Is the 87V still the 'go to' DMM?

[Chet T16]

As title? It still seems that everyone compares other DMM's to it?

I'm looking to but a good DMM now but there is ssooo much info in here and 'out there' that i don't know where to start.

I'm willing to spend ~US$350 on something i'll have for life, i'd really prefer something new. I'm not planning any super high power projects and temp probe would be nice

[saturation]

Yes, but it also depends on the country you are in.  I've seen many Eurozone countries price it 2-3x higher than the US street price of $320, new and delivered via Amazon.  Farnell lists the 87V at near $630 for Ireland.  The competing Agilent 1272a is $440.  Hopefully you can find better prices out there.

The Agilent is a better deal if both were priced the same, I find only one real flaw, the LCD numbers are a bit smaller so its slightly harder to read in reduced lighting, but it has all the Fluke features and more, for less money.  It comes with a 3 year warranty vs Fluke's limited lifetime warranty.  Ergonomically, the Fluke is better as its very simple UI, but the Agilent provides more bang for buck as a single meter with many measuring capabilities and the Agilent quality name behind it.

[Chet T16]

Farnell and any other 'proper' retailers are mad money

On ebay (US) i can get an 87V delivered for around $360, i imagine customs might have some input on that!

[Kiriakos-GR]

The age of the technician it can influence his own choices related to display and digits taste.

It a natural thing for the people at 40 and under to start loosing their ability to read tiny fonts,
and to start to use glasses as aid.
We just get old, and this a natural turn out.

Unfortunately the vision problem its no a stable condition, it grows too by the age of the human, above the 50 years of life it gets a bit worst, like having a difficulty to see and the  auxiliary digits in the display with out using your glasses on.

At the ages between 15 - 30 years the 90% of the people haves top quality vision, about focusing in near-by and tiny objects.

About the DMM screen it self ... the strong back light reduces the need for the old people, for using their glasses about reading the tiny fonts.
The bright back light and the clear fonts helps the eyes to read the display even with out your glasses ( U1272A).
In long term every one haves to find a balance about this natural problem.

By the way, speaking about Fluke in Europe,  yes the pricing still holds high than other places in this planet.

The best bet speaking about Ebay and sales is the ebay.uk .

 


 

[Chet T16]

Just won a used 87V on ebay \o/

[EEVblog]

The Agilent 1272a is much better bang-per-back than the 87V, no doubt. But only the 87V has that deep history of reliability and industry reputation. I don't know of another meter that can match that. It will be at least half a decade before the Agilent or another meter can begin to get a such a rep, if they don't keep changing it, as seems to be common in the industry.

Dave.

[Chet T16]

The Agilent seems much much harder to track down except the usual official channels.

I've taken a chance on this used 87V anyway, less than $180 delivered and coming from the uk, so no duty. No thermocouple though so i'll have to pick one of those up

[bazza]

I'm looking to but a good DMM now but there is ssooo much info in here and 'out there' that i don't know where to start.

You can start with Dave's EEVblog #75 video for things to look for.

I have the budget Fluke 17B China-only model (less than $100 US dollars delivered).

Pros/cons?
*Continuity mode is fast but probably not as loud as I like it and is scratchy when the probes touch together.
*Diode testing range is poor, not the more favourable 4V (I don't know if I'll be testing LEDs with 3V drops...)
*Doesn't have Fluke's Touch Hold feature (allows the meter to remember the reading after you take the probes off the subject); instead it has the 'lame' HOLD button that you can only press while the probes are on the subject to freeze the reading. Silly.
*Doesn't have the claimed DC Volts accuracy the 87V has (along with other ranges), but really I don't need any more accuracy; it's more than I need for my uses and Fluke's electricians meters like the $200ish 117 have the same accuracy in many ranges (but accuracy is less important for an electrician's meter than for electronics, apparently).
*It runs on 2xAA rather than the unfavourable (to me) 9V battery that the 87V uses. I have heaps of rechargeable AAs when the internal batteries run out so I love this. I never want to have to buy a 9V battery again and rechargeables are harder to find.
*It doesn't have True RMS, something which I probably won't care about for years, if then.
*It doesn't have a backlight, but I don't find myself using the meter in the dark environments so that is fine with me.
*It doesn't have MIN/MAX mode, so I won't be able to recall the minimum and the maximum readings when I'm finished reading.
*It has a thermocouple included for temperature readings and is useful for testing hotter components like heatsinks and so on, apparently.
*It is built very solidly, probably like the more expensive Flukes I've never used.
*Replacing the battery isn't the easiest taking that door off, and to replace fuses you have to take the whole back cover off (no fuse window for easy replacement access). I probably will never have to replace the fuse.
*It's a 4000-count meter but the DC volt accuracy is 0.5%, but according to Dave it needs to be 0.25% according to video #75. I still don't understand this properly. Regardless, I don't think much of accuracy specs.

