Brymen vs bench top multimeter

[nctnico]

If I buy a bench DMM it would cost many times the Brymen. I don't think i want bench DMM which costs about the same a Brymen.

You know that is like saying you prefer to use a bicycle because if you'd buy a car, you'd buy a Ferrari sports car (which actually isn't practicle for daily use). 

Not what I said. For the money that about the price of the Brymen meter I would choose the Brymen not a bench meter. So yes I would choose the bicycle rather than a car that cost the same as the bicycle. But typical car price isn't the same as a bicycle nor a a typical bench meter is the same as the handheld meter.
For the money of the Brymen which I assume less than $400 I don't think one can buy an new decent bench meter for that. I don't think the OP meant to get a used one. Yes a Brymen in that price is a very good meter.

If you want the bench DMM to do the same as the unspecified Brymen, you certainly can buy an equivalent bench DMM for a similar price. As you said: the lower end bench DMMs offer the same functionality as a handheld but then in a flat box with a power cord. I don't see why that is less or less desirable. Not having to deal with batteries is a major advantage to me. I have gotten rid of all handhelds (but one) a long time ago.

[Fungus]

As you said: the lower end bench DMMs offer the same functionality as a handheld but then in a flat box with a power cord.

A lot of them are handhelds in a box - it's all air inside.

I don't see why that is less or less desirable.

Bench space.
Portability.

[nctnico]

As you said: the lower end bench DMMs offer the same functionality as a handheld but then in a flat box with a power cord.

A lot of them are handhelds in a box - it's all air inside.

That is the case for any piece of modern test equipment. Just look at Dave's teardown videos. Even high end oscilloscopes consist of a single board nowadays.

I don't see why that is less or less desirable.

Bench space.
Portability.

When working behind a bench, you don't need portability. And on my bench a bench DMM takes less space than a handheld because the bench DMMs are stacked on top of other equipment and not lying around, cluttering the work area like handhelds do.

[BillyO]

There is the UNI-T UT 800 series meters.  They are fairly small FF benchtop meters that have carry handles and will run off mains or batteries.  I have a UT804.  Nothing to write home about.

But being Uni-T, there will be no support.

https://instruments.uni-trend.com/US-EN/multimeters/1238.html

[2N3055]

If Brymen made a BM869S in desktop version with mains power that would be interesting...

[J-R]

Handhelds on the bench can have some very good uses, such as to get the display right next to your face when you're probing deep inside!

If you're a measurement animal, then there are some specific things certain bench DMMs can offer that can really make a difference, such as a bright and fast display with lots of statistics, nice buttons, front/rear switch (Kelvin test leads can go back there), and of course lots of options to suit various conditions, such as NPLC or different averaging modes.

Does the average hobbyist NEED any of those?  Not really.

There is a bit of disconnect between folks who are not able or willing to spend the money, versus those who can or decide to spend their money differently.

[tautech]

Handhelds on the bench can have some very good uses, such as to get the display right next to your face when you're probing deep inside!

A bench meter with a Hold function is much more valuable, especially when it can capture 8 successive measurements.

[Fungus]

Handhelds on the bench can have some very good uses, such as to get the display right next to your face when you're probing deep inside!

Get one of those talking Anengs for that, it reads the values to you as you measure. 

[paulca]

Throwing a spanner on top of the preverbial battery.  I have a use case for testing not only things like solar panels, charge controllers etc, but also multi cell batteries.

The multi-cell battery problem is, I grant a bit unfair.  Nobody is going to hook a 6 series battery up to 7 individual voltmeters.  Thankfully there is specialist hardware ... also with varying price, accuracy and quality.  I have said hardware, but it's old, crap, under-rated (3 digit) and needs up graded.  Until this morning my most advanced BMS was a "Turnigy" LiPo field charge monitor (allows you to charge/discharge multi cell packs from a basic charger while it monitors and balances the cells).  The "cheap" ones are usually 3 digit.  The really cheap ones the accuracy is a coin toss.  The slightly less cheap ones will all over-read consistently, nanny state.  It's the tricky part of finding the ones which have open firmware, schematics and reviews highlighting it can be calibrated properly... at at least 4 ideally 5 digit cell voltages, at least 8 of them, but I'll not turn down 16 channels.

On the bench testing a "nano" scale low power solar project with a single LiPo cell, I ended up with some really janky measuring apparatus to be able to read all the various currents and voltages.  Things like:

Using a PSU as a voltmeter by setting it to 0 A current limit.
Using a DC Load as a voltmeter by setting it to 0 Ohms.
Using an INA3321 3 channel shunt monitor module an MCU and a TFT.  (not very low power though!)

It's at those times having a little row of cheap 4 digit meters would be handy.

This morning I got 2 JK-BMS boards.   I haven't tested them yet, but they are meant to be the mutts nuts for the purpose of monitoring (and maintaining) multicell packs.

[Fungus]

It's at those times having a little row of cheap 4 digit meters would be handy.

Go to the Aneng shop and get some! Screw them to a piece of wood and you get a multimultimeter.

I expect a new thread with pics when it's done.

PS: Aneng usually include really bad probes in their $10 price range but they sell probes in their shop, too. You can get much better ones for a couple of $$.

https://aneng.aliexpress.com/store/group/ANENG-Accessories-and-others/919484_516409721.html