Products > Test Equipment
Fluke 8846A Discontinued. Is it worth it to pay higher prices?
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Echelon:
So I have been wanting to buy a bench multimeter for home lab.  I have had my eye on a Fluke 8846A for a few years.  Now that I am getting close to being able to afford it, I found out that Fluke has discontinued it and the retailers with remaining inventory have raised the price by 700 to 1000 USD.  The price they have now seemingly settled on is almost $2200. 

Right now I am just using a $50 rebrand handheld multi-meter from a local hardware store.  It's designed for electricians, not electronics.  There is no microamps range.  The update time is slow and there no ability to manually range, further adding to this problem.  The backlight doesn't hold on, the meter automatically shuts down while I am tinkering with my circuits, and continuity latching is poor. 

Overall, I would really like something much nicer, on mains power, dedicated to my lab.  I really appreciated the dedicated mode buttons and minimalist approach.  I really don't like gear that gets in my way so do not want to be wading through a bunch of menus.  Gear that I don't completely trust is a hard no.  I also liked the built-in frequency counter.  Having the ability to do very precise measurements for learning about certain subtle electrical characteristics or the ability to trade that off for speed when that is not required was very nice.  The VFD was also pretty cool.  It's just going to sit on my work desk, I doubt it would ever be in danger of being physically damaged. 

My question is this: Are there better meters and options on the market now that I should stop focusing on this one or is it worth it to pony up the extra money to get one before everyone sells out?  One of the hard things is that test equipment is so niche that you can't exactly try before you buy.  I can't go down to the local store and demo a bunch of makes and models. 

I welcome discussion, opinions and insight.  Also, I'm brand new to the forms, let me know if this is in the wrong place. 
bdunham7:
Yowser!  No advance notice (AFAIK) and no replacement! I wonder if they just ran out of Cyclones or what--I'm sure it was due for an update and respin at the very least.  If Fluke decides not to come out with any direct replacement, that would be an indication that the company is headed downhill, IMO.  Perhaps they just ran out of the old model before the new one was ready, or maybe they are introducing a new model at a lower price point and want to clear the old inventory first. 

I have one and I like it for a number of reasons, but I would probably balk at paying $2200 for the basic meter, especially if affordability is in any way an issue for you.  However I would say the question of whether there is anything better is debatable--there are some features and specs that are unmatched by any competitive product.  You could wait a bit and see if they come out with a replacement.  If not, take a look at the options they suggest, like the DMM6500.  Or, since you have such a basic meter now, do an intermediate step up to something like one of the BK Precision bench meters, something from Keysight or Siglent (read about and discuss these options as there's plenty on the forum already)  or even something used.  It appears to be a terrible time to go shopping right now!

Edit:  Apparently they did issue an EOL notice, but I'm not sure when they sent it out.

 https://us.flukecal.com/support/safety-notices
Echelon:
Looks like the distributors had pretty short notice too and it doesn't look like there was much of any EOL period to place orders.  It does seem like something broke behind the scenes over at Fluke.  I searched around before posting this thread and didn't really see any discussion of the discontinuation on the internet.  https://media.digikey.com/pdf/PCNs/Fluke/FCAL%20Obsolete%204-12-2022.pdf 

Some of the Keithley 5.5 digit precision meters looked pretty close to what I was looking for too.  I'll need to spend more time comparing the exact specifications and feature differences.  I have the idea to eventually purchase a sweeping LCR meter or VNA.  But that will be much more expensive and ideally my multimeter would at least do some basic capacitance measurements.  I also need to try to better understand the differences between LCR meters and VNAs, but that is a topic for another thread. 
free_electron:
what makes that machine special ?
i have one and find it an annoying machine. after a powercycle it takes oodles of time to boot.

i'd go for a used 34401a from hp/agilent
Specmaster:
Hmm, have you considered a Fluke 8842A, it has a 1uA resolution, has 5.5 digits with the internal accuracy of a 6.5 digit meter with a DC accuracy of .003% and you could get one a second-hand one for around $100?
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