These little omissions the 17B has over the 87V are well worth the $300 or so savings to me Especially for my simple uses.






 

[johnboxall]

The Agilent 1272a is much better bang-per-back than the 87V, no doubt. But only the 87V has that deep history of reliability and industry reputation. I don't know of another meter that can match that. It will be at least half a decade before the Agilent or another meter can begin to get a such a rep, if they don't keep changing it, as seems to be common in the industry.
Dave.

My U1272A with v2.0 firmware has gone nuts again, using resistance is like playing wheel of fortune. Have contacted Agilent - I'm sure they will sort it out.

[saturation]

In what way tronixstuff?  Mine are ok but since I have several I can reproduce what you found.  It has the same goofiness as the 1252a in that in megaohm range it has difficulty locking on a stable reading compared to the 87v.

The Agilent 1272a is much better bang-per-back than the 87V, no doubt. But only the 87V has that deep history of reliability and industry reputation. I don't know of another meter that can match that. It will be at least half a decade before the Agilent or another meter can begin to get a such a rep, if they don't keep changing it, as seems to be common in the industry.
Dave.

My U1272A with v2.0 firmware has gone nuts again, using resistance is like playing wheel of fortune. Have contacted Agilent - I'm sure they will sort it out.

[saturation]

With Agilent rebates the 1272a can be found priced almost on par with the 87V.  However, without it its about $100 more in the USA.  With the 87V being cheaper than the 1272a its an easy choice, Fluke 87V, unless you have a specifif application for the functions of the Agilent.

FWIW I have 4 model 80s myself and you won't be disappointed.  As Dave said, its been proven in the field for over 20 years.  I have an 85 model that is 20+ years old, working and reading true as the day it was bought; never been cal since then but a recent recheck shows its still in spec. 

The Agilent seems much much harder to track down except the usual official channels.

I've taken a chance on this used 87V anyway, less than $180 delivered and coming from the uk, so no duty. No thermocouple though so i'll have to pick one of those up

[johnboxall]

In what way tronixstuff?  Mine are ok but since I have several I can reproduce what you found.  It has the same goofiness as the 1252a in that in megaohm range it has difficulty locking on a stable reading compared to the 87v.

The Agilent 1272a is much better bang-per-back than the 87V, no doubt. But only the 87V has that deep history of reliability and industry reputation. I don't know of another meter that can match that. It will be at least half a decade before the Agilent or another meter can begin to get a such a rep, if they don't keep changing it, as seems to be common in the industry.
Dave.

My U1272A with v2.0 firmware has gone nuts again, using resistance is like playing wheel of fortune. Have contacted Agilent - I'm sure they will sort it out.

It cycles up and down the range from ~35MOhm to OL with the leads open. Measuring a 560 ohm resistor is stable at ~680. Not really losing any sleep over it, they can have it back.

[Chet T16]

All hail the 87V 

[samgab]

The Agilent 1272a is much better bang-per-back than the 87V, no doubt. But only the 87V has that deep history of reliability and industry reputation. I don't know of another meter that can match that. It will be at least half a decade before the Agilent or another meter can begin to get a such a rep, if they don't keep changing it, as seems to be common in the industry.

