POLL: Multimeter Price Brackets

[Terry Lingle]

My first DVM an 8012A  is far more accurate than required for most repair work. The only changes newer meters have that are relevant are they meet testing requirements cat III and IV and one added feature - a built in frequency meter.
If you choose a meter  that meets all your needs any newer meter with more features just adds to the risk of malfunction. Remember these are field service meters not lab standards

[VintageNut]

This one is $39 from Circuit Specialists. It is $10 additional when you buy a powered solderless breadbord. I sprung for the extra $10 when I bought a breadboard for an amplifier build. The HFE feature is crap. For that measurement I use Keithley SMUs. The other features work great. It comes with a hard shell padded case, test leads and a K-type thermistor to take temperature readings. The thermistor is pretty good. I have used it with my Keithley benchtop DMMs.



For my motorcycles and car, I use the $10 Harbor Freight DMM that is plenty good enough.

I guess you could say that my DMM use is R&D, Met-Cal and professional applications support. If the DMM costs over $200, it better have at least 6 1/2 digits.

[Performa01]

I'm an R&D guy with lots of benchtop gear (and meters) and little use for handhelds.

I've found a cheap $30-50 DMM sufficient for 99% of the odd private service jobs and when I temporarily turn into an electrician for mains installation service (for myself or friends), I find a professional voltage checker together with a clamp-meter far more practical anyway.

Yet I've always had an additional decent handheld DMM in the drawer, even though rarely ever used. My current one is a >20 years old Metrix MX54 which was rather expensive back then. Nowadays I would not spend more than $300,- for a rarely used gadget like this. I'm a bit addicted to value for money, and big brand names in themselves don't add much value for me. The ongoing safety hype isn't an issue for my applications where I'm almost exclusively using benchtop Cat II equipment.

[MrW0lf]

Most of my gear is very compact and I do not keep it on stationery desk positions so made some sense to invest in proper mobile multimeter Keysight U1272A, which did gave unexpected birth to U1282A

[rsjsouza]

This one is $39 from Circuit Specialists.

Quite interesting; IMO the meter is quite pleasing to the eye, especially because of the nice color coding on the different ranges, which certainly help see the range at a glance. Also, it has no BS CAT ratings, which is a rare spark of honesty for a change...

[rjardina]

I would spend up to $1000 and the most to date is $300. I have to many meters as it is. I have four clamp meters and five DMM that I carry. Normally I can get by with one clamp and one DMM (megger), but the reason I have so many if there is at least a single feature the others' don't have. I've bought the EEVBlog brymen, and couldn't justify the GW121 because of what it was offering. After watching the development history on the GW121. I would have bought one at a higher price with all the attend features, don't care how big it is either. I understand this is more for electronics so; clamp, 4-20ma simulating/sourcing, and a megger is out. But go all out. From nanovoltages (to read other thermocouplers besides k-type) to measuring Wattage. I also think 100v resistances testing is not out of line. Because alot of people use their meter for troubleshooting mains, and on that subject 1000V CATIV.   Not going to prevent people from doing that, but keep them safe. Plus give me features I have no idea about, because I love to learn more. My brymen BM869, still have no clue about nanoSiemans or dbm but hey gives me room to grow .