Help me decide on a low feature/budget multimeter - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: JSTR
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 03, 2016, 03:28:05 pm
content: I want to start this post by saying that I've spent about 30-45 minutes reading around and I also watched Dave's videos on multimeters for beginners, and his $50 multimeter shootout. After going through all of this I realized that many of the features on high quality multimeters are simply outside of my use cases. I'm not an EE guy and I'm never going to be doing electrical work involving mains or other high voltage situations, so I wanted to ask about the most basic/spartan multimeter I can get while hopefully getting something with decent build quality and measurement accuracy and confidence.These are my typical use cases:- I do maintenance on my motorcycle which sometimes includes repairing/replacing electrical components. This can require dc voltage measurements from 5-15v needing a minimum of 3 digits of precision. It can also require continuity testing and sometimes resistance testing from around 10ohm to 20kohm. I'm pretty sure I do not need AC voltage, current, and capacitance measurements (although maybe I will in the future and just so far nothing has worn out that would require those measurements to diagnose/repair)- Troubleshooting and repairing household electronic devices. At my current skill level I can really only trace wires/circuits for continuity and replace parts that are broken. Anything more complicated than that is beyond my ability. So for this category the only features I've really used are dc voltage measurements and continuity checking.I found this multimeter which seems to satisfy my use cases but I read a couple of reviews saying the continuity checking was pretty slow/poor quality, which makes me hesitant to get it.http://www.amazon.com/Extech-EX205T-True-Ranging-Multimeter/dp/B00CDQ2BOC/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1459688269&sr=8-12&keywords=true+rms+autoranging+multimeterSo I think an overall breakdown of my spec requirements would be something like this:- dc voltage measurements in the 0-100v range with at least 3 digits of precision- resistance measurements from 10 ohm to 20kohm- fast continuity checker. latched would be nice unless it added $20 to the cost- autoranging would be nice- auto power off also niceMy feature requirements are pretty low compared to professional grade multimeters. The main things I'm looking for are budget and decent build quality, accuracy, and confidence level. I don't want to get a $5 discount store dmm that will fall apart in my hands, but a $100 one and even a $50 one is overkill for me. I would appreciate advice from those more knowledgeable than myself.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2016, 04:43:01 pm
content: If you're absolutely sure you don't need current measurement than I'd get a Fluke 101.They're reallyreallytough little things both electrically and physically. If you're "repairing household electronic devices" then you should get something with a proper safety rating and the Fluke 101 certainly has that. I'm not sure I'd trust that ExTech in that regard.You can get one on eBay for about $42 delivered.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 03, 2016, 05:24:13 pm
content: Until you have a better idea what you want or really need, get this:You will probably find in the end you want to spend for a better meter but if this works for you then you haven't spent too much. Just keep it away from high energy circuits like house wiring.

author: KJDS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2016, 06:01:22 pm
content: I'd find an ex-military Fluke 25.

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2016, 11:48:18 pm
content: Continuity on the Fluke 101 is slow. 1mV resolution only on DC.