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Fluke Fluff
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Shock:
Finally got my two "ultimate" (LOL) bench meters, so it's time to move up in the world.

After some prolonged Ebay trawling, (in US dollars) came to $120 for both combined. Total savings of approx $890 and shipping buying them new here. I did trade another Fluke as part of the deal which saved $30 or so.

A lot of rubbing former owners grime off the Fluke 87V restored it. The Fluke 117 ended up being as best as I can tell, brand new.

The deals I passed on were two Fluke 87Vs at around $160 each, two dirt cheap Fluke 117s one which was practically free but the seller scared me off.

The golden missed deal of the century, a sub $100 Fluke 289 that had a poor listing (owner replaced it with some cheap meter because the Fluke 289 was too fancy). A couple of years ago I hesitated and missed out on another "buy it now" expensive Fluke.

So now in true EEVblog fashion I will say all Chinese brand meters are junk and you're wasting your money. Joking, but after seriously sampling the secondhand Fluke market and buying over a dozen Flukes under $30 each (20 and 70 series) and some slightly more expensive 110 series it redefines wasting $100 on a Chinese brand when there's plenty of secondhand deals around.

retiredcaps:

--- Quote from: Shock on May 17, 2018, 01:54:30 am ---After some prolonged Ebay trawling, (in US dollars) came to $120 for both combined.

--- End quote ---
That is an excellent deal.

When the Canadian dollar was par with the US dollar and USPS shipping rates were reasonable, I would buy broken Fluke meters for under $20 USD.  Sometimes I would get a good deal on a working meter for under $100 like a Fluke 87V or 18x.

But those days are long gone and I haven't look on ebay in nearly 3 or 4 years now.
Shock:

--- Quote from: retiredcaps on May 17, 2018, 02:22:38 am ---That is an excellent deal.

When the Canadian dollar was par with the US dollar and USPS shipping rates were reasonable, I would buy broken Fluke meters for under $20 USD.  Sometimes I would get a good deal on a working meter for under $100 like a Fluke 87V or 18x.

But those days are long gone and I haven't look on ebay in nearly 3 or 4 years now.

--- End quote ---

I did exactly the same. When the US exchange rate returned to normal and shipping prices went up it made things a little sad.  I have a bit of a workaround in place for shipping now (I do my own) which makes it a little less expensive.

The Fluke 117 is really just because it has LoZ and Voltalert which is a bit extravagant. I've got two Uni-T 71Ds for logging and my shelf queens are two Keithley 179s. Plus I'm keeping spare sets of Fluke 27/FMs for voltage/current monitoring.

I'm not really compelled to have a billion features on a handheld DMM nor digits but may just upgrade the Keithleys next. Sort of a work in progress like everyones bench I guess.

I feel a purge coming though, as I'm expanding to critical mass. It's like keeping children from a former marriage, you know you love them but they are occupying all the rooms.
Shock:

--- Quote from: Electro Detective on May 17, 2018, 10:37:17 am ---FWIW, the Continuity/buzzer and Min Max modes on these are killa, the AutoHOLD on the 87V is addictive...
and speaking from experience you will need a 289 to complete the Trilogy... when the wallet recovers  :phew:

--- End quote ---

Thanks I'll do some comparisons. I've only played with the Fluke 87V a little so far and need to sit down with it. I was quite impressed with the DC mV range, forget what I was doing at the time, watching a circuit discharge or something exciting like that hahah.

Yeah I want, I've been coveting the Fluke 287 BravoV and the Fluke 289 Shahriar has as I keep seeing images of them.

Something I do have though now is a Fluke 98B Series II Scopemeter in the repair pile. It's a bit of an oddball scope but the price was a giveaway. I'm hoping it's a supply problem, my preliminary testing seemed to indicate it's having issues drawing startup current.

Here is a photo another user posted of his in mint condition. I did get most of the case candy with my Fluke 98B but it will need some TLC to get it this sparkly.


PTR_1275:
There are definitely bargains out there on the flukes. I’ve bought a 289, 381, 233, 1587FC (new in box), 724 and then a 725(new in box but 6 years old). All up it’s cost around 2 grand.

Each meter has its specific use and application in my line of work. Most of them can’t be matched easily with cheapies. A mate has a Fluke 28 ex (got it for a similar price to the standard 28 on eBay) and that’s a solid meter.
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