DMM Recommendation Under $150

[Fungus]

I know I'm building a tupper-cam as soon as the shops open tomorrow. 

(ducks under table)

[EEVblog]

There's a redesigned UT61E+ with a red selector switch that's been available since a couple of months ago, maybe that's different.



They wasted a whole selector position on "hFE" though... 

Woah, teardown photo on here somewhere?
hFE 

Edit: Teardown: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-uni-t-ut61-series-(ut61e)/msg3326960/#msg3326960

[EEVblog]

I know I'm building a tupper-cam as soon as the shops open tomorrow. 

Why wait, go to your recycle bin and get an Amazon box 

[EEVblog]

Doesn't sound like they nailed it.

[AVGresponding]

I personally think that "a bit elitist" is the right expression here. I don't think this detracts from his excellent reviews of many things, but it indicates he also may miss the mark for someone living in a peripheral country with limited and prohibitely expensive name brand gear. The job still needs to be done and therefore the acceptability threshold is a lot lower.

I just watched this video...

Before you watch it you have to imagine Dave sat in his lab surrounded by Tagarno microscopes and professional studio lighting asking Big Clive how he takes those amazing photos of PCBs that he uses on his channel.

This was Big Clive's reply:


Big Clive often uses DT830 multimeters on his channel. I don't think he even owns an oscilloscope. He's also not afraid of mains AC and his favorite circuit seems to be the capacitive dropper.

Actually he owns a couple of nice modern scopes at least, a 4-channel Owon, and iirc a Keysight. They just rarely appear in his vids because they aren't often necessary, and they don't really fit his usual filming format.

Bear in mind a lot of the very nice gear Dave has on his workbench gets sent to him by manufacturers wanting the exposure; his R&S PSUs for example. Am I jealous? Yes, but if I made a successful EE yt channel I'm sure they'd send them to me too.
Not really sure that makes him "elitist" in the normal usage of the word.

I own a Fluke 289, and it's my go-to handheld meter at home, an 87V being my work go-to, and a Keithley 2000 is my home bench go-to. Does that make me elitist? I hope not.
I also sometimes reach for my Uni-T 139C, or Mastech 2108A, or Micronta 22-195, all very much at the cheaper end of the market. Indeed, the Mastech is my go-to clamp, ahead of a Fluke...

[Fungus]

They wasted a whole selector position on "hFE" though... 

Woah, teardown photo on here somewhere?
hFE 

You also get a huge dongle-adapter thing to connect your transistors to the meter:



I'm sure not a single one of those will go unused... 

[rsjsouza]

The UT61E (non-plus) also has the hfe adapter, but it is not designed to use it (the UT61D uses it, IIRC) .

The UT61E seems to be quite consistent for a good five to six years now (all PTCs, no MOVs if purchased in China, otherwise if purchased in EU with ETL). The recent major PCB revision with the blob IC seems to have left the input intact, but I don't have one to be sure.

[Fungus]

The UT61E seems to be quite consistent for a good five to six years now (all PTCs, no MOVs if purchased in China, otherwise if purchased in EU with ETL). The recent major PCB revision with the blob IC seems to have left the input intact, but I don't have one to be sure.

Where do you suggest somebody should buy one? What price?

(and where do USA buyers stand?)

[rsjsouza]

Doesn't sound like they nailed it.

From what I could see from some review videos, they also crapified the otherwise great bargraph of the "non-plus" version, which is a downer for me.

[Fungus]

Doesn't sound like they nailed it.

The stand looks good.

[rsjsouza]

The UT61E seems to be quite consistent for a good five to six years now (all PTCs, no MOVs if purchased in China, otherwise if purchased in EU with ETL). The recent major PCB revision with the blob IC seems to have left the input intact, but I don't have one to be sure.

Where do you suggest somebody should buy one? What price?

(and where do USA buyers stand?)

Well, I bought mine a few years ago on eBay at a much cheaper price than what you find today. You have a few other clones as well, such as the GWI GDM-461 or the Tenma 72-10415.

Despite these get at the price of the lower end of the Brymen product lines with much better protection, they have features that are great for electronics such as counts, bandwidth, wide capacitance and resistance meter, etc.

[J-R]

While it sounds like I'm "bashing" them, I'm not, I'm simply pointing out that: 1) nobody is perfect, and 2) your priorities might be different from the next person.
So it pays to do your homework.

I don't think there is a single review of anything where I have not mentioned that your requirements, and your idea of bang-per-buck, and what country you are in etc might differ.

