BM235 out of stock - what alternative?

[garymck]

Hi,

went to buy an EEVBlog BM235 Multimeter, but they are out of stock. Are there any decent alternatives available for around the same price - say $150 OZ dollars? As a beginner at electronics I am concerned about safety/accuracy and durability in that order..

Can anyone point me towards another unit, or should I just wait until the BM235's are back in stock.

cheers
Gary

[tautech]

Wait.
Joe Smith rates these and that would be good enough for me. 

[P90]

uni-t 139, get two, more useful than having just one meter...

[joeqsmith]

Hi,

went to buy an EEVBlog BM235 Multimeter, but they are out of stock. Are there any decent alternatives available for around the same price - say $150 OZ dollars? As a beginner at electronics I am concerned about safety/accuracy and durability in that order..

Can anyone point me towards another unit, or should I just wait until the BM235's are back in stock.

cheers
Gary

Did you check any of the other distributors?   

[garymck]

No point in getting from outside Australia, freight from the US kills it :-(

cheers
Gary

Hi,

went to buy an EEVBlog BM235 Multimeter, but they are out of stock. Are there any decent alternatives available for around the same price - say $150 OZ dollars? As a beginner at electronics I am concerned about safety/accuracy and durability in that order..

Can anyone point me towards another unit, or should I just wait until the BM235's are back in stock.

cheers
Gary

Did you check any of the other distributors?

[Lightages]

If you can spend a bit more, the BM257S is very good and IMHO a better meter. The suggestion to buy the Uni-T UT139C is also not a bad idea because two meters are better than one.

[P90]

As "a biginner in electronics"  implies you won't be working on high energy circuits, so just about any decent multimeter should do you. Just don't buy anything with a "transistor test" socket on it, and you should be ok. lol

[Electro Detective]

For the money you have to spend, wait for the EEVBlog BM235, it's hard to beat for features and price   

[ebastler]

For the money you have to spend, wait for the EEVBlog BM235, it's hard to beat for features and price   

Well, you could try these guys for example:
https://www.welectron.com/Brymen-BM235-Multimeter_1

They include the quality test leads (same as Dave's version, I believe) and a nice pouch with each multimeter. If the really mean the "free shipping worldwide", that's a very good deal.

Disclaimer: I did order a BM257s from them and was very satisfied with the handling (and with the meter). No affiliation otherwise!

[EEVblog]

ETA, two weeks.
Was supposed to have them now, but there was a manufacturing delay.

[dimkasta]

You state that you are a beginner, but to be honest this does not matter.
What matters is if you are a beginner pro or a beginner hobbyist and what stuff you need to check.

In any case, since you are probably not a pro, it would be wise to keep your probes away from mains and other high energy stuff.
If you are not sure about something, do not poke it with anything. Even with the safest or most expensive DMM.

That said, a nice choice inside your budget is the Fluke 17B+
With those new budget flukes in the market, it is hard to justify buying anything else at their price level (at least to my hobbyist eyes), unless you need a very specific function.

And with the rest of the money, you can buy a UniT 139C and/or a Fluke 101. More than one DMMs are always useful.
And if you do not need to use the extra stuff that 17B+ gives on high energy stuff, you can downgrade to 15B+ since the 139C has you covered anyway. Not that 139C cannot do those on higher energy stuff, but it would be safe to assume that it was never properly tested/revised to do them, so better be safe than sorry...

[garymck]

will wait for the Brymen. Fluke 17B+ is more expensive here than Brymen which has more features...2 weeks not long anyway...
cheers
Gary

[Electro Detective]

Good call, decent Fluke meters in Kangaroo Central are rich playboy hobbyist or overpaid tradie bunny prices,
and any affordable ones only have bare bone features, which may get you by, depending on needs.

The EEVBlog BM235 is worth the wait, just use The Force in the meantime   

---------------------------

I'd give SOME of the Uni-Ts the big miss unless they have these exclusive features you might need:

1. RED holster (indicates 'STOP' or politics debate starter)   

2. cheap fuses (safer than custom fit nails or wrapped coax core) 

3. lots of comment, teardowns and fanning at EEVblog

4. even more teardowns, comments and insults on Youtube

5. CHEAP to buy, many reports confirming they do switch on, and stay on

6. cute display to woo you into 'bang for buck' satisfaction (and light up a cigarette afterwards)

7.

8.

9.

10.


I need some assistance with 7. to 10.   
sorry about that.   

[dimkasta]

Good call, decent Fluke meters in Kangaroo Central are rich playboy hobbyist or overpaid tradie bunny prices,
and any affordable ones only have bare bone features, which may get you by, depending on needs.

Check instrument queen on ebay. Tried vendor with good prices.

Anything you buy locally will be overpriced

You simply cannot beat the cost savings of a virtual shop with big exposure

[Electro Detective]

Good call, decent Fluke meters in Kangaroo Central are rich playboy hobbyist or overpaid tradie bunny prices,
and any affordable ones only have bare bone features, which may get you by, depending on needs.

Check instrument queen on ebay. Tried vendor with good prices.

Anything you buy locally will be overpriced

You simply cannot beat the cost savings of a virtual shop with big exposure

That sounds great, but just a band-aid for a bigger problem of WHY can't local sellers sell just as cheap online as the overseas leechers with their eye candy click n ship deals?

It indicates the manufacturers are IGNORING this country by not supporting their product or the people here, by blatantly withholding FAIR PRICES.

