Was your first meter a "trashy" meter?

[Fungus]

We all like to recommend expensive meters to newbies but let's admit it: Many people here started out with a "trashy" meter.

Ref:


Another option is those $60-$80 meters they sell in hardware stores that would never get recommended here (think "Mestek" or "Amprobe").

Finally: A special category for all the UT61E owners.

[xrunner]

Was it trashy? Well ... I didn't think so at the time (when I was ~10 years old).

[jonpaul]

Heathkit V-7A valves 12AX7A 6AL5
Circa 1957

Jon

[Fungus]

Was it trashy? Well ... I didn't think so at the time (when I was ~10 years old).

I forgot Radio Shack.    New category added.

[wasedadoc]

Avo Multiminor Mk4.  About 1965. http://www.richardsradios.co.uk/AVO/Multiminor4_istr.pdf

[Black Phoenix]

My first owned DMM, Fluke 289.

The first DMM I used, Fluke 112.

[tszaboo]

No, I had a good Analogue meter. Then I bought the trashy digital one. And it still works.
But that's not the reason why we recommend the more expensive ones, it's because the cheap one might blow up in your hand when measuring the AC current coming from the wall socket in parallel.

[joeqsmith]

After using the intensity of small lightbulbs to guess my measurements, I had a couple of panel meter movements.  Then I was given an old VTVM.   Then at 13yo, my first real meter from RadioShack (also analog).   Then my first DMM, the Fluke 8000A.   I consider all of them trashy but as a beginner, they were more than good enough to learn some of the basics. 

[Fungus]

it's because the cheap one might blow up in your hand when measuring the AC current coming from the wall socket in parallel.

Lesson learned!

Who hasn't tripped a circuit breaker or three in their time?

(The mass distribution of DT830 meters by Harbor Freight in the Land Of The Free shows this isn't really a big problem)

[themadhippy]

First meter was a tandy, wot we called radio shack here in the uk,analogue very basic model,next  was a robin i think ,mains tester,a disc was pulled down by an electromagnet that indicated the voltage,the further down the disc went the higher the voltage, if the thing vibrated it was AC if not DC,had that for years until it got dropped and the plastic case shattered,it also double up as an rcd tester due to the current it drew

Who hasn't tripped a circuit breaker or three in their time?

maybe another survey,"how old was you when you first blew a circuit breaker"

[nali]

Something like this IIRC, got a Micronta a bit later.


At 16 I started my apprenticeship where the defacto meter was AVO8 and if we asked nicely we could sign a loan note & take stuff home over the weekend so I guess I was a bit spoiled in that respect.

[Fungus]

maybe another survey,"how old was you when you first blew a circuit breaker"

When I was a kid the fuses had bits of wire threaded through them that you had to replace.

Dad had a little bit of cardboard with three different amperages wrapped around it.

[wasedadoc]

maybe another survey,"how old was you when you first blew a circuit breaker"

When I was a kid the fuses had bits of wire threaded through them that you had to replace.

Dad had a little bit of cardboard with three different amperages wrapped around it.

That is the type of fuses in my house which was built in 1976.

[Fungus]

That is the type of fuses in my house which was built in 1976.

You still have that type?

A fuse is a fuse, I guess.

Do you have an RCD?

[PwrElectronics]

Not sure how trashy it was but paid $85 USD in 1985 ($238 in 2023 !!)...  A bunch of students in my electronics class did a group discount from a tools catalog.  Multi-function meter with transistor test and capacitor measurement as well as the typical other stuff.  Some Taiwan made off-brand.  I am sure a fraction of the price of a Fluke or other major brand.

I still have it and it still works.  I have other, better meters now though.

[Black Phoenix]

maybe another survey,"how old was you when you first blew a circuit breaker"

When I was a kid the fuses had bits of wire threaded through them that you had to replace.

Dad had a little bit of cardboard with three different amperages wrapped around it.

That is the type of fuses in my house which was built in 1976.

