Which multimeter to buy?

[thisisnotaspoon]

Much as I'd love to send a small African country's GDP on something spangletastic from fluke, I don't think hats entirely necessary. Equaly I've had a load of the made in china £5.99 jobbies, which are all (IMO) crap, the last one even gave different readings depending on the setting. Set it to hundreds of volts and it gave a reading of 11.4V across the battery, at tens of volts it read 14V!

So here's the wish-list;

Voltage, current etc

Must be auto ranging, cant be bothered with 101 functions on a dial, I want something simple that can be operated in the near dark, wearing gloves, under the car (and a back light would be nice for this as well).

Preferably continuity checking function, borrowed a fluke and wondered how I ever lived without an audible beep telling me whether the measured resistance was low enough to be considered a circuit! Like a test bulb, but so much more useful!

[stevieturbo]

Even cheap ones have a beep for continuity. Its just the really cheap ones dont.


As for autoranging. I have a fully automatic fluke...but, if the voltage etc isnt stable, it has difficulty pinning down a reading. Its fully automatic though, and doesnt do current.


Just buy a cheap one, they work.

[DrDeAtH]

how good a resolution do you need on ohms??

the megger test meters look like good value

[BigBen]

If you have really had loads of the really cheap ones then that tells me you use them a lot so it could be worth buying a Fluke that will give years of service.

[stevieturbo]

TBH Ive never had any problems with cheap ones.

The meters Ive had the most problems with are proper ones used for testing electrical installations. Supposedly calibrated units, very expensive, and the stupid POS never give you consistent readings. Load of junk really.

If its for mostly automotive use, I'd be looking to a dedicated automotive tester. Or perhaps a clamp meter which can read DC currents if that is whats needed.

[ColinM50]

Ebay's got a Fluke one going for £26 with just about an hour to go.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fluke-25-Multimeter-with-man...

If of course you need one that good?

[steveo3002]

cheapos work fine for me , obviously everyone would like a fluke if money was no object but theyre fine for use on normal car jobs etc

http://www.dealextreme.com/search.dx/search.multim...

i used this company for my cheap stuff , posty is included ( i know u said no chinese lol)

[stevieturbo]

Draper and Gunsons do some automotive based units for not a huge amount of money

[gtmdriver]

When I did the Tool Test for Complete Kitcar Magazine the Draper DMM5 came out as a good unit. It is marketed as a specialist automotive meter but has most of the other useful features as well.

The only thing missing is the ability to measure temperature.