Brymen BM869s?

[Cromulent]

I've been doing some research and from what I have read this seems to be a pretty decent device for the price. It is massive overkill for what I need it for now but my thinking is that it'll last me for years and years with no need to upgrade it. I'm mainly planning on doing embedded electronics and maybe in the future FPGA stuff. It costs £210 which is expensive but not unaffordable.

Before I order it I just wanted to know if there was anything better in a similar price range? If not I'll order it.

Thank you.

[Doctorandus_P]

I also bought one and it's probably the the best DMM you can get for that pricepoint.

I bought it because I wanted a better "reference meter" on top of the stack of other DMM's I have. As you already noticed, it's massive overkill for a lot of uses. If you're shopping for your first meter, I would not recommend this meter, but to buy a Brymen that costs half the price of this one. Build quality will also be "much better then average". And for electronics work, you probably want more then one meter anyway, so you can use the other half of your budget for later.

I don't know your age, but as a young person, EUR 200 is a lot of money, while a bunch of years later in your life, it's just a bit more then lunch money.

Some of my other meters are a Dynatek 112 which I bought 30 years ago, and a Meterman 35XP, which I bought 10+ years ago second hand for around EUR 25. Both are still working perfectly fine, although the fuses of the Meterman were blown when I bought it.

I think the Brymen BM257s (Around EUR 110) is the most popular meter, but the BM231 (EUR 75) is probably also already a quite decent meter. And that is for 1/3 of the price as the big one.

[Cromulent]

Thank you very much for your reply. I appreciate it.

I'll look into the cheaper Brymen in that case.

[Specmaster]

Why not have a look at the Brymen BM867, it is essentially identical to the 869 in almost every area: same size, colour, resolution, but with only one temperature input. and is ideal for electronic work, I have one that I purchased for the same purpose. I have many other meters, many Flukes, Extech and many bench meters as well, but the 867 is my go-to portable, while many other reach for their Flukes.

If you don't need the few extra bells and whistles that the 869 offers, then I'd say go for the 867,, half the price as you can see on the links and is in stock.

https://telonic.co.uk/product/brymen-bm867s-professional-multimeter/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16091616199&gbraid=0AAAAAD_hWYA-ti0EVWHPzkht-9zYw9Ngo&gclid=CjwKCAjw0dPRBhAPEiwAE5vTTmzQEBdbbxwOGFi7FFxSsdnTVQQ_cL7VlIoxOlBv_EV6h1jEFB2HQxoCfwYQAvD_BwE

https://telonic.co.uk/product/brymen-bm869s-professional-multimeter/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16091616199&gbraid=0AAAAAD_hWYA-ti0EVWHPzkht-9zYw9Ngo&gclid=CjwKCAjw0dPRBhAPEiwAE5vTTmzQEBdbbxwOGFi7FFxSsdnTVQQ_cL7VlIoxOlBv_EV6h1jEFB2HQxoCfwYQAvD_BwE

[J-R]

What multimeter(s) do you already have?

The BM869s is quite feature packed, but using it as your main, full-time meter does have the negative of a somewhat short battery life.  Plus the battery is the 9V type, and you have to remove the outer rugged rubber baby buggy bumper to get at it.

Top features of the BM869s for me personally are the dual display and the 500k counts DCV mode which can be made quite accurate if you calibrate it every so often (calibration procedure is well-known).

I can't recommend the BM200 series DMMs at all any more due to the fact that it's been discovered that Brymen only does a single calibration point for these and the accuracy has been found to be quite poor in some ranges.

The BM789 might also be worth checking out, although a slight negative there is that they delayed plans to integrate Bluetooth until recently and the highest model with Bluetooth (BM788BT) is a small step down from the BM789 in features as well as being quite expensive.

Have you also considered a bench meter?

[Specmaster]

Totally agree about the 500k count on the DCV ranges, and that is why I went with the 867 as that too has the 500k count on the DCV ranges and only just a tad over half the price of the 869. Having the dual displays is so handy for me, as it allows the ripple to be measured as well at the same time as measuring the DC volts – so handy when examining the power rails.

[coromonadalix]

not being a party crasher,  you do know the 500k count is more a gimmick than real, sure it help a bit,  but does not compare to true :  say 300k counts of a Gossen metrawatt

they are real 50k counts with an added extended range, more resolution is not precision


many meters have the same chipset 50/500k

i have the amprobe AM-140 and a Gossens 300k count

[Cromulent]

Thank you all.

I guess the Brymen BM867s looks good and is a bit cheaper.

[PushUp]

...also not being a party crasher, but:

4 years ago I sold my Brymen 867s together with the original USB-IR interface and some nice crocodile clips from Brymen itself via our local shopping portal.

As I had the 829s in the Elma-Edition, I bought the 867s and not the 869s, because the 829s has the same temperature measurement possibilities as the 869s.

However, I would buy the 869s and not the 867s, because temp measurement is essential nowadays and as a beginner it is better to have one DMM, which is complete, before in the next step we will be able to welcome a new member to the Anonymous! Also the temperature probe is included with the 869s, which is worth nearly 10 Euro, so that the price difference is even smaller!

