouts, probably because a lot of the use was adjusting a setting for min or max and a digital just dosent do it. Haven't any idea what one costs now though. ...lew...

$4, on sale, VOM from Harbor Freight! My neighbor has about 1/2 dozen of them. One in each car, and a couple in different tool boxes. For four bucks, he swears by them. Myself, I am doing my best to keep Fluke in business, with well over $1000 of fluke meters somewhere around here! Greg

You could still get a 260 a couple of years ago.

All you had to do was give up rights to your first born .

On Sat, 25 Oct 2003 03:26:22 GMT, "Lew Hodgett" brought forth from the murky depths:

Subsequent chilluns went in exchange for calibration every year, too. Wow, I used to work with those way back in '75 as a QA inspector. Ancient schtuffs, Maynard.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - WARNING! WARNING! Dangerous Mailbox Approaching. Evade! Evade! ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

A trusty old (40 years or more I think) AVO meter. Big and reliable.

Tom,

If you want the best of the best. Stick with fluke.

If you don't need the best of the best, fluke has another division called "meterman" or something along those lines. I don't have my distributor catalog at home.

We've sold them for quite some time. They seem to be very good meters. We haven't had a failure yet, and they are about half as much as a fluke. Our rep was in a few months ago and told us that they've done very very well.

If you don't have a dealer or just need a catalog, let me know. I'll get one in your hands.

Rick

Thanks to everyone for the help on this question.

I'm going to get another Fluke, if only because I drop things to often to go with a less sturdy one.

Seems like the 170 series has replaced the 77.

Regards, Tom Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania

Lewis, I have made my living as a Electronics Tech for about 25 years now and I can say without reservation, "you can't go wrong with Fluke" especially if you need true RMS capability. My personal meter is a Fluke 87, kind of pricey, but it meets all my expectations. If you are on a budget, look at WaveTek/Meterman for good quality and value. Scott.

One word .... ** Ebay ** I have had my eye out since mine walked away some time ago. I see 77's there all the time. Search for Fluke in the middle of the week\ in the middle of the night and eventually one will turn up at an excellent deal. Just make sure you buy from someone who has a decent number of sales and good feedback. So far this year alone I've bought about $600 dollars worth of brand new Ingersoll Rand air tools for about $375 with *no* complaints and that $600 estimate is taken from one of the lowest online stores I've found. For those who care, this site seems to have ok deals on other items but for IR air tools I haven't found anyone who can touch them.

Here's a few Ebay - Fluke deals I passed on because of my budget situation.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION A product malfunction exists in certain Fluke digital multimeters (DMMs). These products shipped between May 1998 and July 1998. Only nine models are affected: the Fluke Series III, Model 21, 23, 26, 70,

HTH, Hyde

Both Fluke and Agilent Technologies (formerly Hewlett-Packard instrumentation products) make rubberized models and/or rubber cradles to help protect their DMMs. Personally, I'd buy Agilent but Fluke is an excellent choice as well.