Hey Teh Gerg... and other amp and circuit guys. Question?

[muttley]

So my trusty and old multimetre crapped out on me today just as I was troubleshooting a few bits and bobs and whadda you know, my backup metre is also dead and I grabbed one from the local hardware store to get me by and its junk..

So as you are the resident amp and circuits guy what is a good brand or model of multimetre to use these days? I'm never doing dangerous shit with it so a reliable autoranger would be best I feel? It will mostly be used bench mounted and for pickup testing. It would be good if it can handle other basic automotive tasks etc as well. My old one was a bit rubbish for that.

[Greg_L]

So my trusty and old multimetre crapped out on me today just as I was troubleshooting a few bits and bobs and whadda you know, my backup metre is also dead and I grabbed one from the local hardware store to get me by and its junk..

So as you are the resident amp and circuits guy what is a good brand or model of multimetre to use these days? I'm never doing dangerous shit with it so a reliable autoranger would be best I feel? It will mostly be used bench mounted and for pickup testing. It would be good if it can handle other basic automotive tasks etc as well. My old one was a bit rubbish for that.

Interesting. I've always gotten by with budget multimeters. My current "best" digital multimeter is a Snap-On/Blue Point model I've had for about 30 years and it still works great. I suspect it's something else, just rebranded.

Fluke is obviously probably the best name out there for electronic measurement tools. They are expensive, but they'll never be wrong or go wrong. Milwaukee and Klein are good too. I suspect you may have other brands over there in the UK.

Just get on the Amazon and have a look around. There's about infinity trillion brands of DMMs that will do whatever you or I would ever need to do. Amp work, pickup winding, or car electrical stuff is not rocket science. AC/DC Volts, amps, resistance, and capacitance is pretty basic stuff for any multimeter. Look for whatever features you need and look at some reviews on the amazon. You'll find something there for sure.

[muttley]

You know me, I'm a tool guy that likes to buy the best possible but with DMM I cant really justify a Fluke. I also dont trust Amazon reviews thats why I ask guys like you.

My old unit was a pretty basic model but also pretty old. I guess I got a bit pissed off when the 10 quid one I picked off the shelf to get me through the day was just junk. It was clearly reading about 20% off =/-. I ended up breaking out my old analogue bench top model with the proper needle and and calibration dials.. Clearly not the way forwards.

I will have a scoot about on the web.

[Greg_L]

You know me, I'm a tool guy that likes to buy the best possible but with DMM I cant really justify a Fluke. I also dont trust Amazon reviews thats why I ask guys like you.

My old unit was a pretty basic model but also pretty old. I guess I got a bit pissed off when the 10 quid one I picked off the shelf to get me through the day was just junk. It was clearly reading about 20% off =/-. I ended up breaking out my old analogue bench top model with the proper needle and and calibration dials.. Clearly not the way forwards.

I will have a scoot about on the web.

The thing with amazon reviews is usually the "top" products have decent reviews and good return policies. I'm gonna pick up a few inexpensive extra DMMs because I want to be able to measure multiple things at the same time while the oscilloscope does what it does - scope AC signal. Using a scope for DC measurements is like using a Ferrari to go grocery shopping. When I get these new DMMs it'll be off amazon and I'll just roll with it. Honestly, besides Flukes, I bet they're all the same chinese shit in different packages anyway.