At the same time any local distributors of the product are FORCED to grin and bear such corporate BULLYING behaviour, and somehow 'feel privileged' they can deal with such crappy attitude companies ! 

and sooner or later their bricks and mortar base in Australia will die in the ass due to eroding orders,
and same loyal distributors will lose their house trying to 'hang on' 
and resort to selling apples or whatever on the street    

That sux, end of story 

Besides 'instrument queen' does not sell Fluke meters anyway, just knockoff fluke accessories and cheapskate 'bang for buck' red  meters 

[dimkasta]

That's a big discussion.
The product company has to agree to sell less units at a smaller price, to allow the local shops to maintain their local business that costs way more than an account on ebay.
But this contradicts normal sales logic and practice. They have to really care for the local shops. Which they have no reason to.

And yes it is not fair. But who said globalization and free market are fair in their current state?

Anyway, yes she does sell flukes
http://www.ebay.com/itm/231294560152?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[EEVblog]

It indicates the manufacturers are IGNORING this country by not supporting their product or the people here, by blatantly withholding FAIR PRICES.
At the same time any local distributors of the product are FORCED to grin and bear such corporate BULLYING behaviour, and somehow 'feel privileged' they can deal with such crappy attitude companies ! 
and sooner or later their bricks and mortar base in Australia will die in the ass due to eroding orders,
and same loyal distributors will lose their house trying to 'hang on' 
and resort to selling apples or whatever on the street    

It was so bad at one stage that I know one official Oz dealer who used to covertly buy them from US dealers, import them on the side and sell them under the counter at much more realistic prices, as well as well the regular official imported one the "official" Oz price to companies who didn't care what they cost.
Fluke have changed their policy in recent years though and it's not nearly as bad now as what it used to be.

FYI Brymen are very protective of their dealer relationships. I originally wanted to resell the BM257 and they said I couldn't because they already had an official Australian dealer. So I had to wait a year and a half for the new BM235 under development.

[dimkasta]

Oh did they sell at significantly different wholesale prices in different countries?

Weird practice for Europe was to convert dollars to euros, but this is less of an issue now that the dollar is stronger

[WackyGerman]

Wait for the BM235 and support Dave by buying this multimeter . Don t buy the crappy cheapos

[Electro Detective]

Wait for the BM235 and support Dave by buying this multimeter . Don t buy the crappy cheapos

Aside from supporting Dave  which is a personal choice,
from a shoppers critical view BM235 is a good meter at a fair price,
good enough for pros, newbs,  'can't afford a Fluke' hobbyists,
and most DIY    death wishers (whose families prefer them to tinker above ground)

Some of the dollars stay here, or at least go around in a positive manner,
and some may come back your way again,
rather than dumping your cash, NEVER to be seen or felt again,   
to some suss overseas money grubber who has their English spell checker disabled permanently.   

And if you really must buy a plastic h@nd held gren@de fitted with an LCD,two wires and big knob to play with, masquerading as a cheapo meter,
then get it from a local dealer direct HERE at Kangaroo Central,
so you can take the pos back and get another if DOA or it dies 6 months later (hopefully before taking out the fingers crossed cheapskate prodder)    

-----------------------

btw re instrumentqueen, she (or he    or    )  only sells the Fluke 17B, that's NOT classed as a Fluke SELLER afaik

[P90]

Wait for the BM235 and support Dave by buying this multimeter . Don t buy the crappy cheapos

Aside from supporting Dave  which is a personal choice,
from a shoppers critical view BM235 is a good meter at a fair price,
good enough for pros, newbs,  'can't afford a Fluke' hobbyists,
and most DIY    death wishers (whose families prefer them to tinker above ground)

Some of the dollars stay here, or at least go around in a positive manner,
and some may come back your way again,
rather than dumping your cash, NEVER to be seen or felt again,   
to some suss overseas money grubber who has their English spell checker disabled permanently.   

And if you really must buy a plastic h@nd held gren@de fitted with an LCD,two wires and big knob to play with, masquerading as a cheapo meter,
then get it from a local dealer direct HERE at Kangaroo Central,
so you can take the pos back and get another if DOA or it dies 6 months later (hopefully before taking out the fingers crossed cheapskate prodder)    

-----------------------

btw re instrumentqueen, she (or he    or    )  only sells the Fluke 17B, that's NOT classed as a Fluke SELLER afaik

You're lucky Dave doesn't charge for each use of emoticons on this forum... you'd go bankrupt in a day...  LOL

[ebastler]

You're lucky Dave doesn't charge for each use of emoticons on this forum... you'd go bankrupt in a day...  LOL

Yes, that's really generous of Dave. Especially those animated icons -- I don't even want to think about all the electricity Dave's server must require to power these, in browsers all around the world... 

[Electro Detective]

I rate myself as a lightweight smilie slinger    compared to some others here who use the feature like confetti 

[P90]

I rate myself as a lightweight smilie slinger    compared to some others here who use the feature like confetti 

LOL :-)

[EEVblog]

Some of the dollars stay here, or at least go around in a positive manner,
and some may come back your way again,

A lot of the money does indeed stay here and goes to directly hiring two people (David and Suse), taxes paid here, importers get paid here, my accountant gets paid here, my DHL guy gets paid here etc.
Then when exported to Amazon centers, Amazon and their workers in those country get paid etc.

Although I'm not fussed if people buy my blue BM235 or buy the standard red Brymen one.