Is this an ok DMM for home/hobby use?

[Elektronix]

Hi  I'm in England & for various reasons have found myself needing a better DMM.

1 of my hobbies is classic arcade video games & lately I've been tinkering with a few Wells Gardner/Zenith 19" K7000 monitors.

I'm looking for a half decent DMM for checking capacitors, resistors, diodes, voltages, continuity etc that gives readings I can trust & £50 is about the budget at the moment.

I have a cheapo XL-830L (think it was about £4) but it's not up to the task surprisingly 

In a shop just up the road from where I live, they have this DMM for £50, most places on-line seem to have it for about £100 so it seems like it might be a bargain.

Greenlee DM-210A

http://www.conrad-electronic.co.uk/ce/en/product/127166/Handheld-multimeter-digital-Greenlee-DM-210A-CAT-II-1000-V-CAT-III-600-V-Display-counts-6000?ref=searchDetail

After doing some research it seems to be exactly the same as a Brymen 252, but the Greenlee has a Backlit LCD. Do you think it's a good buy for £50?

Another one that caught my eye on-line is the OWON B35T from gearbest for £38 it has True RMS and bluetooth etc but I'm not sure I'll need that.

http://www.gearbest.com/multimeters-fitting/pp_402378.html?wid=21

Any input would be much appreciated, as I'm thinking of buying it in the next day or 2.

[tautech]

Welcome to the forum.

Any of those would be OK for a basic DMM that you don't want to stress but the holy grail of info on DMM's is this thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hear-kitty-kitty-kitty-nope-not-that-kind-of-cat/

Joe's tested all of those so check out his vids and comments.

[retiredcaps]

Greenlee DM-210A

After doing some research it seems to be exactly the same as a Brymen 252, but the Greenlee has a Backlit LCD. Do you think it's a good buy for £50?

I have the Greenlee DM200A.  Teardown pics at

http://mrmodemhead.com/blog/gallery/dm200a/

I got it for about $20 USD used.  A great bargain at that price.  I like the large digits.

Brymen make good meters.  Dave's current meter is a Brymen rebranded meter.

[Elektronix]

Thanks for the welcome tautech, I'll check out that thread for sure, time for a pot of coffee

Interesting pics retiredcaps, thanks very much. It looks fairly well made, decent fuses & input protection etc.

I think I'm leaning towards the Greenlee for the build quality and the UL listing & it seems like it will do everything I need.

Apologies for the newbie question but, with your DM-200A, when measuring resistors are you able to touch the probes together and press a button to zero out the display?

On my cheapo meter I'm always having to make a mental note of the probe leads resistance (which seems to change every 10 minutes & fluctuates between 1 & 5 ohms) and then subtract that from the final value, it's a real ball ache.

[retiredcaps]

Apologies for the newbie question but, with your DM-200A, when measuring resistors are you able to touch the probes together and press a button to zero out the display?

Yes, that is what the "REL" button does on the 200A.

On my cheapo meter I'm always having to make a mental note of the probe leads resistance (which seems to change every 10 minutes & fluctuates between 1 & 5 ohms) and then subtract that from the final value, it's a real ball ache.

If your cheapo meter is always fluctuating between 1 and 5 ohms, either the probes are bad/worn or the input jacks are poorly soldered onto the pcb.  In addition, 1 to 5 ohms with probes shorted is very high.  It should easily be under 1 ohm.

The 200A with probes shorted show a consistent 0.1 ohms.

[Elektronix]

Great, thanks again RC 

[EEVblog]

Brymen make good meters.  Dave's current meter is a Brymen rebranded meter.

Yes, Brymen make good meters, can't go wrong.

[Fungus]

I'm looking for a half decent DMM for checking capacitors, resistors, diodes, voltages, continuity etc that gives readings I can trust & £50 is about the budget at the moment.

Fluke 101

(yeah, it doesn't do current but you probably don't measure amps very often and you can use your XL-830L for that)

[Fungus]

Thanks for the welcome tautech, I'll check out that thread for sure, time for a pot of coffee

Remember that robustness isn't the only feature in a multimeter.

(Yes, I know Joe tests other features, too...)

Brymen make good meters.  Dave's current meter is a Brymen rebranded meter.

Yes, Brymen make good meters, can't go wrong.

But not for 50 bucks.

[ProBang2]

"But not for 50 bucks."

Ahemm... - look at the first posting:

[...]
In a shop just up the road from where I live, they have this DMM for £50, most places on-line seem to have it for about £100 so it seems like it might be a bargain.

Greenlee DM-210A

http://www.conrad-electronic.co.uk/ce/en/product/127166/Handheld-multimeter-digital-Greenlee-DM-210A-CAT-II-1000-V-CAT-III-600-V-Display-counts-6000?ref=searchDetail

After doing some research it seems to be exactly the same as a Brymen 252, but the Greenlee has a Backlit LCD. Do you think it's a good buy for £50?
[...]

The thread-opener has obviously an offer. Really a bargain. If it is new, then I would take it immediatly.
Without any further hesitation.