It's a clever move from a marketing viewpoint.
I'm guessing not many people were buying the 28II - why would you if you're only going to use it indoors on a workbench?
By renaming it "87V MAX" they're going to sell an awful lot more of them even though it's the exact same meter with a bit more rubber.
Yes very smart indeed.
Although but for years Fluke had the 20s series as the rugged version of their DMM, the thing that you could throw on the concrete and make an hole on it.
Being the 27II/28II the next iteration that even had the Ex version released. What I see is the following (although both models are still present in Fluke Website) - The 27II/28II Line will be discontinued and will disappear from the website given their own time, and by that Fluke now have the old workhorse that knows a few new tricks
- Fluke 87V Industrial TrueRMS;
- Fluke 87V Max Rugged TrueRMS;
and probably in the future:
- Fluke 87V Max Ex Rugged for use in explosive atmospheres.
Same as the 70 series were replaced by the 170 series.
Fluke is starting to look a lot like Intel, until a competitor does the same or better, with the same quality, more functions but for way less, they have the monopoly and there is no need to leap frog, just small tiny steps.
Same as Fluke Networks and their DSX-5000 CableAnalyzer - They are typically used by dedicated network cabling install companies to certify that the cabling they install meets industry standards, which is required by the cabling manufactures in order to issue the (often lifetime) warranty on the cable. There are other brands as the IDEAL LanTEK III & FiberTEK III Cable Certifiers but most of the companies use the Fluke.
Still I'm curious to see inside of the 87V Max to see if its really a total rebrand and killing of a line, or if there are anything more that changes. There are a lot more thing they could do to improve the old design and performance. Heck bring back the 187/189 without logging but call it 87V Pro or whatever.