Multimeter Buying

[maheshsk]

Thinking of buying a new multimeter . need to check high voltages for tube circuits (under 450Volts) and shouldn't cost alot(I known cheaping out on a voltage tester aint a good idea ),but budget constraints. how is meco dmm63? Meco DMM63 Hope someone can help.

 

[flat_listener]

Recently bought this... auto-ranging for approx ₹1650... good entry-level multi meter for beginners had to be:

https://www.amazon.in/Meco-9A06-Multimeter-Temperature-Measurement/dp/B00OW2QWVI/ref=sr_1_10?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1530726062&sr=1-10&refinements=p_89:Meco

 

[heliumflight]

Fluke is the best

 

[Fantastic]

I think Fluke is a fluke. Very many years ago I scrounged and bought Fluke multimeters through friends who carried them across from the US. In our hot steamy weather within a few years the displays broke down. I almost cried because of disbelief AND it was VERY expensive !The displays were replaced by Fluke but several years later they again broke down ...went patchy and dark and then stopped altogether. I threw away four meters in all. I have several others (popular) mostly Taiwanese brands and they have lasted longer than the Fluke. None had a display problem. Most modern DMM's no mater where they come from and at the same price point are all very good and reliable. Only advantage with European or American brand names ( all made in China now !) is that for service you can deal with people who speak a language you understand.....but you pay a hefty premium for that.
I never bought a Fluke again though it's more affordable for me now ! We get the same performance from cheaper modern brands and we can buy (almost!) two with the same money !
But it's true that very many years ago there was hardly anyone close to Fluke's price/performance ratio. But the industry has advanced by leaps and bounds and the situation thankfully isn't the same now. To build DIY circuits even the performance of low cost meters is enough. If you are doing some sort of research into circuit performance etc. then the expensive meters become mandatory ....as always! But check everything. You still get duds in the market. User feedback is always helpful. Fluke is still very good but today so are many more. For a DIY person the bottom line is that it shouldn't be too expensive......I think !

 

[Hiten]

I am not prolific DIYer or tinkerer but I had Sanwa analogue meter for about 10 years, Then I bought Chinese multimeter with no brand name. which is still working. (Don't rely on these for capacitance measuremts, For volts amps ohms etc. I guess they are OK) Once I got Simpson (England) analogue meter. I think it was model 260 which I gifted to a friend who is TV repairman. He is still using it.
Regards.

 

[HormusPeston]

Consider the following criteria, in order of importance: safety, precision, resolution and features.

1) If you're going to troubleshoot valve circuits, you need a meter with a CAT-II (or better) rating. Branded meters tend to use HRC fuses, which are safer than glass fuses. Accidents happen and I cannot stress the importance of safety. Branded meters also incorporate other safety features like proper board layout, spark gaps, metal oxide varistors and so on.

2) Almost all meters are accurate enough for DIY work but may not be precise. The good ones have higher precision. For someone working with amplifiers, this is especially important because when you, say, adjust DC offset, you will be measuring millivolts with each measurement spaced many minutes apart. The resistor networks in good meters are precision devices; the cheaper meters tend to use discrete resistor networks, which are not as precise.

3) You will need a meter that can measure a millivolt and a milliamp. If you work primarily with amplifiers, almost any meter will provide this resolution. If you get a precise meter, then its resolution and accuracy will be satisfactory too.

4) Lastly, "features" like hFE and capacitance are bonuses that are common on cheap meters simply because they are cheap to implement. The branded ones offer features like temperature, RMS, temperature and so on.

Fluke has always been the industry standard around the world, but there's nothing wrong with Meco or even the mid-level UNI-T meters.

An analogue meter (even the ones with a FET at the input) exudes the warmth of nostalgia and is an excellent companion to a valve amplifier. If you can look beyond the nostalgia, however, analogue meters are not worth it. The biggest problem is with parallax error -- instead of a quick glance at the LCD, you have to move your head and sometimes your body to read the dial correctly. Apart from that, you have adjust zero-error when you switch ranges. I have a friend who owns a Tek DSO, a Fluke 87V, an HP 3478 and other relatively modern test equipment. He also has a pair of MY reading glasses borrowed during a hilarious evening trying to troubleshoot a faulty IF stage with an Avo 8.

Using an analogue meter nowadays is the equivalent of using a cut-throat razor to shave. I'm not sure it is worth the effort it takes to use them correctly.

Best of luck.
~hp