Sounds a bit silly ... but for the sake of the hobby, I actually enjoy testing and electronics thru an analog meter more than any of my fancy Fluke and B&K Precision DMMs I have in my lab. I'm not in electronics as a profession, and I'm sure normal analog VOMs have very few uses there in the modern era.
That said, I'm not stuck on getting a nostalgic or name-brand VOM (Simpson, Triplett). I want safety, accuracy, reliability, and ergonomics. So if a new $35 Chinese brand like Tekpower does that, I'm fine (better than fine, actually -- because I saved all that $$). I was kind of thinking, this ($36.00 USD):
Speaking of the two classic brands (Simpson, Tripplet), has anything important about their quality or reliability changed with the
latest (and $$$) models?
Finally, I'm not beyond modding cheaper analog VOMs for better performance and reliability. So, for example, a better (safer) fuse, adding internal shielding, etc. The
joe smith YT channel did some of that and the project seemed interesting: