Digital multimeter recommedations

[Chuggy]

For under £20 ??

Just returned a Sealey one - continuity tester was barely audible !

[dirkgently]

PARDON

[Rickyy]

LAP stuff from Screwfix is ok.

Do you need current and resistance measuring ability?

If not, I'd spend a little more an get a Kewtech voltage detector, which also checks continuity.

[Chuggy]

Basic LAP one from Screwfix doesn't even have a continuity tester ! You only find out when you undo the packaging.
That one was returned as well...

[dirkgently]

There is a fluke 101 on ebay for 36 quid.

[Chuggy]

Thanks. That's £16 over.

[Chuggy]

This looks good and even has a thermocouple.....Mastech MS8233C 3 in 1 Digital Multimeter With Temperature And Non-contact voltage Test

Anyone here used one ?

[stuart313]

Any cheap multi meter will do the trick, have a look at maplins they have some really good ones for the money. Get one that does AC amps if you can, not all of them do.

[69 coupe]

Got this one works okay, http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p21374 continuity tester buzzer is okay, not the loudest but works fine for normal stuff in a normal quite/outdoor work environment. probably pizo speaker. leads are average, has PNP tester, have tested the thermocouple it works but I have no use for it yet. Only £16, easy to bring back if crap. I suspect at this price-point they all have similar Chinese innards.

Edited by 69 coupe on Friday 17th April 23:11

[anonymous-user]

dirkgently said:

There is a fluke 101 on ebay for 36 quid.

+1

Fluke all day long, especially if it's something you will need to rely on for a few years of use.

It's one of those things that is worth spending the few extra quid on.

[Yabu]

Choice of them at cpc, don't know now loud the buzzer would be though

http://cpc.farnell.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/S...

[Turn7]

NinjaPower said:

dirkgently said:

There is a fluke 101 on ebay for 36 quid.

+1

Fluke all day long, especially if it's something you will need to rely on for a few years of use.

It's one of those things that is worth spending the few extra quid on.

Yep, this.

[dickymint]

I would never use a "cheap" DMM on anything live!!

My last proper job was running a large calibration department for LG Electronics. When the company first opened all the test equipment (some 2000 items at least) was brand new and shipped in from Korea already calibrated. There was about 40 cheap LG branded DMMS's identical to the Jakar one in the video below. Within months some started to fail, when it came time to calibrate them more failed, after an operator had a nasty electric shock I had every one withdrawn from service and scrapped. Also they were supplied with non fused test leads with long bare tips that had to be binned from new.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cNc5An0DLw

Do yourself a favour and pop "dangers of cheap multimeters" into your browser."

PS. I'm not normally one for scaremongering but trust me, even a decent DMM in the wrong hands is not good.

[selym]

NinjaPower said:

+1

Fluke all day long, especially if it's something you will need to rely on for a few years of use.

It's one of those things that is worth spending the few extra quid on.

Some of those £30 flukes are from China/HK. Anything to be too concerned about?

[anonymous-user]

selym said:

NinjaPower said:

+1

Fluke all day long, especially if it's something you will need to rely on for a few years of use.

It's one of those things that is worth spending the few extra quid on.

Some of those £30 flukes are from China/HK. Anything to be too concerned about?

I'll be honest and say I'm not sure if there any any problems with the suspiciously cheap ones.

I mean ANYTHING gets faked these days, so I can't see any reason why a popular well known make like Fluke won't be faked in China as well. I have certainly seen quite a few Multimeters on eBay that look almost identical to Fluke models but with a dodgy Chinese name on them, so they have clearly been copied.

With something like this, I would probably buy from a well known store and keep the receipt.

As an example, the Fluke 113 True-RMS Multimeter is around £100-110 on eBay, and £129 in Screwfix. With only £20ish difference I would definitely buy from Screwfix otherwise I would be always wondering if I had bought a dodgy fake everytime I used it.

[spikeyhead]

I've got second hand Fluke 25 in stock at £30 and new in box old stock Amprobe AM-501-EUR for £34, including VAT and delivery.

[dickymint]

spikeyhead said:

I've got second hand Fluke 25 in stock at £30 and new in box old stock Amprobe AM-501-EUR for £34, including VAT and delivery.

Calibration cert?

[spikeyhead]

dickymint said:

spikeyhead said:

I've got second hand Fluke 25 in stock at £30 and new in box old stock Amprobe AM-501-EUR for £34, including VAT and delivery.

Calibration cert?

Possibly, but I'm not set up to do one, but I've got a recently cal'd 6.5 digit meter for comparison. I can't cal how loud the continuity buzzer on the Fluke apart from the mark 1 ear, and I suspect that proving traceability to national standards given I'm fairly deaf would be difficult.