C) I looked at the overwhelming & confusing array of Brymens and the Brymen 869s seems to be the best fit for me based upon my on-line research and how well this blog regards them.
Make damn sure that you'll be satisfied with the accuracy, including the LSD uncertainty, specified in the manual, to avoid any post-purchase disappointment.
In short, and I believe it's not specific to the 869s, but is the case with pretty much any DMM, at least the handheld ones, the value you see in the LSD is not about accuracy, it's about resolution. It will allow you to track changes in the values you measure, but the accuracy spec will typically mean that the LSD, at least to a significant extent of its range, is in the uncertainty region.
The 869s is excellent for electronics (and electric as well) work and hobby, and accuracy is good for many or most practical purposes, including microamp measurements or hundreds of kHz AC volts measurements etc. But if you're into metrology and volt-nuttery, then probably not so much, and you'll be better off with an expensive multi-digit bench DMM.
There are very few things that are either questionable or poor about the 869s:
1) the 9V battery -- I personally think it's actually an advantage, as it's less prone to leakage than your typical AA or AAA, and there are rechargeable lithium batteries in this form factor that do not have a switching converter inside, with the 2 cells in series connected directly to the output. Even though it starts at below 9V (fully charged at 2*4.2V = 8.4V, which quickly drops to the plateau at 2*3.7V = 7.4V), it still provides a very, very long time of operation before you see the low battery icon;
2) slow update rate in the AC+DC measurement mode: 1 Hz or so (5 Hz, IIRC, otherwise); I'm not sure how other meters perform in this mode, maybe they're all like this;
3) range finding is not slow, but I would prefer it to be faster; again, not sure if the competitors are better, and how much so, if they are;
4) same for measuring large capacitors, but again same thing about comparing with the competitors;
5) you have to remove the back lid (and damage the warranty seal covering one of the screws, if present) to replace the fuses;
6) the fuses are good and properly selected, but because of this they are also expensive (but there are cheaper offerings of allegedly original bussmann fuses on aliexpress -- and they do look and feel the same as the originals) -- but again this equally applies to any of the comparable competitors and is dictated by technical necessity;
7) no publicly available information on readjustment procedures, which sucks, and no, this time I'm not gonna compare this with any of the competitors: this information must be free regardless of what the competitors do, there's no excuse and no technical reason for the manufacturer to be failing to disclose it -- it's a political decision;
can't light up white LEDs. The max diode threshold voltage it can output/measure is quite low by todays standards;
9) very short backlight timeout in older firmware revisions, but this only matters if you get an older used unit -- anything produced in the last, I think, 4 years or so must be fine.
That's pretty much it. Maybe there was another minor annoyance or two, but I can't remember anything right now.
p.s. dual display and dual temperature measurement support *are* cool.
p.p.s.
only issue I've encountered is that in recent years the range switch on volts can stop just a tiny bit off of the actual stopping point, requiring a jiggle to get it to settle on the right spot and read
Yes this too! The switch could have been a little more snappy to lock in position. I got used to it and don't really notice it, neither it is of any practical impact, but yes, it's there. Maybe could be fixed with some grease in the right spot and/or a stiffer spring loading whatever works for the snapping into position (a ball, I would guess), but for me it's nowhere near the level of annoyance which would warrant taking it apart and seeing how it works and if it could be improved.
p.p.p.s. Buying the 869s today won't stop you from buying yet another DMM (a bench one likely) in the future, so it's not really a dilemma. You're already hooked, admit it and go get the 869s: it's a good meter, and you'll always find a task where you need more than one meter at the same time.