Was your first meter a "trashy" meter?

[HwAoRrDk]

The first meter I had was an AVOmeter 8 Mk V. Although it didn't really belong to me, I was borrowing it from my dad, who got it some time in the '70s or '80s I think. I've long since returned it, but he still has it and it still works.

[BeBuLamar]

Mine was an original Fluke 77, I think when I was like eight or nine. It was a pretty ancient meter then, but was given to me by a family member who had bought it new.

Honestly I still use some of my Fluke 77s, and still have quite an army of 77s and 73s at work. For 95% of what a handheld meter gets used for, they're just fine.


They're old-fashioned and a little limited, but I wouldn't exactly call them trashy.

The Fluke 70 series firmly established Fluke as the go to manufacturer for hand held multimeter. It also the start of the shift to DMM from the analog VOM. In the era of the 8020, 8060 DMM was so popular, most people still used the the Simpson 260.

[unknownparticle]

I come from a time before DMM's existed, in any form!  So my first was what could comically be called a plug and play meter!  That is, it didn't even have a rotary range selector switch, you had to move the test lead to an appropriate range terminal on the front panel!  This resulted in the inevitable, as it didn't even have fuse protection!  So it was transformed to what looked like an extra from a Quatermass movie!
Sheckles were saved and I moved up to the big time with one of those big, really impressive looking (for the time!) Japanese TMK 100K ohm/volt things!  Man, I was measuring things for the fun of it!  That actually survived for some years and I cannot recall for the life of me what happened to it.  Then I had a long break from electronics due to a polar change of career, so all my related stuff got boxed up and unused for 20 odd years.
Came a day when I was called upon to repair my dad's Hi-Fi amp, but no meter! Fortunately I did have some money by then so thought I would treat myself to a new fangled DMM!! Having no idea of what was good or bad, but strangely thinking that Fluke sounded like cheap tat, I resorted to what I knew would be good, Avo!! Namely, an M2007. This was a good move and it proved to be an excellent meter, I still have it, still works perfectly but is obviously a little left behind with what is available now.
Still didn't fully resume my interest in electrickery for another 15 or so years, but am now fortunate enough to be able to buy equipment on a whim, almost, so the collection of DMM's is in the hording category, and I did eventually realise that Fluke is quite good gear!
If I were asked what is my favourite, I can't name 1, but it's between my Fluke 289, Flir DM93 and Metrix 3293B, with the Metrix probably edging it.  If budget were an issue, then my Brymen 869S would take it, no problem!
Oh, and to satisfy my yearning for the good old days, I have many Avo 8's, THE best analogue meter ever made!

[2N3055]

Mine was quite nice Iskra Unimer 3 made in Slovenia..
It was a good meter at the time. I still have it, it works and is well in cal..

[unknownparticle]

Very posh for a first meter!!

[Fungus]

So... a lot of people here started in the pre-trash era.

Many even before DMMs were a thing.

 

[pdenisowski]

Mine was an original Fluke 77 .... They're old-fashioned and a little limited, but I wouldn't exactly call them trashy.

That was the meter that replaced my analog Radio Shack meter when I was in grad school.  It's still my daily-use meter

[Warhawk]

Yes, it was a trashy multimeter. However, for the price I paid one would get a reasonable Brymen nowadays. Not only electronics but literaly everything for home science has never been more affordable. Yet many youngsters waste their potential on TokTok and other crap.

[tautech]

How about this one I inherited?

Actually I had two of them, and IIRC still have one. It was a truly crappy meter that heavily loaded any circuit you connected it to (25Ω/V !!!) 

They do charge more for LoZ meters these days, maybe you didn't understand the highly featured meter you have. 

[rdl]

I did buy my first multimeter at Radio Shack They were called "multitesters" back then. It was the 22-204, one of their best analog meters. They did sell a few digital meters at that time (all 3.5 digit), but I really wanted one with the big meter. A few years later in 1987 I bought one of their new 22-175 digital "benchtop" meters, which I soon blew up by dropping a probe into a 3000 volt laser power supply. I kept it though because it could still measure capacitance.

[Fungus]

How about this one I inherited?

Actually I had two of them, and IIRC still have one. It was a truly crappy meter...

...but very pretty.

