Will Fluke make high end bench top DMM's? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2025, 02:47:45 pm
content: Currently Fluke only has 1 benchtop DMM in their lineup. I am not sure if they still make it. I can see the reason that they didn't want to compete with Keithley because Keithley is part of Tektronik and they are parts of Fortive. Now that Tek and Keithley belong to a different company do you think Fluke will make high end benchtop DMM's?

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2025, 03:01:55 pm
content: Quote from: BeBuLamar on July 05, 2025, 02:47:45 pmGuessing that the high end scientific meters were not near as profitable as their handheld meters targeting electricians and technicians. I saved one of their thermal RMS meters from the recycle. There is a fairly large thread about them:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/some-old-school-instruments-showing-how-its-done-(hp-3325a-and-fluke-8506a)/

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2025, 03:08:32 pm
content: Quote from: joeqsmith on July 05, 2025, 03:01:55 pmThey don't make desktop oscilloscopes either.

author: AVGresponding
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 06:19:19 am
content: https://www.fluke.com/en-us/product/calibration-tools/electrical-calibration/bench-multimeters/8588a

author: Sorama
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 06:28:48 am
content: Fluke doesn’t make/develop much themselves…

author: Kleinstein
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 08:25:31 am
content: They still have the 2 high end version 8558 and 8588 in addition to the 8808 (5 digits). The question is if they bring out a meter to replace the 8845/8846 as higher end 6 digits maybe 7 digits. With already quite some time since the 8845 got obsolete this may well not be the case. The logical step would be to not have that gap for too long. On the other side it would be logical to get a DMM with ADR1399 reference at the upper end of 6 digits, ideally with a 20 V range.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 08:39:47 am
content: Quote from: Sorama on July 06, 2025, 06:28:48 amUmmm… what? What gives you that idea?Very few Fluke products are OEMed from others.

author: Sorama
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 09:00:59 am
content: Quote from: tooki on July 06, 2025, 08:39:47 amI don’t know how it is today, but in a not so far past they oemed a lot.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 09:53:58 am
content: Quote from: Sorama on July 06, 2025, 09:00:59 amThe only Fluke product I know to be OEMed is their voltage testers like the T5, and their hand tools (screwdrivers, etc.),and I have never heard claims of this being different in the past.

author: Sorama
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 10:40:42 am
content: Quote from: tooki on July 06, 2025, 09:53:58 amAnd the IR cameras, the acoustic cameras,….

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 10:41:52 am
content: Quote from: tooki on July 06, 2025, 09:53:58 amFriend had an old Fluke branded scope that was made by Philips. My two handheld scope meters were also Philips.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 10:53:18 am
content: Quote from: joeqsmith on July 06, 2025, 10:41:52 amThat is no surprise. Philips' test equipment division got acquired by Fluke in the early 1990's after both companies working closely together where it came to test equipment.

author: Sorama
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 10:54:58 am
content: Quote from: joeqsmith on July 06, 2025, 10:41:52 amIndeed, so were the fluke 45 bench multimeters.The one I have is still going strong after 30 years of usage.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 11:05:32 am
content: Quote from: Sorama on July 06, 2025, 10:40:42 amFluke bought an IR camera company, so that’s in-house.Are you considering as “OEMed” all the situations where Fluke bought other manufacturers?!?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 11:06:22 am
content: Quote from: joeqsmith on July 06, 2025, 10:41:52 amYeah, that’s true, and I even knew about the Philips-Fluke stuff…

author: Sorama
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 11:08:36 am
content: Quote from: tooki on July 06, 2025, 11:05:32 amI sort of do, certainly the period they didn’t acquired the company yet.It’s like Flir, they also have several products they OEMed.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2025, 05:24:43 pm
content: Quote from: Sorama on July 06, 2025, 11:08:36 amOK. But I still don’t think it’s accurate or fair to say that Fluke does not (or did not) “make or develop much themselves”.Heck, the ICL7107 chip which powered tons of early handheld multimeters (and clones of which still power tons of low-end meters) was developed by Fluke and sorta semi-stolen by Intersil. They developed tons of stuff in-house in the past, and still do.

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2025, 09:22:50 pm
content: My question really is that when Tektronix, Keithley and Fluke belong to the same company both Keithley and Tek stopped making handheld DMM. Fluke don't make much in term of bench DMM. Tek also stopped making battery powered scope. Now they are of different company perhaps they will have competing products.

author: BarrowBoy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2025, 04:22:48 am
content: Quote from: BeBuLamar on July 05, 2025, 02:47:45 pmNothing to do with Keithley. Fluke no longer make 6.5 Digit DMM's, but they still make industry leading 8.5 Digit models used in Metrology applications. If you want 6.5 Digit it normally would be Keysight, equally, 7.5 Digit would be Keysight. 8.5 Digit is a shootout between the Fluke 8588 and Keysight 3458 4ppm Model.

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2025, 04:26:31 am
content: you need to also look at a bit different angle:there is not much sales of fancy DMMs nowadays compared to 90ties when technology demanded upgrading to more digits ones.also they last pretty long years so that kinda kills sales later when typical lifetime in lab is like 15-20 years and perhaps they will decide to replace them for newer models due to problems with cal costs, spare parts etc+ in the past all those DMMs were pretty expensive and cheap ones were not as good in comparisonnowadays you can get a decent TrueVolt 6,5 digits DMM od Keithley DMM6500 for 1,500 USD +/- and sometimes with official traceable cal/adjustment certificateso no brainer for lab ownersFluke was always very very very expensive so sales were for specialized labs that needed them mandatory etc. and they still do such appliances but what sells less they do not do.With scopes there is a huuge competition nowadays so Tek and others are kinda putting pressure on their strong sides not to be accessible for all.For them and Keysight it is usually far more profitable to sell top shelf scope like EXR than cheap ones so they focus more on that.Cheap and bit more expensive field practically belongs to C and B brands.BTWTek is manufacturing battery powered scopeshttps://www.tek.com/en/products/oscilloscopes/2-series-mso-portable-oscilloscope(there is an optional battery pack)But all that lost a bit on meaning as for example all low end Rigols etc can be easy powered from powerbank.and everything else you can power from UPS or else and have similar effect - in the past it was very expensive but nowadays such things are reasonably cheap

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2025, 04:32:44 am
content: Quote from: BarrowBoy on July 09, 2025, 04:22:48 amprecisely and even Keithey and Keysight are both making 8,5 digit ones but each has its applications (while more general one is old HPak model)Keithley was for me in the past more about electrometers and sourcemetersand then not long ago they went with DMM6500/7510.6500 is nicer and usually cheaper than 465A on many aspects but some companies demand 465a for production process7510 is more expensive than 470a so most goes for 470a by wallet as this is not everyday DMM for ordinary things (I know I know some need it hehe but lets be fair)