Electronics > Beginners

Looking for help selecting a budget multi-meter. I'm quite overwhelmed.

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CatalinaWOW:
Asking for advice on meters is much like asking for advice on cars.  There are many folks who are fans of a particular manufacturer and many others who have a particular application that drives their choices. 

I have owned handheld DMMs from many different manufacturers, including a few Flukes and other big name brands.  It turns out that there are three brands/types that end up being my go to meters. One, a Beckman device that hasn't been available for decades just fits my brain and style.  The other two run totally contrary to the advice here on the forum.  The ones I use most frequently are those free Harbor Freight jobs.  They get used because I place them everywhere and one is at hand at all times.  The ones in the car get used when I am visiting and didn't know I needed to bring a DMM.  The ones in the woodshed, or well house, or kitchen or bedroom all see duty from time to time.  I have used them on mains with no problems, but I use a lot of caution and don't really recommend that.  Accuracy has been fine for the things I use them for.  To me the biggest flaw is the lack of auto turn off which means I frequently find one with a dead battery.  It isn't worth replacing the battery, get another free one.  The leads are really cheesy also which bothers some folks a lot.  But same story, if they break or whatever get another one.

The other one is also a Harbor Freight unit:

https://www.harborfreight.com/5-in-1-digital-multimeter-98674.html

Like the Beckman, it fits my style.  The ergonomics are good, it has stood up to my abuse so far, is as accurate as I expect a handheld to be and packs a lot of functionality into the $60 purchase price.  Autorange is slow, but can be overridden.  Continuity buzzer is very fast.  My biggest knock on this, the sound pressure level function has a very short time constant making the readings jumpy and hard to interpret.

Something else you may want to consider is getting a DMM with only the basic functionality, and getting one of those "$20 Transistor Checkers" for the diode test, transistor test, capacitor test and other functions.  There is a long thread on the forum about them and the various functions they can perform.  I find myself using mine in preference to a DMM when evaluating components, matching values and similar activities.

KL27x:

--- Quote ---If your meter isn't going to be bouncing off of wrenches in your toolbox in the back of your pickup truck on the way to measure some electrical panels, a Fluke is overkill.
--- End quote ---
Perfectly said. You don't use a Fluke when the reading is "important." You use a Fluke when you have dragged a meter halfway across the state and up a pole or through a narrow 110F crawl space only to find out it musta broke that 9th time you dropped it 20 feet onto concrete.

Unless you work on the high voltage stuff and/or the wrong side of the lighting rod, you may not want a Fluke. Personally, I accidentally own a Fluke 77 for 5 years, and I could probably locate it if I needed it. But I haven't used it, yet. Sitting at my climate controlled bench and working with "consumer mains" at the worst, the worst that will happen if my meter fails is I grab one of my other meters.

BoredSysAdm:
Thanks everyone for responses and sharing your experience.
I don't need DMM to kick around my toolbox and play soccer with it. slightly more delicate is ok. Accuracy and speed are more important. I guess that means Fluke is out for reasons above.
Lass poll:
Used Greenlee DM-820 (maybe 820A)
or
New UNI-T UT61E
?

rsjsouza:
The Greenlees are good DMMs, especially the DM820A which is triple the price of a UT61E if bought new. Both models are OEMs of Brymen:

The DM820A is equivalent to the Brymen BM827S.

The DM820 is equivalent to the older Brymen BM815 and a teardown is in the thread below.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/greenlee-dm-820-dmm-(rebranded-brymen)-teardown/
(the thread erroneously claims this is an OEM of the BM859).

rstofer:

--- Quote from: BoredSysAdm on May 14, 2019, 02:33:34 pm ---Accuracy and speed are more important. I guess that means Fluke is out for reasons above.

--- End quote ---

My theory of test equipment (assuming adequate funds):  If you want to SEE a signal, buy Tektronics.  If you want to MEASURE a signal, buy Fluke.

Everything else is just something else.  Not that I can afford Tektronix but I do have a Fluke 189 which was around $400 some years back.  It's a great meter but I still reach for the little Aneng 8008.

Here's the thing about lots of digits:  Suppose you can measure 1 part in a million.  Can you adjust 1 part in a million?  1 part in 10 million?  If you can't adjust it, why measure it?  If a mouse farts nearby, will you have to recalibrate the meter or the device under test?

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