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bench multimeter for someone learning

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mastershake:
one more piece to this kids (he is 19 and looking like this is what he wants to do or at least something in a similar field) puzzle. he was showing me the owon bench meters and i personally have zero experience with them. any thoughts? anything better for the money? he has a nice fluke handheld and wants a bench unit. budget is low but want something thats at least decent. he saw the owon 1041 or the 2041 which i think he likes a bit better being a larger footprint he can stack vs the skinny 1041 as examples but again i have no idea if they are garbage or not. he is learning and will either go off on his own or maybe work for me (if im still around then) once he gets some experience. in the meantime i kind of took him under my wing and am teaching him. he is an excellent student so far and this is something he is highly interested in. he is trying to complete his bench setup and pf course has a budget. any other models to recc. i got him to go for the slightly better oscope in the siglent and that did eat up a bit more then he hoped. i told him use the fluke for now and he mat do that but he really would like a bench unit. should he spend a bit more and if so for what? again i have not bought much new myself personally except soldering stations in the past few years.

as always you guys are awesome and i very much appreciate the help.

CountChocula:
Hiya! I have the 1041 and, to be honest, I don't love it. It is highly capable (especially for the price), but some of the decisions that were made with its design are dealbreakers for me. For one thing, it takes a considerable amount of time to boot (and you have to hold your finger on the power button, which means that you can't just get it started and move on to something else while you wait for it to be ready). The keyboard is a bit mushy, and the unit is so light that it keeps moving around. The settings reset with every reboot, and, in my opinion, the defaults have not been well chosen. Finally, the continuity mode is really slow, even compared to my cheap no-name brand handheld.

For about the same amount (or less, even), you can get a used HP 3458, which is (IMO) a great bench multimeter—solidly built, fast, and reliable. I keep both on my bench, and the HP gets a lot more use—it's just way more convenient—unless I need a function that it doesn't support (diode, capacitance, or continuity).


—CC

nctnico:
My daily driver is the Vicy VC8145 bench meter for about 10 years already. 4.5 digits and anything you need from a general purpose DMM. I also have a Keysight 6.5 digit bench DMM but I'm using that one rarely; only when I need the extra precission.

Uni-t also has some interesting models nowadays but you'd have to check reviews about these.

alm:

--- Quote from: CountChocula on March 24, 2023, 05:01:53 pm ---For about the same amount (or less, even), you can get a used HP 3458, which is (IMO) a great bench multimeter—solidly built, fast, and reliable. I keep both on my bench, and the HP gets a lot more use—it's just way more convenient—unless I need a function that it doesn't support (diode, capacitance, or continuity).

--- End quote ---
Pretty sure you slipped a digit here :P. Probably HP 3468A/B or 3478A? Other options to consider is the Keithley 199/196 series or Fluke 8840A. Both have better displays than the HP units of that era.

If you're in the US then spending some time watching eBay and needing some minor repairs may not be a bad trade-off compared to a cheap meter with bad usability. I haven't used the Owon meter, but that's what it sounds like to me based on the description of the Count.

rhb:
At $100-120 for a 3478A on ebay I find that hard to beat.   The age makes the LM399 very stable over time.

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