Hi everyone,
I've been looking for a good multimeter for a bit now, and have read a ton of stuff here, watched a lot of videos (both from Dave and Martin Lorton) but am at the point where I need some input. I originally didn't want to spend more than $100, but it seemed like most meters at that level had a significant fault (or two), but by stepping up to the $130-150 range there are several good meters. I'm mainly a tinkerer, so versatility is important to me since I will be using this on main voltage as well as doing audio equipment testing/repair and I dabble in some electronics too. I would love to step up to a Fluke 87 or Brymen 869 or the like, but I just can't justify spending $175-200+ on something I'm not going to use on a daily/weekly basis. I've got a list of quick pros and cons for the meters I've seriously considered, and I mainly want to see if I'm missing anything or if anyone has additional input or things I should be thinking about on these meters.
Fluke 115 ($139)
- It's a Fluke
- easy to use
- missing microamps range
Agilent/Keysight U1232A ($138)
- reputable brand like Fluke
- Lots (and lots) of features
- may not be as easy to use due to all the features
- strange gap in amperage measurement - measures up to 600 microamps, but then next range starts at 1 milliamp? - Looking at the manual online, it appears you can enable a milliamp range, but lose capacitance and it only measures up to 600 milliamps before jumping to the amp range. Not sure what to think about that one......
- smoothing may/may not work well?
Amprobe 37XR-A ($149)
- reputable brand, probably 2nd tier?
- inductance measurement (not sure how useful this is though)
- Slower continuity tester
- higher burden voltage
Brymen BM257S/Greenlee DM-510A ($138)
- good quality from what I understand, but maybe not up to par with Fluke/Agilent
- input alert beeper if plug in leads wrong
- continuity tester may be a little slow
- may be harder to get a hold of than others
- have to push select button several times to cycle through resistance, diode test, capacitance, and continuity tester - may be annoying, don't know yet
At this point I'm kind of leaning toward the Brymen/Greenlee. It seems weird both the Fluke and Agilent/Keysight are either missing milliamps or have to give up something else to get it. I don't think there is anything really wrong with the Amprobe or the Brymen that is big, just little things.
So, what have I missed in my assessment? Any personal experience or additional thoughts I should take into consideration? Thanks.
*Edited to include the best prices I could find