Dave, I suppose the main attraction of the videos by various content creators such as yourself is that we hope to skip a bunch of tedious digging and research about topics that we may not be up to speed on yet.  So if you want to get some equipment and start tinkering you feel the pressure to just get what the "experts" recommend.

But there are products that inevitably get left out, mistakes/omissions/etc. are discovered in the video, and of course newer products are released after the video was created.  So then you would need to dig through the Youtube comments and the forum posts and do your own research, which seemingly defeats the main point of just watching the video in my opinion.

So I freely admit my naivety, but it also would be nice to see some of the videos get updated.

[rsjsouza]

But there are products that inevitably get left out, mistakes/omissions/etc. are discovered in the video, and of course newer products are released after the video was created.  So then you would need to dig through the Youtube comments and the forum posts and do your own research, which seemingly defeats the main point of just watching the video in my opinion.

So I freely admit my naivety, but it also would be nice to see some of the videos get updated.

Speaking from the standpoint of someone about five years in this road and doing numerous DMM reviews as well, I can tell that things tend to be omitted as you continuously improve the review process. I have left out things that I deemed important only at later reviews, but sometimes one's self energy or the audience interest are not enough to create an addendum (especially if the video is old). Heck, most of the times I don't even have the meter anymore.

[bc888]

Was going though Australian customs in Melbourne @ 1990. We were in a long line which might have said: "everybody else" or some such. Whereas there was a line with zero people in it right next to it that was titled "Australians only". The little girl in the "Australians only" line waved us on up...or at least we thought she did so we go boogieing up and as we approached her a burly Australian Customs Guard started right towards us. My buddy looks up at the ""Australians only"" sign and sort of ducks his head by way of apology and says to the guard "Uhh, we're not Australian".

The guard smiles and loudly announces: "S'alright mate, nobody's perfect". LOL

1) nobody is perfect

So when you see these things, announcing your opinions becomes quite valuable to the rest of us. Thank you for playing. Good thread.

[antonioZth]

As others have said. Brymen should certainly be considered. Either the BM235 or new BM786.
The Uni-T UT61E always comes up in the bang-per-buck stakes, and is excellent for the price. But Uni-T can be very hit and miss. e.g. the other meters in the UT61 line are pretty crap, only the E model is any good. Some models are now UL listed but not all.
Other factors like size and features like EF testing and visual continuity should be considered.

If I didn't managed to get the U1272A, I probably go with the Brymens or the Chinese Fluke 17b... I don't know but I do usually endup getting a better stuffs from what I researched prior because A) I would put a bet on the better instrument (or item) would be better in the long run and last longer, and B) The name Keysight (or in my case a NOS Agilent), or Fluke instills confidence, although the things I'm going to be doing, CAN be done on a cheaper meter. Heck, when I posted my purchase on my facebook, my friends were like, are you nuts buying a three thousand Ringgit (price in Keysights Malaysia website) digital multimeter? Are you an Engineer now they ask? 

But some of my higher paid, professional career'd friends (aircraft engineer, electrical engineer) acknowledged my purchase of the U1272A, quoting, "you won't need another one after this, unless its a bench DMM from Keithley, Tektronix or Keysight... .

So in short, I'm happy with the purchase... Although it took a chunk and some of my budget...

I thought sending it for like $10 delivered, if you want.

Sorry for the late reply my Internet was down, we had a lockdown, didn't managed to get online as my house a very weak LTE connection and my Wireless Broadband modem had problems. Also the Araldite I've ordered was lost in the mail and had to settle with the seller which takes almost 3 weeks before they decided to ship another to me. But in the end, I managed to get em and applied them sparingly to avoid any unwanted nastiness  At first I was planning to use the glue used by those Tamiya model car building hobbyist...But those are much expensive and I am not familiar with it, unlike Araldite, a brand I've used more than 15 years when it comes to gluing stuffs back together.

At last, I managed to glue to the broken bits back and my meter is now clamp shut and no widen gap....

Now, its almost good as brand new... Almost 

[Analog4]

....I've had a couple of days using the Brymen BM789 and it's unbelievable for the money. Cost me £134, and has so many features and is really well built.....

I just got a Brymen BM789 (about $216 USD with the case & shipping).  It seems to be a very nice meter so far.

[daisizhou]

Fluke 27/FM is your right choice

You can view it by viewing its picture (military grade)

I think the FLUKE manufacturing process today is not as good as before

[antonioZth]

I just got a Brymen BM789 (about $216 USD with the case & shipping).  It seems to be a very nice meter so far.

