Fluke 177 for electronics use?

[ticktock3t]

I'm currently talking to a someone who wants to sell me a fairly new condition Fluke 177 for $100. I'm an EE student and I would love to have a good multimeter. I'm only looking to spend about $100 and was thinking about either the 87 or 87III. Would the 177 be good for my use and is this a good buy?

[Lightages]

There are some that will say that a multimeter without a microamp range is not meant for electronics, Dave Jones included. However this meter would be good reliable instrument. IMHO, it would be better to buy an Amprobe AM-270 for $90 new. It has more functions, same safety, and is new with a warranty. There might be other options too but without knowing where you live pricing is a bit variable.

[retiredcaps]

I'm currently talking to a someone who wants to sell me a fairly new condition Fluke 177 for $100. I'm an EE student and I would love to have a good multimeter. I'm only looking to spend about $100 and was thinking about either the 87 or 87III. Would the 177 be good for my use and is this a good buy?

I think you are better off getting a Fluke 87 or 87 III for $100.  These two give you

- microamp range
- 20,000 count option
- relative function
- ability to adjust pots if needed for calibration (177 is closed case calibration)
- peak min/max
- current measurement defaults to DC (177 defaults to AC)

Now you can present these points to the seller and hope he/she drops the price of the 177 down to around $65?

PS. I have used all 3 multimeters.

[EEVblog]

I'm currently talking to a someone who wants to sell me a fairly new condition Fluke 177 for $100. I'm an EE student and I would love to have a good multimeter. I'm only looking to spend about $100 and was thinking about either the 87 or 87III. Would the 177 be good for my use and is this a good buy?

As mentioned in another thread, it's a bargain, buy it.
Then resell it on ebay. If it's in good nick, you'll get $200 for it.
The Fluke 177 is an electricans meter, not an electronics engineers meter.

Dave.

[EEVblog]

There are some that will say that a multimeter without a microamp range is not meant for electronics, Dave Jones included. However this meter would be good reliable instrument.

No doubt it's a good reliable instrument.
But having a multimeter that does not measure the full range of the basic quantities (in this case low current), means you are not fully equipped to do electronics IMO.

Dave.

[Lightages]

I agree with you Dave, I was not implying that I thought otherwise. That is why I suggested the Amprobe AM-270 for $90 with all the features needed and with a real guarantee. Good idea to buy the 177 and resell, as you said, and then get 2 Amprobe AM-270s with the profit.

[zaoka]

I think you should keep Fluke 177 since its True RMS and it will last for for many years. You can rely on that meter. For micro amps you can buy another used meter for $30-$40 and you are good to go.

[rsjsouza]

+1 on keeping the 177. I have a 179 (177 + temp measurements) that I extensively use for my electronic experiments. It is very reliable and incredibly well built.

Regarding microamps, you can always get Dave's µcurrent gizmo and be happy.