Fluke 87V (2017) lacking quality control?

[saturation]

Thanks.  Years ago the US military "required" T&M gear to be made in USA to insure it wasn't malware to their weapons systems, they could insure traceability of the all parts, as well as insure top quality, in an era of the slow demise of military and aerospace specifically designed parts. 

Its one reason the 87V was "Made in USA" for so long, as well as a few other DMMs in the catalog, when so many targeted for civilian market were made in China.

However today, with parts coming from all over the world,  the meaning of "made in " is increasingly vague, particularly as defined by the US FTC, so the word assembled and tested replaced that, meaning it would be made anywhere either whole or in part, but on delivery the final assembly and testing to insure its meets military specs would again be done in the USA.

Of interest, when Fluke China started assembling the 87V with a "China" version that differed only in the labels on the rear casing, country of origin and the letter "C" it was interesting coincidental that in ~ 2012 that US military no long considered the 87V as the goto DMM, and selected the 287 or 289, usually coded as the AN/GSM437.

For the TEMOD project, the actual DMM model not not been concluded but its defacto the 287/9, and a shipment/orders of over 3000 DMM were made in the last 5 years as a wholesale replacement of current DMMs, all Fluke.

The 287/9 AFIAK is still assembled in USA.

Bottom line, I wouldn't be surprised if the US manufacture of the 87V would quietly be terminated and the Chinese version made the worldwide supply of this model, with suitably changed labels and the removal of the 'made in...' label.

As another said, the Chinese versions for this old technology can be made very well, so long as proper QA are followed.  Bottom line is best to return it as its warranted for life anyway.

FWIW, for past year you can see on eBay off/on NIB Fluke 87V sold by US sellers for under $300, which is again, suspicious that many parts are not USA manufacture.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fluke-87-V-Industrial-True-rms-Multimeter-with-Temperature-BRAND-NEW-in-Box-/132220253047?hash=item1ec8f0f377:g:8n4AAOSwJAtZOXEn

Hey Osirison,

what is the manufacture month and year of your meter and what is the serial number starting with ?

The meter is manufactured in May 2017

Serial number is 38710078

Does it say "Made in USA" still in the back as in the prior photo?

We got a batch of 87V's in at work about a month ago, (around 30 of them) not had any issues. I would just return it and get a replacement, unless you just want the xtra.

[saturation]

There is usually this type of sticker on the side of the box:

As you can see recent manufacture from US sellers still say country of origin is US

Thank you all for your comments!   

Send it back, quick.

As for the quality, maybe they are made in China with no quality control there.

This is what I thought when I got the Fluke out of the box, also on the meter is not shown where it is made.
If it was made in the USA they would definitely print it on the back of the meter too.
And the invoice of Reichelt noted the country of origin to be China.

One other reason to go for the German made Metrahit I guess.

[Fungus]

Fluke has worked hard to gain their reputation for quality/reliable meters, it's how they justify their prices.

Are they really going to start making junk in China and throw all that hard work away?

Nope.

If they're manufacturing in China you can bet they'll use the exact same machinery/plastics/processes that they use in the USA.

[jordanp123]

 Got called into work this morning for a small issue (took all of 20 minutes- Could have waited until Monday but the boss was panicking), looked at the 4 meters I had in my area of the office all of the meters i checked said "Made in USA" on them.

[PowerNet]

There is usually this type of sticker on the side of the box:

As you can see recent manufacture from US sellers still say country of origin is US

Thank you all for your comments!   

Send it back, quick.

As for the quality, maybe they are made in China with no quality control there.

This is what I thought when I got the Fluke out of the box, also on the meter is not shown where it is made.
If it was made in the USA they would definitely print it on the back of the meter too.
And the invoice of Reichelt noted the country of origin to be China.

One other reason to go for the German made Metrahit I guess.

How come its got a different serial number and month ?

Am i reading the wrong meter ?

[Electro Detective]

Mine which dates from 2015 (but I've only just bought) has "Made in USA" on the bumper but not on the instrument itself. Does this mean it is made in China?

My 87V is an a few years old now made in the USA. My 117 is made in China. The quality of the 117 is every bit as good as the 87V and far better than my original 87 I've had for a couple of decades.

I don't doubt that, I have the same threesome myself and had a looksee too    

but why should OP still pay top dollar for a formerly -MADE IN USA- product, which now appears to be -MADE IN -  and having issues NEW OUT OF THE BOX !!!   

The quality control and construction may appear to be excellent on some MIC meters, but what about the quality control and sourcing of the internal parts?
who is checking, and who is checking the checkers over there, where the name of the game is usually cutting costs?

The 87V is an older design with a great -same tooling run- for it's investors,

if they want to keep it running forever and make it in 'who knows where' CHEAPER

then shouldn't that reflect on the price?

Even $500 would be an over the top price for such an item in Australia, if it was a new real deal MADE IN USA in 2017.

If it's going to be a Great Wall Of Knockoff model, I'll pay $350 for a 87V-GWK with 5 year warranty 

Yes, No, Fair Enough, poq, Thoughts?   

 

[floobydust]

Many companies move their manufacturing to china and are enjoying greater profit margins. Why lower the price? Greed is good, greed is legal.
As a cash cow, the 87V was released in 1989.
Surely Fluke have had component obsolescence issues, moved manufacturing around, including the 87V jungle IC.

[Muxr]

Many companies move their manufacturing to china and are enjoying greater profit margins. Why lower the price? Greed is good, greed is legal.
As a cash cow, the 87V was released in 1989.
Surely Fluke have had component obsolescence issues, moved manufacturing around, including the 87V jungle IC.