I like the layout.... might be added to one of my target for the next portable DMM hunt

Fluke 27/FM is your right choice

You can view it by viewing its picture (military grade)

I think the FLUKE manufacturing process today is not as good as before

For fluke the one I would go for probably the 87, but as u mention the 27, the brochure shows that it is an 87 with water and dust proof...wow...

I won't be using my DMM underwater anytime soon, but I might add it to my list of targets if it is a 87 equivalent 

[EEVblog]

For fluke the one I would go for probably the 87, but as u mention the 27, the brochure shows that it is an 87 with water and dust proof...wow...
I won't be using my DMM underwater anytime soon, but I might add it to my list of targets if it is a 87 equivalent 

They have the 87-VMAX, a 28-II with the 87V label.

[Fungus]

They have the 87-VMAX, a 28-II with the 87V label.

And slightly different electrical specs, even though the 87V is "impossible to change". 

[wizard69]

While it sounds like I'm "bashing" them, I'm not, I'm simply pointing out that: 1) nobody is perfect, and 2) your priorities might be different from the next person.

Dave, et., al are a bit elitist. There's nothing wrong with that but you have to remember it is possible to get work done with "lesser" equipment.

I'd hardly call Dave elitist.   More importantly if people would watch his multimeter videos they would learn a bit and be able to make the right purchasing decisions.   More importantly Dave points out one reality that everyone should be prepared for, that is eventually you will need more than one meter.

Knowledge is often more important than the equipment you use, and knowledge is free these days.

No truer words have been spoken.   Perhaps the bit of knowledge I consider to be most important with respect to multimeters is that they should be looked at as long term buys.    A decent meter should last a user decades and in this price range it is fairly easy to get a decent meter.

PS: Try watching Big Clive as a contrast to EEVBLOG.

Personally I'd rather see people figure out how much they think is rational per day to spend on a meter over 10 years.   If it is 10 cents that implies a budget of 365 dollars or 182 dollars for 5 cents a day.   It is just a way to look at things that allow you to see it in a less mentally stressful way.   The average person can pick up 5 cents a day, off the ground, just walking around town.   So no I don't see buying a decent meter as elitist at all.   

Consider any other trade, there are things that the new to the trade person is advised to spend good money on.   A mechanic for example really needs a decent ratchet simply to keep the frustration level down.

I just see people getting cheap on what will be one of the most useful pieces of instrumentation they will own.   Further like a good screwdriver it will remain useful even if the interest in electronics comes and goes.   Starting out a meter is a far better place to put your money than in a fancy lab power supply.

[2N3055]

Well, looking at the statistics from 2011, 61% of all world's population lived with less than 10 USD a day...

I am lucky that I can afford to think about rational investment in tools. But to many people out there 400 USD for something is not a good investment, but simply something not affordable..
Like with people getting a loan to buy house or car, they might be able to afford cheap 30-40 USD and change it every few years if need be.

[rsjsouza]

I also agree that buying quality tools are quite ideal and the initial cost can be fully amortized over 5, 10 years, but this argument also assumes the cheaper tools can't last that long. That is 100% dependent on how the owner uses his/her tool. I had a cheaper meter that lasted 25 years and I have an 18 year-old M830B that still works quite well, despite having been used quite constantly for the first 7 years of its life, and I know of others that have similar tools that are lasting that long. Sure, it did not suffer any accident apart from the occasional blown fuse and the chances of survival in case a major problem happens are much smaller than a Fluke, but they allowed many more people to get into electronics than Fluke.

[Fungus]

I also agree that buying quality tools are quite ideal and the initial cost can be fully amortized over 5, 10 years, but this argument also assumes the cheaper tools can't last that long.

It also assumes that they aren't exactly the same quality in reality, and that you aren't paying double/triple price for just a brand name.

eg. Fluke vs. Brymen. I look at my BM857s and see a meter that's equal to or better than a Fluke 87V in just about every way. Why would I pay three times more just because the other one is yellow.

[EEVblog]

eg. Fluke vs. Brymen. I look at my BM857s and see a meter that's equal to or better than a Fluke 87V in just about every way. Why would I pay three times more just because the other one is yellow.

One has a lifetime warranty, the other one doesn't.
One is made in the USA, the other one isn't.
One has a long history of calibration traceability and stability to satisfy metrology departments, the other one doesn't.

These things of course may not matter to you, and that's just fine. But thye can certainly matter to others, and that is why the 87 series is still one of the world's top selling multimeters after 30+ years.