Help buying my first digital multimeter

[Sepehr]

Hello, World!
I'm an EE student (freshman) and I love electronics, so I'm going to buy my first DMM mostly for my electronics projects plus for repairing some household devices. Now, the problem is that I can't easily purchase top quality DMMs like high-end Fluke models or Gossen Metrawatt, etc. They are either overpriced or not easily found on the market (especially Gossen Metrawatt is rarely found). Unfortunately, I can't [easily] buy from eBay or other international online shopping websites not based in Iran, and even if I could, there would be lots of problems with shipping to Iran or currency exchanges, etc. So I have to stick to local market anyways.

After watching Dave's Digital Multimeter Buying Guide (EEVblog #75), I think that I need the following specifications for my DMM to best fit my needs for electronics. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

• It should have Autoranging feature and it'd be nice to have the feature of selecting between Manual and Autoranging
• It should have an AC or DC volts range of 200mV up to say, 1000V (NOT those designed for electricians)
• Ohms range of 200? up to 20M?
• Microamps and/or Milliamps
• Input impedance of at least 10M?
• Separate terminals like (A-mA ?A-COM-V?) not (V?mA)
• HRC fuses not glass fuses
• Maximum test voltage of 4V for diode test
• A decent continuity test function (not delayed or scratched tone)
• A reasonable and acceptable battery life
• Capacitor test function would be nice (pF and nF)
• REL function (Relative Measurement)
• Hold or Autohold function ± MIN MAX function
• Basic DC volts accuracy of at least 0.5%
• High display updating and autoranging speed
• Burden voltage 1mV/mA or 0.1 mV/?A
+ other basic essentials

It's easy to find Chinese DMMs with fewer prices like UNI-T, Victor, etc but I'm not sure which model should I buy. I found Fluke 15B, 17B, 106 and 101 amongst relatively affordable Fluke DMMs but I've heard somewhere that Fluke 15B and 17B are not as good as their brand suggests, so maybe they don't worth their price.

Also Hioki ones, like DT-4211 or higher models.

Any recommendations or advice would be much much appreciated! 

EDIT: It looks like that the editor replaced my ohms and micro symbols with question marks... I'll fix it as soon as possible.

[rstofer]

There are UNI-T models that are quite popular.  Look over in the Test Equipment forum and use the Search feature.
There is also a 'sticky' spreadsheet of DMMs at the top of the forum and a 'sticky' thread re: DMMs that probably don't meet the safety specs.

[Lightages]

You are asking for quite a bit. Do some research using the most excellent work done by Wytnucls here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/multimeter-spreadsheet/

You can look for all the specifications you want. This is probably the most comprehensive method for you to find what you are looking for.

If you must buy a Uni-T you won't find everything you want but consider the UT-139C or the UT-171B.

[shteii01]

Just to be a smart a$$ I will say: Fluke 87 Series 5.

[P90]

...

[Sepehr]

Thanks, everyone. I had looked that spreadsheet, but it lacks some models that I can buy locally.
I'd like to know your comments on HIOKI DT-4211 as it's the only non-Chinese brand that I can buy although there are Fluke 101 and 106 and 15B which are made in China and some people claim that the 15B model is not very accurate and it has low autoranging and updating speed. Fluke 101 and 106 have much fewer functions on them compared to HIOKI DT-4211.

[P90]

the Hioki has very low specs, nothing special for the price, and I think 3 updates a second, again, nothing special. I'd take the uni-t 139-c over those choices you listed...

[David Hess]

It should have Autoranging feature and it'd be nice to have the feature of selecting between Manual and Autoranging

Autoranging used to be a premium feature but I think today it is just a way to make a less expensive meter.  And with autoranging, manual ranging is more complicated and takes more time.  The difference is insignificant.

Input impedance of at least 10M?

I would avoid any meter which is not 10M on every AC and DC voltage range unless it is only going to be used in low impedance and low precision applications like power supplies.  Some cheap meters are 9M or 11M on just some (!) DC ranges and 1M on AC ranges which leads to inconsistent voltage measurements.

Separate terminals like (A-mA ?A-COM-V?) not (V?mA)

Hopefully nobody is making a meter with voltage and amps on the same terminal.  I have a couple of old bench meters like this and one has to be careful not to short out a voltage source when changing modes.

I really like the old Beckman RMS225 design where all three terminals, milliamps, amps, and volts-ohms, had the same spacing to the common terminal so standard 3/4 inch banana jacks could be used but these days only B&K and Amprobe/Wavetek/Meterman (they inherited Beckman's design) make meters like this.

