Need good multimeter

The most recent purchase was a Klein CL700 at a garage sale. $45. A co worker picked up two meters, one a Fluke like the Klein and the other I cannot remember for $70 for both. So keep your eyes open when a garage sale is in your area and retired folks are selling.
Pierre
 
I have a fluke 8842A on my bench for when I really need accuracy. I have also had Fluke and other high end hand held meters but now, I usually just buy the cheapest I can get on Amazon. I see one listed right now for $12.99 USD. I can get SEVENTEEN of them for the price of one fluke 117 meter. The Fluke may be a few % more accurate and last a several years longer (if I don't loose it or drive over...) but I don't need my hand held meter to be that accurate. The cheep ones may not last as long but I bet I still come out ahead after I go through SEVENTEEN of them. I also suspect that all of the low cost meters use one of a few purpose built sing Chip VOMs.
 
Karl_T said:
My volt ohm amp meter is a POS. It was not working today when I needed one. GRR

OK I see prices from $50 to $1200. Most of my work is with 12 and 24 volt on boats, cars, CNC mills, general machine work. Plus quite a bit of testing for voltage present on 110VAC and 220 VAC.

What's a good choice for a new multi meter? Try not to break the bank, but stay away from el cheapo.
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I’m sure it’s already been mentioned but a good fluke cannot be beat
 
Boswell said:
I have a fluke 8842A on my bench for when I really need accuracy. I have also had Fluke and other high end hand held meters but now, I usually just buy the cheapest I can get on Amazon. I see one listed right now for $12.99 USD. I can get SEVENTEEN of them for the price of one fluke 117 meter. The Fluke may be a few % more accurate and last a several years longer (if I don't loose it or drive over...) but I don't need my hand held meter to be that accurate. The cheep ones may not last as long but I bet I still come out ahead after I go through SEVENTEEN of them. I also suspect that all of the low cost meters use one of a few purpose built sing Chip VOMs.
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Good point, if I were to take this approach though I’d have to buy two or three so I had one when the one I was using fails.

Had many cheapies, and a few mid range ones. Haven’t had a fluke fail while I was using it yet.

John
 
I'm surprised no one has commented about CAT ratings, safety etc.

I'm an EE and have considerable expertise with metering.

IF you are ever going to use this meter for MAINS type measurements 120V-600V, DO NOT use a generic $20 meter, you are risking serious injury!

Multimeters that do not appear to meet their safety specs. - Page 1

Multimeters that do not appear to meet their safety specs. - Page 1
www.eevblog.com

Fluke make great (safe) meters, they will often be working fine after 30-40 years. There are plenty of other good meters, here is a comparison of some 400 common ones:

Multimeter spreadsheet (80 manufacturers and over 400 meters listed) - Page 1

Multimeter spreadsheet (80 manufacturers and over 400 meters listed) - Page 1
www.eevblog.com


A little note about 600V motors / VFD's etc.....
For the ill informed, measuring 120V vs. 600V with a DMM seems like a non issue, just a few different digits on the meter. In comparison most 600V sources have the ability to deliver MUCH more energy than a typical 120/240V 15 or 20A branch circuit. So instead of a little snap you get a blue ball of fire. More people are badly injured and or die from 600V than even the the much higher voltages used in industry and the power grid.


or 480V for our American neighbors
 
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I don’t know if they’re still made but used ones would be out there. Make is APPA. I’m not at home and will have to give model number later but over the last 35 years I’ve never had a problem. It has transistor, capacitor and amp up to 20 momentary ability. I couldn’t afford a Fluke but this has been fine and I’ve used it pretty much.
 
slow-poke said:
here is a comparison of some 400 common ones:

Multimeter spreadsheet (80 manufacturers and over 400 meters listed) - Page 1

Multimeter spreadsheet (80 manufacturers and over 400 meters listed) - Page 1
www.eevblog.com
Click to expand...
Really nice to have a list and spread sheet, but is there no reference that is a little lest outdated? This thread and list was posted February 24, 2014, 07:22:51 so is 10 years old. I suspect that there have been lots of improvements and that many machines on this list are not even still available. I also suspect that a lot of the cheaper ones that were unsafe are not even still around anymore and that this inexpensive class has also improved in safety during the past 10 years?!
 
Ever hear of "Ball Lightning", an quasi-stable electrical plasma that is pretty much NOT understood . A much cooler video and there are a few others but not many...


When in grad school I heard a lecture on the topic from a group that was trying to recreate the phenomenon. They had acquired an old submarine and was shorting the large high voltage battery via commercially available high voltage power line mechanical switches. They had huge currents flowing at the switch contacts and claimed they had been successful. An interesting demonstration, but did not explain the science much.
 
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A submarine battery system although fairly powerful say 350V @ 15,000A ~=5MW.

Shorting a battery like that sounds like an experiment that I would want to be some distance from;-)

In comparison utility type generators are often 100-800MW per unit, even a lowly wind turbine is about 3MW, new ones up to 15MW in the works.
At the Baihetan plant each hydro turbine (they have 16) produces 1000MW now that's serious power, makes Niagara falls seem pretty small.
 
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