i just want to add in my opinion you are ABSOLUTELY WRONG about not needing auto ranging. ive said the same thing many times. i have a few manual ranging meters,and the one i keep out (ie, easily accessible) is manual ranging. if i need a quick measurement on something, its great, and i really dont need an autoranging meter. but when i have to make 3, maybe 4, or more measurements, i am ALWAYS in the wrong range, and end up having to constantly change it, and want to throw it off a fucking cliff. i dont know why i continue to punish myself with it, or why anyone would not get an autoranging meter if they had the choice. frankly, i dont know why manul ranging meters even still exist.
@Dave ebay.co.uk and ebay.de might be good options for small equipment like a multimeter, but for larger equipment I'll most likely end up paying more for shipping than for the actual instrument. Right now I'm kinda set on getting one of those BK Precision meters that Dave was talking about in his 100$ shootout, it seems like good value for the money and the continuity buzzer is pretty darn fast. Amazon.com have it in their catalog and I'm wondering if they'll ship it to the EU without paying VAT like they do for books.
I also tried measuring mains with that DT (from a distance of course) and it doesn't show any reading, but it didn't explode either so I guess that's ok. It isn't really made for measuring mains, but it does work for measuring low-voltage AC.
@denelec I'll consider one at some point in the future but right now I think I'm gonna go with with a DSO, seeing as it's a more versatile instrument.
zapta
@babysitter I might take a look into building my own logic probe in the future, thanks for the advice. And about a HAM club, I don't know if there is one in my area, I guess I'll ask around the shops to see if they know anything.
@Stonent Thanks for the feedback, I guess I'll keep my DT around for some time as a backup meter.
@JFA Well, I don't know anything about scopemeters, I guess I'll look into it some time. Right now the only scope that seems like a good option for me is a local Philips-Fluke 40MHz 20 Meg Samples/s Combiscope that's going for 200 E. And if you were to sell me your scopemeter, probably shipping from Canada would be 50$ or something like that, so I dunno, I'll look into it and contact you if I decide that Fluke 92 would be a good option.
@vk6zgo Right now there's a Fluke 79 III on a local auction site, that's going for 150 E, which seems to be a good price for a good capable meter. However, right now the only advantage I can see the Fluke having to a BK Precision is ruggedness, otherwise they seem to be pretty much the same (for what I'm going to use it for). I might think about getting one of those old commie scopes if I'm really desperate. It's highly unlikely that they'll be in cal though, so I don't know how easy it would be to sort that out. The old Romanian scopes seem to have PDF service manuals floating around the net, so I guess I'll consider it as an option. They seem to be pretty standard for 80's scopes.
@deth502 Well for the sub 12V stuff that I usually do, I just yank my meter into the 20V range and that's that. For resistance, yeah it kinda gets old quick. I've gotten used to it though, it doesn't really bother me. However I'd rather have a manual ranging meter rather than a slow auto-ranging one. I'll try to get a good auto-ranging meter sometime in the near future, but for now this one's doing a pretty decent job.
If you find in the bay an Tek 305DMM this is a 2 channels scope with full isolated autorange Multimeter in one case, mostly to buy for a small money.
See
http://www.wellenkino.de/305DMMgreetings
Martin
For a beginner a meter is great. However a static measurement is not good for dynamic circuits. It is always helpful to know that something is happening. For digital circuits a scope is essential. Frankly analog scopes are so cheap now it would be a shame not to pick one up
I agree with the others,and remember only buy what you can afford comfortably,it doesn't have to be Fluke, unless they read this and give you one. My advice "it's a hobby ". my meters are Uni-T 61E, it seems accurate enough, and Ideal Alphatek again Accurate enough for me, always look for a good deal, I got my Uni T from Franky on here, so can recommend him, you may get a deal, hope so..
I agree with the idea that meters are the best bet when just starting out, but I would also suggest getting an analogue meter as well. It is surprising how much more sensitive the mind is to the movement of a needle than a digital display. Then get an oscilloscope as funds permit.
Romania is an expensive place to ship to from the UK, £50 for a scope sized box, compared to £20-25 for most of western Europe. I suspect that it would be cheaper buying things from Germany.