87 has been around since the early 90s but the first 87V was in 2004.

[floobydust]

87 has been around since the early 90s but the first 87V was in 2004.

Ah OK- I have a 87 rev5 service manual 1989 pdf and confused with Series V; used that for the date. They're still an old product.

Part of me is pissed as these are so expensive and have the same basic look and features for, well 13 years.
Then I see Fluke products for sale from china and fear their quality today is worse than years ago.

[crazyguy]

Many companies move their manufacturing to china and are enjoying greater profit margins. Why lower the price? Greed is good, greed is legal.
As a cash cow, the 87V was released in 1989.
Surely Fluke have had component obsolescence issues, moved manufacturing around, including the 87V jungle IC.

87V or 87-5 is the 5th generation of 87

[Electro Detective]

Many companies move their manufacturing to china and are enjoying greater profit margins. Why lower the price? Greed is good, greed is legal.
As a cash cow, the 87V was released in 1989.
Surely Fluke have had component obsolescence issues, moved manufacturing around, including the 87V jungle IC.

87 has been around since the early 90s but the first 87V was in 2004.

Surely the returns cash bag is overflowing by now and so is the 'money for jam' box.
It's not as though they did any major bankruptcy risktaking R+D from the 87 to 87V. I have both, and don't see any revolutionary new R+D in there.
Both meters produced 15 to 20 years apart agree on the same measurements, so why the stitch up prices for a MIC one in 2017 ? 

I can clearly see big money R+D in the later 189 and 289 series, no complaints.

Greed may be good for some    but the little people sense of thrift may come into play to keep it under check..

or perhaps give Fluke the flick and take a look at Gossen, Appa, Brymen offerings

and those suss RED meters    that are cheaper by the dozen 
 (and still cheaper than buying one suss MADE IN NOTUSA Fluke)   

[floobydust]

Fluke did update the series 80 product approvals i.e. 61010 Cat. III over the years. The original 87 (Rev. 5 1989) I see had none really.

This costs a lot of money, especially if the old design fails certification and you have to redesign things. The EEVblog multimeter I think is presently in this painful regulatory spiral.

I have seen product managers want to recoup the high costs for new regulatory certs by selling the product way past it's end of life date.
Milk the cow as long as possible.

[Osirison]

Fluke has worked hard to gain their reputation for quality/reliable meters, it's how they justify their prices.

Are they really going to start making junk in China and throw all that hard work away?

Nope.

If they're manufacturing in China you can bet they'll use the exact same machinery/plastics/processes that they use in the USA.

I have no US made 87v to compare but at the moment I opened the box I thought it to be a bit Chineese... paint of the letters is not perfect, some scratches her and there and then it turned out to be faulty as well.
Also noticed the grey terminal for the voltage/ohms that is different than what i've seen so far.


Point is, like Electro Detective mentioned that I paid as much for this meter than their USA made ones from like 2 years ago and even if they choose to make it in China I should expect the same top quality and service.
Because of their lack of quality control I need to ship it back to Germany which costs me extra money and hoping the next unit will be ok.

[PowerNet]

Thats odd... both of mine are red. built April 2017

[Alex P]

Fluke did update the series 80 product approvals i.e. 61010 Cat. III over the years. The original 87 (Rev. 5 1989) I see had none really.

Did those measurement categories even exist at that time?

[Osirison]

Thats odd... mine is all red, built April 2017 serial 3854XXX 

Eh?? What the "fluke" are they doing??? 

[sotos]

Fluke has worked hard to gain their reputation for quality/reliable meters, it's how they justify their prices.

Are they really going to start making junk in China and throw all that hard work away?

Nope.

If they're manufacturing in China you can bet they'll use the exact same machinery/plastics/processes that they use in the USA.

I have no US made 87v to compare but at the moment I opened the box I thought it to be a bit Chineese... paint of the letters is not perfect, some scratches her and there and then it turned out to be faulty as well.
Also noticed the grey terminal for the voltage/ohms that is different than what i've seen so far.


Point is, like Electro Detective mentioned that I paid as much for this meter than their USA made ones from like 2 years ago and even if they choose to make it in China I should expect the same top quality and service.
Because of their lack of quality control I need to ship it back to Germany which costs me extra money and hoping the next unit will be ok.

Is it easy for you to open it and see inside ?

Is it a Fluke inside ?

If its ok from you without damaging it and you want please proceed.

[PowerNet]

Yeh, open it up and take some photos so we can compare .. ? 

[sotos]

Like Dave says . Take it apart.

[Wytnucls]

Fluke did update the series 80 product approvals i.e. 61010 Cat. III over the years. The original 87 (Rev. 5 1989) I see had none really.

Did those measurement categories even exist at that time?

IEC standard 61010 was first published in 1990.

[Osirison]

  Take it apart!

[Fungus]

The quality control and construction may appear to be excellent on some MIC meters, but what about the quality control and sourcing of the internal parts?

You really think Fluke is going to allow the factory to send an intern down to the Shenzhen market on alternate Tuesdays to see what parts they can find to put inside?

(maybe we'll get those cheap fuses today...nobody will notice, right?)

[Fungus]

The internals look OK but it's weird that that plastic around the input jacks is grey. Usually it's red.

(also there's a dirty black mark on it)

[Wytnucls]

The resistor on the left is from a different manufacturer.

[Fungus]

The resistor on the left is from a different manufacturer.

The rectangular white thing on the right has the serial number printed in a different place.

The PSBs in those two are completely different. In the one on the left you can easily see the traces.