MS-8250C
Pros:
1. Very nice tough looking appearance. This is a very personal thing, I just really like the straight lines, angles and layout on this meter. Holds very nicely in the hand too.
2. Excellent range switch with ball bearing mechanism.
3. Easy access to fuses and battery with metal threaded screw receivers. (The 8233E also has metal threaded screw receiver for the battery compartment with I forgot to mention)
4. Lightning fast continuity tester.
5. Lightning fast autoranging, for both voltage and resistance.
6. Down to 1pF resolution for capacitance measurement. I don't have the equipment to test its accuracy but readings from basic ceramic and electrolytic caps look well within spec.
7. Very nice and even white backlight.
8. Doesn't have the Fluke Auto Hold but features the same "delayed hold" found on the UT61E for handsfree operation, by holding the HOLD button for a couple of seconds.
9. Dual display for measuring AC voltage/current and frequency, or frequency and duty cycle at the same time.
10. Built-in RS-232 to USB interface conversion with CP2102. Optically isolated with 2 pairs of infrared LED's and photodiodes. 2-way communication maybe?
11. Auto detects the USB connection so no need to push any button for enabling/disabling PC data logging.
12. Very good sensitive and accurate NCV detector (much more sensitive than the one on the 8233E).
Cons:
1. Display doesn't have very good contrast, looks a bit washed out when viewed directly. No problem when viewed at a slight angle.
2. Defaults to AC on all voltage and current ranges.
3. Software that comes with it is really basic.
4. Weak input protection. Only 3 PTC's, no MOV's or power resisters.
5. Only 6600 counts (which is actually quite sufficient for normal use).
6. Also only uses a 9V battery clip
I thought the MS8250C used the same main chip as the BK2709B which Dave reviewed in his $100 multimeter shootout video, but I was wrong. It uses a Chinese made Silan SC7968 and I can't find any datasheet on the internet. EDIT: Jarvis pointed out that the SC7968 is actually a Cyrustek ES51968 ripoff.
I just found that DealExtreme actually has this meter for sale at a similar price point as the UT61E. I don't think I can beat them on the price even if I manage to source some for my eBay store. Apart from the number of counts this meter actually compares quite well against the UT61E in terms of performance and features. However, the lack of datasheet for the main chip probably means it's hard to find/write custom software to replace the very basic one that comes with it. EDIT: Again, now that we know it's basically equivalent to the Cyrustek ES51968 finding a datasheet isn't a problem anymore.