Recommendation for cheap DMM with thermocouple reading ?

[Jaunedeau]

Hi,

  I own an about 20 y.o. Vichy VC99. I use it only a few times a year for hobby electronics (playing with LEDs and microcontrollers mainly).
  Compared to the Vichy, I hope to find one with :

 - Better feel (rather cheap plastic on the vichy)
 - not necessarily more precise (anything work to play with LEDs anyway), but would be nice if it could not change the reading all the time when you do nothing (honestly on the vichy, they could just have removed one number on the LCD )
 - No real need for an autorange, but could be nice if there is a fast one
 - Better continuity detection (the vichy is so slow, yes I tried buying better probes)
 - Something I would trust using to check the 230V outlets

  I want AA or AAA batteries only (I don't have an NiMH charger for 9V !)

  I *could* go for for the Unit-T UT61E+, it's a bit overpriced when compared to how often I would use it and the precision I need, but I can afford it. I would lost the thermocoupl reader (i'd still have the vichy for this).

  Is there any cheaper model I should consider ?

Thanks,
Jaune.

[Anthocyanina]

I recently got the Aneng AN870. It has temperature measurement and comes with a temperature probe. You can get it for about 40$ on banggood shipped, which i think is really good for what you get. It doesn't have much for protection so you won't want to use it on high energy stuff, but for temperature and general low voltage/low current electronics, I'd say it's really quite nice, specially for that price

[myf]

The ut-61c is a bit more expensive at 6000pts (not 20000pts) and has a temperature sensor.

It can be connected to a pc via rs232 (free) or usb port (for less than 20eur).

I have an ut-61e (the old one) without a temperature sensor, but I love it! I gave a ut-61c (or b or d, not the a nor the e) to my sons.

The temperature sensor can be done in one step:
Delta T = cst(well documented in wikipedia) * (measured) Volt.

I prefer this old model ut-61e to the new one.  There is also an ut-71-x at 40000pts, older, bigger, less protected (with small 5x20mm fuse). The versions depend on the x in [a,b,c,d,e]. It has both a temperature sensor and a usb link.

These DMM use 9V batteries: (rechargeable or non-rechargeable). They last at least 1 year!   

I hope this will help you !

F. from France.