Capacitor test function would be nice (pF and nF)

This is almost always useless; I never know when to trust it and it only works correctly for trivial cases.  Get a dedicated LCR meter like a DE-5000 or impedance bridge (if you can stand using it) if testing capacitors is important.

Hold or Autohold function ± MIN MAX function

Some meters have a really slow minimum/maximum function.  Do not count on this to capture power line voltage spikes.

other basic essentials

One of my old Beckman meters had a bipolar transistor hfe test function which I miss.  This is not as useful as it used to be unless you are still using leaded parts.

Temperature measurement using standard type K thermocouples is nice to have.  This is better if a dedicated thermocouple socket is used instead of an adapter but either are acceptable until the adapter is lost.

One of my high end meters supports separate average, RMS, *and* RMS AC+DC measurements which is very handy for doing calibration.

Wide bandwidth AC and RMS AC measurements are needed sometimes; better meters top out at 100kHz but I would not mind finding one which went higher.

You might not be able to get everything you want in a single meter and it may not even be preferable.  Consider an inexpensive meter which has more special functions and a more expensive meter that is higher performance.  Maybe buy the inexpensive meter first to get some experience so you know better what you want.

[Sepehr]

the Hioki has very low specs, nothing special for the price, and I think 3 updates a second, again, nothing special. I'd take the uni-t 139-c over those choices you listed...

Which specs do you consider low?
What about SANWA CD771 and HIOKI DT4253?

It should have Autoranging feature and it'd be nice to have the feature of selecting between Manual and Autoranging

Autoranging used to be a premium feature but I think today it is just a way to make a less expensive meter.  And with autoranging, manual ranging is more complicated and takes more time.  The difference is insignificant.

Input impedance of at least 10M?

I would avoid any meter which is not 10M on every AC and DC voltage range unless it is only going to be used in low impedance and low precision applications like power supplies.  Some cheap meters are 9M or 11M on just some (!) DC ranges and 1M on AC ranges which leads to inconsistent voltage measurements.

Separate terminals like (A-mA ?A-COM-V?) not (V?mA)

Hopefully nobody is making a meter with voltage and amps on the same terminal.  I have a couple of old bench meters like this and one has to be careful not to short out a voltage source when changing modes.

I really like the old Beckman RMS225 design where all three terminals, milliamps, amps, and volts-ohms, had the same spacing to the common terminal so standard 3/4 inch banana jacks could be used but these days only B&K and Amprobe/Wavetek/Meterman (they inherited Beckman's design) make meters like this.

Capacitor test function would be nice (pF and nF)

This is almost always useless; I never know when to trust it and it only works correctly for trivial cases.  Get a dedicated LCR meter like a DE-5000 or impedance bridge (if you can stand using it) if testing capacitors is important.

Hold or Autohold function ± MIN MAX function

Some meters have a really slow minimum/maximum function.  Do not count on this to capture power line voltage spikes.

other basic essentials

One of my old Beckman meters had a bipolar transistor hfe test function which I miss.  This is not as useful as it used to be unless you are still using leaded parts.

Temperature measurement using standard type K thermocouples is nice to have.  This is better if a dedicated thermocouple socket is used instead of an adapter but either are acceptable until the adapter is lost.

One of my high end meters supports separate average, RMS, *and* RMS AC+DC measurements which is very handy for doing calibration.

Wide bandwidth AC and RMS AC measurements are needed sometimes; better meters top out at 100kHz but I would not mind finding one which went higher.

You might not be able to get everything you want in a single meter and it may not even be preferable.  Consider an inexpensive meter which has more special functions and a more expensive meter that is higher performance.  Maybe buy the inexpensive meter first to get some experience so you know better what you want.

The problem is that I don't have a wide range of choices and many of them are not that satisfying.

[David Hess]

The problem is that I don't have a wide range of choices and many of them are not that satisfying.

That is why I included my last suggestion.  No multimeter has every feature that I would prefer but between a high end one for basic precision measurements and a low end one for the special stuff, I can get pretty close.

Do not get stuck on requiring high accuracy at high expense for your first meter.  And for a first meter, I would prefer decent quality to exaggerated and questionable specifications.

[daybyter]

You did not give any info on your electronics projects, but for repairing household stuff almost any somewhat safe DMM should be good enough. I wouldn't spend all my money on one tool. You might need other stuff, like a soldering station etc.
So I'd guess a cheaper DMM like the uni-t 139c should do the job for now.

[Electro Detective]

David Hess pretty much covered all bases in comments above   

I can only suggest that if it was my first meter I would go for the blue EEVblog multimeter because it should do most of what you need, the price is fair,

and any technical support you may need is more or less located ummm... HERE!   

