Thanks for the advice. They're both fine meters, no doubt. I think the only solution is to get both, but I can't afford that, sadly.
The Appa 505 though is ±(0.015%
+20d) whereas the Brymen is ±(0.02%
+2d). The 20
digits is the more critical number there to my way of thinking. I haven't had hands on with either of them yet, so I can't speak to the build quality, but I haven't seen any of the owners of the Brymen BM869S say its build quality is lacking in any major way; to the contrary, they all seem to rave about the high level of build quality, and having seen its innards, I believe it has all of the appropriate protections in place to meet its claimed CAT IV 1kV, EN61010-1, and for ESD, the EN61326-1 standards.
The APPA 505 seems to be rated to CAT IV 600V, EN61010-1, and also meets EN61326-1 for ESD protection.
On the other hand, the 505 comes with the USB cable as standard, whereas it's a cost-added optional extra with the Brymen.
On the OTHER other hand, when I include the cost of the USB cable in with the Brymen, plus shipping from tme.eu to NZ, it still works out as a lower cost option than the APPA bought locally.
Then again (ran out of hands), the APPA has Auto hold, and runs on 4x AA cells which is preferable to me than the Brymen's 9V battery.
The APPA refreshes 6x/sec at 10,000 counts compared to the Brymen's 5x/sec at 50,000 counts.
It's all nit-picking though, they're both more meter than I really NEED...
Having said that, I'll probably go for the lower spec'd BM867S (ONLY ±(0.03%+2d!!!
)), because I can live without the temp data logging, although it would be useful, and sometimes resolution is more important than all-out accuracy, which is often the case with me, working with li-ion and NiMH cells and batteries. The (relatively, and only very slightly) lower accuracy rating of the 867 is still very good accuracy, as good as my Fluke 87V in most ranges, and it has the same high resolution as the 869. The VFD stuff I wouldn't use. And it's cheaper by a significant margin, bringing it under the price cutoff for not having to pay import duties and tax when shipping it to me in NZ, and tme.eu replied to my email saying they won't give any discount on the 869. It's rare for me to pay list price for an item like this!
I've learned a lot from these posts. I found that there are about 4 or 5 manufacturers who make the exact same meter as the Brymen 867 and 869 just rebranded and with slightly different cases, but the same under the skin. And there are about 4 or 5 brands that do the exact same meter as the APPA 505, just rebranded and with different colours. In both groups, all of the different meters within that type are all identical in terms of internal construction, specs, and functions.
I think maybe I should just wait for the elusive Dave DMM to come out to compare that one, then make a choice. I'm not that fussed about the bluetooth connectivity, but the high voltage LED test, the low burden voltage, and a few other features have me interested in it. It would be nice to just get all three kinds, but the budget doesn't stretch that far unfortunately.