The person who bought my 867s "bundle" asked for the FW version, so that I made a photo for him - they are identical from 867s and 869s. I had version P9, which had the shorter backlight duration and another disadvantage I cannot remember any more...maybe other members can?

It would be interesting to know, which FW version is the latest at the moment from 867s and 869s to compare it, especially the duration of the backlight?

Because of the 9V battery, I found it useful for my nearly 70 hours long-term recording of our freezer with the help of TestController to use a battery clip together with a little power supply (with plus and minus attached vice versa of course!) and an old labtop.

When I do so with my ENERGY nowadays and use the original external power supply for any long-term recording, it says in the manual, that the current measurement is not that good as with batteries only, but I can live with that - so please no discussion in this respect! 

If I didn't have other handheld multimeter, I would also recommend Brymen. The reason why I sold anything from Brymen is the stiff rotary switch, which I hate to use compared with Fluke or Keysight or Gossen Metrawatt. With a headlamp the short backlight duration is not so important anymore, when you're sitting in a dark corner, I guess.

In this price range there is nothing better than Brymen! I would also consider to buy the USB-IR interface, because this takes the multimeter to another level!


Some links to show the accessories:

Interface:

https://brymen.eu/product/bu-86x-usb-kit-for-bm52x-bm82x-bm86x/

Crocodile clips:

https://brymen.eu/product/bac3/

Temperature Probe, included with 869s, useless for 867s:

https://brymen.eu/product/bkp60-k-type-temperature-probe/

[KungFuJosh]

as a beginner it is better to have one DMM

No way! How can you verify data or do sanity checks if you only have one DMM? You need at least...6!

[armandine2]

...dmms for quirks (possibly for "your" YouTube videos) - unusual, vintage, community, or cheap?

These Brymens (robust and a high specification) I associate with Joe Smith's bench.

[BillyO]

Unless you are doing industrial maintenance work or working as an electrician, I think you are spending a lot for features you will never need, like certified CAT III and CAT IV ratings.  Just my opinion, but I think if you are doing bench work with embedded electronics and maybe FPGA stuff a decent 5.5 digit bench meter would suit you better.  For the kind of money you a looking at spending you could get a good, working HP 34401A, which for your stated needs would be a far superior instrument.

[J-R]

Sure, the BM869s 500k mode is somewhat gimmicky out of the box, but as mentioned the calibration procedure is known and easy to perform.  Specifically if you had the DMMCheckPlus with the 5V DC reference output, you could tighten up the 5V range.  Or use a bench meter as a reference along with a stable DC supply and calibrate the other ranges.

[AVGresponding]

as a beginner it is better to have one DMM

No way! How can you verify data or do sanity checks if you only have one DMM? You need at least...6!

Sure, if you're a minimalist...

[sonpul]

I've been using the BM789 every day for several years now and I love it. If someone were to do me a favor and replace one of my two BM789s with a BM869, I'd find them and beat them.  . 
With the 869, I'd lose AutoHold, the thin, compact case, the clear, uncluttered, high-quality display, the long, bright 15-minute backlight, and the endless battery life from three Eneloop batteries.
Replacing the 789 with the 869 would be a tragedy for me.

[Specmaster]

Sure, the BM869s 500k mode is somewhat gimmicky out of the box, but as mentioned, the calibration procedure is known and easy to perform.  Specifically if you had the DMMCheckPlus with the 5V DC reference output, you could tighten up the 5V range. Or use a bench meter as a reference along with a stable DC supply and calibrate the other ranges.

In what way is the 500K count a bit gimmicky? I have had my 867 for a few years now, and it has always been a very reliable and steady meter, which, when I perform a sanity check on it and the other meters that I have and it has always been in spec.

[Doctorandus_P]

In what way is the 500K count a bit gimmicky?

Just look up the specifications of your meters and do the math. The extra digit can be useful to see small differences such as during a battery discharging, but you can't rely on them to be accurate.

And I stay with my earlier comment. I don't know the background of Cromulent (OP), but if an EUR 100 meter is good enough for the "forseeable future" then don't buy an EUR 200 DMM now.

[Specmaster]

In what way is the 500K count a bit gimmicky?

Just look up the specifications of your meters and do the math. The extra digit can be useful to see small differences such as during a battery discharging, but you can't rely on them to be accurate.

And I stay with my earlier comment. I don't know the background of Cromulent (OP), but if an EUR 100 meter is good enough for the "forseeable future" then don't buy an EUR 200 DMM now.

Surely that is the real point of having a meter capable of that extra digit indication; it is only available upto the 5-volt range anyway, and is there anything that really requires / relies on settings of that degree of accuracy? I have always thought of that extra digit as being useful to show a trend in a circuit, i.e., is the voltage slowly increasing or decreasing? Useful in circuits with rechargeable batteries from a wall wart or built-in solar cell on, say, a calculator.

As to the price being either a £100 or £200 meter, I tend to agree with you there; hence, why I threw in the BM867 instead of the BM869, as it is nearer to the £100 level, with virtually identical capabilities, but is able to last into the future when requirements may need the extra ranges on offer over a lower meter.