Dave.

My first 2 Fluke 87V's came with pretty awful zero offset on the Amps and Milliamps DC ranges. My third one is only a little bit out in terms of zero offset.
The gain appears correct, it's just the zero offset that is coming out wrong.
I can rel it out, but it's a pain doing it every time, and I lose auto-range if I use the relative function, so it's a whole lot more button presses every time I want to take a DC Milliamps reading.
I can get it calibrated from new, as most companies would do anyway, but I'm buying it with my own money, and the cost of calibration here in NZ is half the cost of the 87V again! Ouch!!

[johnboxall]

In what way tronixstuff?  Mine are ok but since I have several I can reproduce what you found.  It has the same goofiness as the 1252a in that in megaohm range it has difficulty locking on a stable reading compared to the 87v.

The Agilent 1272a is much better bang-per-back than the 87V, no doubt. But only the 87V has that deep history of reliability and industry reputation. I don't know of another meter that can match that. It will be at least half a decade before the Agilent or another meter can begin to get a such a rep, if they don't keep changing it, as seems to be common in the industry.
Dave.

My U1272A with v2.0 firmware has gone nuts again, using resistance is like playing wheel of fortune. Have contacted Agilent - I'm sure they will sort it out.

It cycles up and down the range from ~35MOhm to OL with the leads open. Measuring a 560 ohm resistor is stable at ~680. Not really losing any sleep over it, they can have it back.

Forgot to mention-  Agilent replaced it with a new, fully-calibrated unit. Can't complain about the service.

[saturation]

If you bought it new, it should be easy to get it replaced from Fluke for a better performing one.  If you got it second hand, you could call the service center and see if they'd do it free of charge, you can refer them to some experiences of several 87V owners on eevblog who have gotten them fixed for free, even one user here who had an 85III and got it upgrades to an 87V when he found out it didn't sleep in sleep mode and ate the batteries like it were fully on.  Worse case you can complain a little and say 'Agilent' wouldn't do that would they, and they have good DMMs too ... 

I have 1 87v, 2 85s, 1 85III and all are spot on and fairly old ... last calibrated from the factory.


After all we have tronix most recent experience....

[
Forgot to mention-  Agilent replaced it with a new, fully-calibrated unit. Can't complain about the service.

My first 2 Fluke 87V's came with pretty awful zero offset on the Amps and Milliamps DC ranges. My third one is only a little bit out in terms of zero offset.
..I can get it calibrated from new, as most companies would do anyway, but I'm buying it with my own money, and the cost of calibration here in NZ is half the cost of the 87V again! Ouch!!

[ErikTheNorwegian]

Just to say a littel about the prices here in Norway..

A fluke 87-5 is 790,-  US $ incl tax..
That is 573 Euro
491 £


A U1272A
is 573,-  US $ incl tax..
That is 414 Euro
356 £

Robbery...

[ciccio]

I made a quick check at the on-line distributors where I buy my stuff (RS and DISTRELEC).
 Fluke 87V : 427 euro +VAT from both (that is 595 USD + 21% VAT)
Agilent 1272A : 329 euro + VAT  from DISTRELEC,  439 + VAT from RS (the cheaper is 448 USD + VAT)

It seems that Agilent is promoting rebates..

[saturation]

The price could be the break point between selecting one from the other; they are fairly close in capability but you'd need to weigh the value of the conditional lifetime warranty on the 87V over its higher cost in the EU.  329 euro + VAT = ~ 400 Euro which is $540, its close to list price versus the US street price of $320 [Amazon.com].

Similarly, the price difference in your country can make the decision when choosing between lower end DSO such as Rigol, Owon and Hantek.

I made a quick check at the on-line distributors where I buy my stuff (RS and DISTRELEC).
 Fluke 87V : 427 euro +VAT from both (that is 595 USD + 21% VAT)
Agilent 1272A : 329 euro + VAT  from DISTRELEC,  439 + VAT from RS (the cheaper is 448 USD + VAT)

It seems that Agilent is promoting rebates..