[Performa01]

My true first meters were DIY MM-galvanometers. Because of their input impedance of about 4 ohms, they were ammeters, even though I ued them as (Very low Z!) voltmeters primarily.
I guess these don't really count, this was back in 1970...

The first real meter was an electronic FET meter with a constant input impedance of 11.6 megohms and ranges starting at 100 mV and 1 µA F.S. Considering what was available back in 1975, I consider this rather high end and at age 15, I was mighty proud of this instrument.



https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/norma_normatronic_1811gb4de1811.html

I still have it today and it is still working, yet I don't use analog meters anymore.

[andy3055]

Actually when I think about this, at the time those meters were made in the US, UK and Japan, they had better quality than today. One paid a good price and nothing was cheap like today. My first Sanwa analog meter I bought from my first salary as an apprentice cost me a one month's full salary. I still use it today after 50 years! These days one can get a cheap junk for a song if you are not careful and base the choice on price alone.

[labjr]

Mine was that little Micronta analog meter too. My parents gave it to me for Christmas when I was 10-12 years old. The first one I bought was a Rat Shack digital meter. It was okay but couldn't handle every day use, and the rotary switch started making intermittent contact. 

[andy3055]

Not to mention the cheap digital meters that are not heavy enough to stay in place when you just move the leads!

[Fungus]

Not to mention the cheap digital meters that are not heavy enough to stay in place when you just move the leads!

Silicone leads are only about $4 on Aliexpress...   

[labjr]

Silicone leads are only about $4 on Aliexpress...   

That can't be good quality. Besides I work on HV circuits. When it comes to safety, I wouldn't trust cheapo stuff.

[Fungus]

Silicone leads are only about $4 on Aliexpress...   

That can't be good quality. Besides I work on HV circuits. When it comes to safety, I wouldn't trust cheapo stuff.

I assume you're not using meters that are light enough to slide around the desk when you move the leads, so...   

[Excavatoree]

My first meter was an Eico 565, a copy of a Simpson 260.  (not the most common version of a Simpson meter that almost everyone thinks about, but the first version.)  I'm not sure if it qualifies as "trashy" or not.

My second meter was from Radio Shack.  I think Dave had one from Tandy that was the same meter.

The next meter I bought was my first Fluke - a model 77 original. 

When I started my job as a VCR/telephone answering machine/etc repair person, I had a digital Simpson 360 on my bench.  Later, I got a Beckman manual range meter to use.

[JOSM]

My first meter was a Micronta 22-185. My dad brought it from a visit to Chicago in 1987. I was 15 years old and I was very proud of it, since we lived in East Germany and such a device was hard to get a hold on. It is still in our house, but not used often anymore. At least in my eyes not a trashy one 

[Fungus]

My fist meter was a Micronta 22-185.

Separate switch position for continuity - nice!

[hanakp]

Nice thread idea!

My first meter was polish Miernik Uniwersalny UM-4, it's probably a knockoff of some western meter.

http://multimetry.tzok.eu/multimetr.php?typ=UM-4_2

My unit was manufactured in 1966 and I got it for free around 1990, because one resistance input and one voltage range were shot. But for the next 5 years, it had to do. Out of nostalgia, I completely fixed it about 10 years ago, albeit with modern components. Curiously, even after all those years, most ranges were still within spec.

[Arts]

I still have and use my very first meter, although these days I only use it for basic electrical work, such as HVAC. It's kinda like me these days; old, tatty, and could use a good scrubbing
My mom bought it for me in the 1970's.

[Bud]

Nice thread idea!

My first meter was polish Miernik Uniwersalny UM-4, it's probably a knockoff of some western meter.

http://multimetry.tzok.eu/multimetr.php?typ=UM-4_2

My unit was manufactured in 1966 and I got it for free around 1990, because one resistance input and one voltage range were shot. But for the next 5 years, it had to do. Out of nostalgia, I completely fixed it about 10 years ago, albeit with modern components. Curiously, even after all those years, most ranges were still within spec.

Interesting beast... Why weirdly shaped binding posts...and the switch deck is causing my eyes a confusion 

[hanakp]

@Bud: Yeah, it wasn't very practical to use. It has no resistance range switch, the user has to plug/unplug the test leads between 3 holes on the upper side. Then again, it's from 1960s, so the design was probably regarded as modern back then. I suppose it does qualify as "trashy", just as OP wanted.