Why is everyone so worried about stock? I ordered the very cheapest I could find on Ebay and received my multimeter in eight days. That might be one of the fastest deliveries I've ever had the pleasure of receiving when ordering from The Far Off Lands.
First impressions are decent. The biggest surprise is the size, or the lack of it. It's so tiny! When I opened the package I didn't expect it to be the multimeter, due to the small size of the parcel, even though I knew it's not a big multimeter.
The construction seems okay. Though the plastic is nothing special, the case is very sturdy. I've had much more expensive items with much more creaky cases. A metal insert is used for the battery compartment screw, which is a nice detail. However, the tilting bale does not instil a lot of confidence. It might do the job, but it is thin, flexible and rattly and feels like it might break easily. Interestingly, it looks like there was text on the bale which got removed from the mould later. It looks like the remnants of a "C" can be seen on the left of the bale. You cannot use the rotary switch with one hand when it's on the tilting bale. The rotary knob is half decent. Not the worst, but certainly also not the best feeling one I've come across.
Both normal and modular leads are supplied. Even though the regular leads won't be mistaken for expensive ones, they are fairly flexible and therefore usable. Probe sharpness also seems to be good. The modular leads are cheap and nothing special.
Confirming what I have read on the forums, the backlight of the LCD does turn off after a minute or so. Not ideal, but it will prevent the batteries from running down too quickly. The LCD itself has a good contrast when looking at it from below. However, contrast starts to fade when perpendicular to the screen and quickly fades to nothing when looking at it from above.
So far, I'm not disappointed. It could use a nice boot and a better tilting bale, but what are you going to do.