Multimeter Advice

[f50jack]

I am looking to upgrade my multimeter and was wondering if any one can suggest something in particular. I was told that the Fluke products are nice, does anyone have any experience with them. Thanks

JACK

[biggy boy]

I am looking to upgrade my multimeter and was wondering if any one can suggest something in particular. I was told that the Fluke products are nice, does anyone have any experience with them. Thanks

JACK

I own four fluke meters, they are good meters but can be expensive to buy for hobbie type use.
My work ones get calabrated every year. My home ones don't. I also have a cheap $100.00 meter that works just as good as the $600.00 flukes.
I think for hobbie stuff a cheap meter works ok.

[waltk]

I have a Fluke 87 III that I got in '93 or '94.  It has performed flawlessly in all these years.  My Fluke meter has most of features I want, but the most important one to me is confidence (that it will continue to last and give good readings).  The 87 series has been around for a while, and you can probably find a used one at a good price.  I would prefer a used Fluke over most other brands new.  The one thing it doesn't measure well is capacitance.  So I have have a dedicated LCR meter for that.  You can find new DMMs that have decent LCR functions built in, but I don't have any experience with them.

[zeeman]

I have a Fluke 87 III that I got in '93 or '94.  It has performed flawlessly in all these years.  My Fluke meter has most of features I want, but the most important one to me is confidence (that it will continue to last and give good readings).  The 87 series has been around for a while, and you can probably find a used one at a good price.  I would prefer a used Fluke over most other brands new.  The one thing it doesn't measure well is capacitance.

I also have an 87 so I would agree with what waltk said.

zeeman

[juse]

Flukes are the standard. I used them in the military for years. They are expensive, but if you look around, deals can be found. I just bought a fluke 70 for $30 at a pawn shop & have seen them for under $70 on fleabay. The old 70 is a Plain Jane meter, but does most of what I need. I also have other el cheapo meters for different functions, because I can't justify spending the big bucks for a decked out fluke. But, a fluke is definitely worth having and shopping around for. It will likely serve you from now on.

[frank_p]

Why Flukes are considered so good compared to other brands ?

[MikeH]

I don't know, but get one with a continuity tester on it (most do).  I don't know how I debugged anything before I had one

[StereoKills]

+1 on Fluke brand multimeters. I use one at work and I prefer it over the cheaper one I own myself.

[Andi]

I have a Fluke - got it as part of a redundancy package, strangely enough. It's good; the battery lasts ages and the readings are consistent.

However, it doesn't do capacitance. I bought a cheapo meter to measure that and it's within 5% of the Fluke's reading on everything else. My conclusion (possibly incorrect) is that unless you need better than 5% accuracy a cheapo is good enough.

[juse]

Why Flukes are considered so good compared to other brands ?

Quality, accuracy/precision, ruggedness, dependability, longevity, etc.

I've seen fluke meters abused beyond belief and still be perfect at calibration time.

They're just nice.

[frank_p]

Thanks Juse, I know also some people  who swear by them.  I also used some in school, but I was wondering if they could be overrated.

[LiquidMetal]

This is probably the other end of the spectrum you are looking for but I found a multimeter on sale for $3.99 at the local Harbor Freight Tools (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90899).  Curious how they sell so cheap and still manage to make profit....

[arma61]

  Curious how they sell so cheap and still manage to make profit....

they don't...see   the price is now $4.99 

[kristoffereide]

the ones they sell on Banzai are good. Trany-tester and everything you need.

http://www.banzaieffects.com/Multimeters-c-1180.html