A DMM that pass your test (by the way, awesome job) it's great DMM? No, it's safe DMM. It plays well outside of it's specs.
Dead horse with and a parrot would have been my choice. I wonder how much of the confusion comes from the language. So to be clear, you feel if a meter survives with transient that has 10 to 20 Joules available that means it's safe?
Pretty much all the meters I look at are CAT III 600V rated per IEC 61010. That's the spec. Now what that means as far as their ability to survive the transients I supply is up for grabs.
That safe meter may measure 10.7v on a 10v reference source and that makes it a shit DMM, even if it's safe. Why? Simply because it's not doing what it was designed to do.
Yea, if you bought a meter that was spec'ed this loose, that's on you. If the meter is outside it's spec'ed accuracy and it was shipped to you this way, you may want to return it. Most of the meters I have looked at work when they arrive and are in spec. The last CEM I looked at and the free meters we get from Harbor Freight were dead out of the box. Pretty rare.
UT61E it's a $50 meter that does most of what $500 Fluke does. Now I know that Americans have a fetish for Fluke, but there are hobbyist that don't afford to pay $500 for a DMM, while they don't make any money from it.
Oh, you run a business or your incoming allows? Go for Fluke, it's a reliable and rock solid meter. But I tell you, it's still way overpriced. Cool PCB alignment, fine soldering and adequate V/A protection still don't make for 10 times the price of the Chinese meter.
Anyway, you're right here, cheap DMM shouln't be cheap on security, especially on input protection. I mean, it's so easy to design a proper one and won't add more that $0.5 on the production cost, but what you gonna do... guess that's the Shenzhen way.
The UT61E is pretty low end but you are right, the Fluke 101 does not have a backlight just like the 61E.
And sure, you touch it wrong and static zap it, it may very well suffer permanent damage. And sure it's not certified to meet the safety or EMC standards. Sure, it is supplied with crap fuses....
It would be interesting to see some data showing handheld meter purchases in the USA by OEM and cost. I really have no idea. I doubt Fluke is the brand that the average person finds at the hardware store.
Again, for my normal use where I need a handheld I still use $50 meters. But my $50 meter can take some basic ESD. I also have a backlight, which I use. This is mostly for working on cars, bikes and such. So I just don't need much for a meter.
I really don't know what it would cost UNI-T to roll a better version of the 61E that passes both the EMC and safety standards and maybe adds a backlight. I did not have a 61E at the time I did the temperature drift study but I hear it is pretty bad. Maybe improve this as well. The cost of scrap, new layout, parts, setup, testing, certification... How many they sell... Yea, I have no idea. The GS version looks to me more like $20 - $40 higher, not $0.50.