Same here, my grandparents home. From the 1965.

[wasedadoc]

That is the type of fuses in my house which was built in 1976.

You still have that type?

A fuse is a fuse, I guess.

Do you have an RCD?

No RCDs in the house.  In the garage I fitted a RCD equipped dual socket outlet.  One outlet has the pond pump plugged into it.  The pump is fully submerged.

When cutting the hedges with an electric clipper I use a long extension cable with a RCD plug on it.  I did trip that once when I accidentally cut the clipper's cable.
 

[mwb1100]

Who hasn't tripped a circuit breaker or three in their time?

maybe another survey,"how old was you when you first blew a circuit breaker"

Can't remember the first time I tripped a breaker, but I do remember one day when the stereo wouldn't work and when I checked the panel, sure enough one had tripped.  I reset it and immediately heard a yell from my dad.  Hoo boy - the rest of the day did not go well.

[David Hess]

The first multimeter that I bought with my own money was a Beckman Tech 310, which is hardly trashy.  It finally died after I left it on the dashboard of my car and the heat turned the LCD black.

I bought a Beckman RMS 225 to replace it, and am currently searching for a replacement for it.

[ferdieCX]

My first one was this Sanwa U-50D in 1971, when I was 13.
It is an excellent brand, although not a high end model
I still have it

[themadhippy]

When I was a kid the fuses had bits of wire threaded through them that you had to replace.

same here,but they were replaced with plug in mcb's not long after i started to play with mains powered toys.My first fuse blow was seeing if  a string of lights  would get brighter if i wired them in a ring,when i asked my dad his reply was try it and see,i learned a lot with that experiment.

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

When I was about 12 yo I bought a radio shack meter.
Don't know what happened to it
Now use an old Fluke
And multiple analog meters. some of them military,some useful for Kilo volt testing.
And they look nice on the shelf.

Edit:  When I was 10 yo the Micronta would have been a pretty good meter
I think $10 then is $100 today.

[TimFox]

When I was about 13, a friend gave me an ancient (pre-war) Simpson 260.
Amusingly, the symbol "M" on the ohms scale on the meter meant "1000", as in older accounting nomenclature, which I found confusing.
Being 13, I did abuse it, and the needle needed straightening, but I kept using it for over 10 years.
My first decent DMM is a Wavetek (pre-"Meterman") 15XL (3.5 digits, 2000 counts).
I still use two of those, since they don't have auto-range and they have very large digits.
Later, when we needed a few inexpensive meters at work, I ordered the Meterman version, which came in an orange case instead of the sober blue-grey of the Wavetek.
We named them "Barbie's first voltmeter", or "Barbiemeter" for short.

[Pfriemler]

I voted at "Radio Shack". Back in the 70's there were no other options to get a meter.
Maybe it's trash. The first I got when I was 12 yo. Maybe from Japan (the housing says so). No FET, poor accuracy, but better than nothing. The copper damp inside the bottom case resulted from an attempt to measure current with parallel leads at 220V mains. I do not remember if the fuse was blown. Despite of two vaporized copper lines on the PCB and the lifted transparent plastic window there were no more damages to it. Later I managed to expand the 100mA range to 2,5A and something happend to the Ge diode. It's still functional, but not in use. The leads are still the original ones.
The TEL DM1000B I got ~14 yo. And it's still in use: resistor measurements can be done with 2,3V open circuit voltage (white LED glim) or 0,3V (no Si diodes will affect the readings) and the continuity checker is "analogue" - fast and with continuous lower tone frequency from 0-40 ohms. Best tool for checking switches and relay contacts. The 20A range I found outstanding, too. Next meter was a 90's METEX M3610D (Voltcraft), still in use (2000MOhm range!). Recently, I'm going for a Brymen 869s...

[BillyO]

Was as trashy as you could get in 1972.  No selector switch - you needed to move the probes, only 9 ranges, cost the equivalent of $50 today, and you had to build it yourself. 

But I was chuffed as hell to have it!