Some advice:
- Don't make purchase decisions on features you are not likely to use.
- Many of those extra features implemented on the cheap meters are crap anyways.
You won't save money by not having features - even the cheap meters have all the features these days. The only way to really have less features is to buy a Fluke.
You missed my point which was that you should only buy based on features you know you need. The extraneous stuff should not be a factor in purchase.
I own lots of cheap meters so I know that not all of them are crap. Some of them are really very good.
I've seen my share of low cost meters and as you say some are really good. Go too low and you end up with crap. Thankfully his budget allows for the purchase of a decent meter.
- It is foolish to set the budget before you have determined exactly what you need.
That's literally what budgets are - a price that's set before going out to make a purchase.
You don't set the price until you determine what you need. That is like a construction firm setting a price for a bulldozer at $25,000 and not being able to buy a bulldozer because nothing is available in that price range to do the job they have in mind. The idea that you can pull a price out of your behind and then get what you need is asinine. Any place I've been you are expected to research your needs and then present a plan for budgeting.
The only thing good here is that there is plenty of product available in the price range. That is from dozens of manufactures so they may very well find a solution once they know their needs.
- The cost of maintenance should not be ignored. Here I'm talking mostly about a calibration program. You can easily end up spending more on calibration than the cost of the meters. Frankly calibration might be required depending upon the industry you are serving.
The advantage of owning many meters is that you can cross-check them against each other. As far as I can tell, meters don't drift out of specification any more (if they ever did).
Cross checking is not calibration.
As far as I can tell the only valid argument for regular calibration is for legal reaons, ie. you need the pretty certificates if you're doing something that might expose you to lawsuits.
Many of us actually working in such industries so that is why calibration comes up. It isn't just a pretty certificate and can mean the difference between running your business or getting shut down by the FDA. Insert your own government body here, the point is calibration can be a critical part of owning instrumentation.
By the way I'm not one to agree with the extent that an organization has to go to to meet regulation but these regulations usually come about due to lessons learned. By the way I've seen records, either calibration or engineering, save a company tons of time and effort figuring out where a process is having problems. Paperwork isn't always fun but there is a reason for the process.
You might want to look at offering from Flir, B&K Precision, Amprobe and others. Pop up a distributor, such as Digikey, listing of meters and you will see dozens of meters in this price range.
Those are all brands that almost never appear here in relation to multimeters. There's a reason for that.
OK tell us what that reason might be?
Not everyone needs a Fluke 87 series multimeter but almost everyone is better off with something better than a bargain basement meter.
I would never personally buy a Fluke 87 because I know about Brymen. You'd have to offer me the Fluke for about $125 to get me to buy it, which isn't going to happen.
Brymen isn't the last word in meters. There are god reasons to prefer Fluke in many cases. The same could be said about HPAK or the other instrument manufactures. Each has a niche to fill.
In any event I'm left with the impression that you are jumping into a buy before knowing what your requirements are.
The requirements were clearly stated above, ie: "low voltage low current electronics: embedded systems, MCU boards, I2C/SPI connections... things with voltages under 5V and currents under 500mA. What a want basically is to measure the values with good precision and reliability. For less common occasions I might need to measure mains AC one in a while, but not that important."
That isn't clear at all to me which resulted in my question about A/D and D/A hardware. Embedded systems often contain such hardware and the resolution can vary from 12 bit on up at some point the meter chosen will make a difference if this is the case.
My 20,000 count Aneng 870 will easily do that, so will the Uni-T UT139C that the poster is familiar with. Both are far enough under the 50 Euro budget to add gold plated test leads (with a spare set!) and maybe even add a Fluke 101 as well for the times you want to look at mains or need a second meter for measuring volts/amps simultaneously.
If there is any possibility at all of working at higher voltages than seen in digital systems then every meter they buy should be safe in that context. There is always the issue of somebody grabbing the first meter available and exposing themselves to risk.
The only unknown requirement was for data logging but could easily buy 4x cheapo meters and one logging meter or do the logging using an MCU.
Data logging in a handheld meter is another one of those feel good features that is basically little value for most users. It is sort of like a capacitance function, it can make you feel good but it is no substitute for a proper approach. If you are to engage in a lot of data logging at the bench you are better off buying the right hardware and hooking it up to a PC to collect that data.
(PS: For checking the buses of I2C/SPI you really need an oscilloscope to see the signals...)
As a complete aside another way to look at the importance of calibration and paying for better quality instruments is to consider the common combination square. Back in the day I bought a cheapo hardware store square and started in on a project. Sadly things where no coming out right. Eventually I realized that the square used to set everything up with was in fact not so square. Realizing that it went into the trash after which I purchased a nice Starrett. That square was square right out of the box - nice. Then I learned how to check a square like that for accuracy, so that I would always have confidence in the square. Not a calibration mind you but a check. That was a lesson hard learned in my teen years.
Now after dozens of years of experience in the industrial sector I've come to realize that there is value in buying quality over cheap. It is up to the buyer to sort the junk from the respectable stuff out there.
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