As usual, why the 1000V CAT II / 600V CAT III nonsense?
Marketing.
I agree it would be better if meters were just honest about it. 99% of the buyers of these meters do not need 600V Cat III, ever. The most they are, or should be, working on is Cat II.
Cat II 600V or even 300V can't be that hard to achieve legitimately, I'm sure it could. Ideally with 5x20mm fuses though. Why they used those stupid 10mm ones, I don't know, there's room for 5x20 in there surely.
Here in NZ, I (sometimes, not currently in stock) sell a cheap chinese meter, the ADM02 (Mastech MS8233E inside), it's just 2000 count 3.5 digit, but it's physically robust, looks good, has non-silly 5x20mm fuses, and it does what the majority of people need (except the diode test voltage is too low :-(), but one of the BIG reasons I chose that one to stock, is it's marked as Cat II 600v, and that's it. I'm quietly hoping that BSide (or Mastech, or PeakMeter or...) takes the 8008 chipset and stuffs it into an ADM02 form with 5x20 fuses, slightly better input protection, and most importantly, that 600v CAT II marking, for $25US or less.