I would also suggest (when your pocket allows) getting a decent working analogue multimeter too, it does not have to be expensive or cheap cheap either. 

and an affordable digital clamp meter, preferably with low current AC RMS and DC clamp ability.

You can also use the 3 meters to check each other that they all agree, in case one fails due to failing battery, damage, faulty or wrong connections, blown fuse due to current blunders, and everyone's favourite >  user error      


An 'in circuit' ESR meter is a nice 'must have', but not if you're not familiar with just how easy it can be obliterated by a charged or sneaky recovering capacitor, or when surrounded by adjacent components. All ESR meters are not equal btw, some work well, some so so..

FWiW family and friends are always stressed as to what Christmas, Easter and Birthday gifts to buy, so if you play the 'suggestion' game right, you might have all 3 meters in under 12 months,  debt free   

[karoru]

Autoranging used to be a premium feature but I think today it is just a way to make a less expensive meter.  And with autoranging, manual ranging is more complicated and takes more time.  The difference is insignificant.

To be honest I can't stand that slow autoranging in 4000 count cheap multimeters, if I want to measure resistance I tend do just grab some oldie ICL7106 meter and dial in the range, goes much faster than either autorange starting from the beginning 5 times whilst fiddling with probes and me looking at decimal dot flying around, or me pressing "Range" button 10 times because I've overshoot to wrong range;)

[Electro Detective]

Autoranging used to be a premium feature but I think today it is just a way to make a less expensive meter.  And with autoranging, manual ranging is more complicated and takes more time.  The difference is insignificant.

To be honest I can't stand that slow autoranging in 4000 count cheap multimeters, if I want to measure resistance I tend do just grab some oldie ICL7106 meter and dial in the range, goes much faster than either autorange starting from the beginning 5 times whilst fiddling with probes and me looking at decimal dot flying around, or me pressing "Range" button 10 times because I've overshoot to wrong range;)

Same boat here     I'm not sure if Autorange (AutoWAIT?) on any brand meter has EVER done me any favours,
I always end up having to go to a manual range to get any speedy stable readings and especially to use a MIN-MAX or PEAK feature.

If I'm having a 'bad bench day' rather than treat the Autorange meter like a nagging alarm clock, I'll grab a manual range meter and clicketty click click clack on the dial, DONE! 

Autorange sucks in most situations with cheap or overpriced meters. On my Fluke 189 in DC mode, the Autorange freezes, panics or locks up at the border crossing from one particular range to the next,
I can't remember exactly which, but was easily repeatable, and not a one off event.   
There is no fault with the meter, it's just this one annoying thing it does that Fluke missed at the testing stage IMHO. 

Autorange is a MUST HAVE for electronics noobs, and clueless probe prodding home workshop DIY cheapskates   

EDIT: there are times when Autorange is handy, to let you know what the initial potentials are you are dealing with, 
but hey, you should already have a clue anyway, and dial up the highest VOA setting, to be sure !   

[karoru]

For home workshop DIY prodders I always advice an electrical tester, like Uni-T 15C - it measures voltage & continuity without pushing/dialing/poking anything and has NCV integrated. There's no way to do anything funny with it.

For "electronic noobs" to be honest I'm not so sure "autoranging is a must". If I don't have at least rough idea about what order of magnitude value thing I'm measuring should be, then I shouldn't probably measure the damn thing as how I am going to interpret the result?
I work at Uni in CS department, and have EE one "next door". After renovating the basic electronics lab and buying stacks of nice multimeters (some Sanwas, don't remember exact model) and running the "Fundamentals of electronics" for 1st year students course once they changed meters back to ICL7106 ones because with "smart" meters it was a disaster. Half of lab reports tended to be absolutely screwed up - people messing up mV with V, not noticing that range on meter changed and drawing for example IV curve of diode looking like in the middle of measurement diode exploded and failed short.

[Electro Detective]

Totally agree, I have a Fluke T-100, similar to the Uni-T, I can loan to prodding DIY heroes,
and they can prod along and beep beep away, feeling like they too can be professional    

(and less thinking for me  )

And yes, students and anyone serious about electronics should learn on a manual range meter,
and get familiar with Autorange and analogue meters as well,
to get the big picture and be able to jump on to any meter and use it easily.

[Sepehr]

You did not give any info on your electronics projects, but for repairing household stuff almost any somewhat safe DMM should be good enough. I wouldn't spend all my money on one tool. You might need other stuff, like a soldering station etc.
So I'd guess a cheaper DMM like the uni-t 139c should do the job for now.

