Help me decide : Fluke 87V or Brymen BM789

[NEMAON]

Hi!

I'm about to buy a new DMM. I'm looking for an advance DMM in the 200 - 250 € price range
I find a 87 V, for 260 € unused (see photo) and i'm also looking for the new BM789 about 190€ (https://www.welectron.com/Brymen-BM789-Multimeter)

The DMM will be used as a bench meter.

So: Which one ?!

[Fungus]

1) Buy the Fluke, sell it for 400 Euros on eBay (it has lots of accessories!)
2) Buy the Brymen
3) Profit!

[2N3055]

BM789

[Zucca]

Why not keeping the Brymen BM869s that you just sold (to me)?

PS: I love the Fluke 87V

[NEMAON]

Why not keeping the Brymen BM869s that you just sold (to me)?

PS: I love the Fluke 87V

Hope you enjoy the 869. Why i'm looking for something différent?  ->> Auto Hold !

[Doddy883]

BM789.

I own a Fluke 83V and have used an 87V, and I prefer the Brymen. It's much nicer to use, for example remembering the last used function on that switch selection and backlight staying on. Extra features include low impedance volts, dual temperature, dBm, non-contact voltage.
The smoothing function on the Fluke is nice though. Not sure if the Brymen does that, I haven't checked the power-on options yet. Let me know if there's anything particular you'd like me to test with the Brymen and I'll see what I can do

[bd139]

Buy the fluke. The Brymen will have the retarded “remember which sub mode” thing which makes them a chore to use. Also the 87V is an extremely mature design and the Brymen isn’t.

Auto hold on the 87V is top notch.

[bc888]

I likely go for the Fluke if it was either or as that's an excellent price, but the silicon leads that come with the Brymen are SEXY! MMmmmmmmmmm so soft and luxurious. As a bench meter you might not care: but the Brymen Non-contact voltage detector is excellent, whereas with Fluke I believe it doesn't have it.

[rsjsouza]

It is a difficult decision IMO. Brymen has a lot more features and counts, but the Fluke has more bandwidth and a few modes such as the null bargraph that is very interesting, although very niche. If you can get the full lifetime warranty on the Fluke, that is another plus for it. 

Good luck in your decision.

[2N3055]

It is a difficult decision IMO. Brymen has a lot more features and counts, but the Fluke has more bandwidth and a few modes such as the null bargraph that is very interesting, although very niche. If you can get the full lifetime warranty on the Fluke, that is another plus for it. 

Good luck in your decision.

BM789 has 100kHz bandwidth, opposed to 87V 20kHz....

[rsjsouza]

It is a difficult decision IMO. Brymen has a lot more features and counts, but the Fluke has more bandwidth and a few modes such as the null bargraph that is very interesting, although very niche. If you can get the full lifetime warranty on the Fluke, that is another plus for it. 

Good luck in your decision.

BM789 has 100kHz bandwidth, opposed to 87V 20kHz....

You are absolutely right, Sinisa. I was thinking about the BM786, which is rated for 1kHz.

In this case I think the decision is much easier. The BM789 is a much better choice IMO.

[nez]

It is a difficult decision IMO. Brymen has a lot more features and counts, but the Fluke has more bandwidth and a few modes such as the null bargraph that is very interesting, although very niche. If you can get the full lifetime warranty on the Fluke, that is another plus for it. 

Good luck in your decision.

BM789 has 100kHz bandwidth, opposed to 87V 20kHz....

You are absolutely right, Sinisa. I was thinking about the BM786, which is rated for 1kHz.

In this case I think the decision is much easier. The BM789 is a much better choice IMO.

I thought 7kHz?

[drussell]

If you can get the Fluke for that cheap, for sure get that instead of the Brymen.

[2N3055]

If you can get the Fluke for that cheap, for sure get that instead of the Brymen.

Why?
Brymen is same or better quality and safety, 3 times better resolution, many measurements and refinements F87V doesn't have, better accuracy... It is hands down better meter for electronics.

[Fungus]

If you can get the Fluke for that cheap, for sure get that

Why?

So you can sell it for a profit and buy a Brymen.

[Fungus]

I own a Fluke 83V and have used an 87V, and I prefer the Brymen. It's much nicer to use, for example remembering the last used function on that switch selection and backlight staying on.

Buy the fluke. The Brymen will have the retarded “remember which sub mode” thing which makes them a chore to use.

 

Don't forget the Fluke always restarts in AC current mode - incredibly annoying, especially if you're switching between uA and mA and it keeps resetting.

[bd139]

Safety feature. If you read 0A because it’s in DC mode then touch the circuit. Bzzt.

Also you always know what mode the Fluke is in. With the Brymen you have to work it out every damn time from the plethora of annunciators. Lots of room for error and lots of time wasted.

[Fungus]

Safety feature. If you read 0A because it’s in DC mode then touch the circuit. Bzzt.

At least the bar graph will be flickering.

...unlike if you read 0A because it's in AC mode and the current is DC.

[bd139]

That’s a good point but no certainty there.

Answer is clearly “buy a Fluke 189” 

[Fungus]

That’s a good point but no certainty there.

Also, I'm pretty sure Brymens have DC+AC mode, even the non-dual-display models. My "old-school" BM857 certainly does. You can just put it in that mode and leave it there.

(Edit: On mine it shows "the total effective RMS value regardless of the waveform")

Or ... if you work in places where a mistake like that could be extremely annoying, get yourself a current clamp.

[bd139]

The DC+AC mode is extremely slow on the 867 at least. Almost unusably slow. It looks like it zeroes then takes a sample in each mode alternately.

Current clamp, yep agree.

[Psi]

Unless they have changed it, and I doubt it, the 87V defaults to AC current every time you change to a current range.
This is very annoying for people who switch between mA and uA a lot.
Every time you switch between them you have to press the button to get it back to DC mode.

One of these days I will open it up and stick a 50c MCU in there to detect range changes and automatically press the button.

[Fungus]

Unless they have changed it, and I doubt it, the 87V defaults to AC current every time you change to a current range.
This is very annoying for people who switch between mA and uA a lot.

The Fluke 87III used to default to DC mode so they obviously changed it once and they're not going to change it back again.

Yep. It should maybe do it once when you power it on but it does it every time you move the selector.

It could really be a configurable thing, IMHO, but I've heard they won't do that because of all the written procedures and manuals out there which say things like "move the selctor to mA then press the button to go to DC mode".

[bd139]

That’s important in safety critical usage of any system: determinism. If you have to make inferences mid process then that goes out of the window. Which is the problem with the Brymen system.

Default to safe. Default to a known condition. Stateless is best.

I used to work in the defence sector years ago on such systems and designed and built a user interface prototyping system which allowed these costly mistakes to be made in software first. We developed a library of conditions where non deterministic behaviour caused safety problems. This would fit right in.

I now work in finance sector trying to avoid this stuff. Citibank fucked this up recently with their loan repayment system and lost $500m. Amazing what a couple of user interface cock ups can do

[NEMAON]

OK! 

Looks like we have devided opinions...
May be i will wait sometime until  someone decides to make a good review of the BM789...

I did ask Joe (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsK99WXk9VhcghnAauTBsbg) about a review of BM789, he said he already have the meter, but was buzzy with other projects

Wait and see

Can some one tell me what a 87V can do that a BM789 can't?