I'll mostly work with microcontrollers, Arduino, FPGA, etc.

I can only suggest that if it was my first meter I would go for the blue EEVblog multimeter because it should do most of what you need, the price is fair,

and any technical support you may need is more or less located ummm... HERE!   

I would also suggest (when your pocket allows) getting a decent working analogue multimeter too, it does not have to be expensive or cheap cheap either. 

and an affordable digital clamp meter, preferably with low current AC RMS and DC clamp ability.

Yes, I love buying something from EEVblog and yes that's a fair price but I'm not sure how much does shipping cost...
Why analog? where do they come in handy? also for clamp meters in electronics.

Autorange is a MUST HAVE for electronics noobs, and clueless probe prodding home workshop DIY cheapskates. 

So you mean it's a pain in the ass for professionals?

UT61E as main electronics meter, and a Fluke 101 as electrical meter. If you don't measure mains or your local mains is very clean (free of large transients), then you can use a single UT61E.
Still, I recommend 2 meters, just in case you need a second meter.

Thanks. Which one is better for doing electronics? UT139C or UT61E?

[P90]

if you need data logging and higher display  resolution, get the ut61e
if you want temperature measurement and  better input protection get the ut139c

[Paul Moir]

UT-61E - Data out, 22,000 count, Bargraph.  Note:  the count isn't indicative of accuracy, but sometimes you just need precision.
UT-139C - Temperature, 6000 count, Backlight.

That's what I think it boils down to.  In deference to many, I'll make the argument that backlights are not important.

P90 beat me. 

[Sepehr]

Ah, I can't find those two UNI-T models locally  or at least easily... I have to dig up the market to find them wich is not as easy as you may guess.
Looks like I can buy only the HIOKI one amongst Kyoritsu and Lutron...
Some people said that the Chinese manufacturers have free shippings, does that include UNI-T?
How can I contact Dave for information on shippings to Iran?

[Shock]

Isn't there trade restrictions still with Iran?

As the government subsidizes shipping in China a they are able to do free shipping on small parcels if they wish to a lot of western countries (US, Australia, Europe etc). It's a reciprocal agreement and our countries postal service bear a large slice of the cost.

Not sure about Iran though. But if it was easy to buy from China you would surely know about it by now you're practically neighbors.

[Paul Moir]

For some countries maybe.  I'm sure you can get a UNI-T shipped off aliexpress?
(Yes, you will not likely find a UNI-T locally, and if you do not for a good price.  Even here in North America we get them from where they are made.)

[P90]

what about www.tme.eu ?

[David Hess]

An 'in circuit' ESR meter is a nice 'must have', but not if you're not familiar with just how easy it can be obliterated by a charged or sneaky recovering capacitor, or when surrounded by adjacent components. All ESR meters are not equal btw, some work well, some so so...

I am not a big fan of ESR meters.  For a given type of capacitor, ESR is roughly inversely proportional to capacitance so a little table or graph showing what the ESR should be is needed.  These meters work for detecting capacitors which are completely shot but I do not need an ESR meter to do that.

What I would find useful is a meter which measures dissipation of a capacitor in-circuit.  Dissipation varies over a much smaller range and does not depend on capacitance.  Datasheets list end of life dissipation although this is more of a guideline than a rule.

Autoranging used to be a premium feature but I think today it is just a way to make a less expensive meter.  And with autoranging, manual ranging is more complicated and takes more time.  The difference is insignificant.

To be honest I can't stand that slow autoranging in 4000 count cheap multimeters, if I want to measure resistance I tend do just grab some oldie ICL7106 meter and dial in the range, goes much faster than either autorange starting from the beginning 5 times whilst fiddling with probes and me looking at decimal dot flying around, or me pressing "Range" button 10 times because I've overshoot to wrong range;)

I agree; some autoranging meters are cripplingly slow.  And I do not like cycling through the range button either; usually I pass the range I want at least once so I have to select the range twice.  I do not know if it is still the case but in the past, one of the distinguishing features of digital multimeters with autoranging was higher power consumption so lower battery life.

The last manual ranging meter I had was a Beckman Tech 310 and since that time, I got so used to autoranging meters that it was a pleasant surprise to use a manual ranging meter again when I picked up a pair of old Tektronix DM501 and DM502 bench multimeters.

[daybyter]

Most of my Arduino stuff measurements here are done with a 2,74 bucks 830 dmm from aliexpress. It's a better one with the continuity buzzer and does the job most of the time. Not for work on mains, though.
I like the autorange of my ut 61e, when I check an unknown resistor as an example.