what other manufactorers make good multimeters - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: doctorm
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 17, 2010, 02:11:37 am
content: i was just curious. i know fluke, amprobe, extech are the only ones i know so far that are good but are there any other ones that are good too with well priced multimeters?

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 17, 2010, 04:05:00 am
content: Depends what you mean by well priced, and what you are after.The only other brand I'd put in the same class as Fluke are Gossen Metrawatt (Dranetz-BMI).And there is Agilent of course (formally Escort) who make some good higher priced meters.All the brands in my $100 meter shootout are all pretty good in certain ways. BK Precision, UEi, and Ideal.Uni-T I only just got hours ago are probably not, more good value than good quality.There are probably others too, I hear good things about the Japanese Sanwa meters.Dave.

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 17, 2010, 05:29:21 pm
content: Other than Fluke, Metrawatt and Agilent, you also have to be skeptical about the specs advertised, a common way you choose one DMM over another; many of the lesser brands may not live up to their specs, and there is no way to enforce a standard way to measure specs or penalties for exaggerated or false reporting.Consider this thread:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=533.0That thread is very insightful, consider one result:"On the DCV referenced against the Malone standard, that gives the 70D a DC accuracy of 0.1556%, a bit off from the published 0.05%. Even with the 10 digits extra, it would rate at 0.06%. The 87V DC accuracy here is 0.0044%"The 87V is a Fluke, and its published spec in this range is no worse than 0.05%, so the actual performance is nearly 11x better than published. For the Uni-T 70D, the reported spec is 3x worse than published.

author: doctorm
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2010, 02:30:12 am
content: ok thanks.um where do you go to find the gossen metrawatt multimeters to buy them? i didnt see them on the tequpiment website.also, dave, you mentioned some of the multimeters that will be in the $100 shootout. does this mean you are almost done?

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 18, 2010, 02:34:14 am
content: Quote from: doctorm on June 18, 2010, 02:30:12 amIn the US they are sold as Dranetzhttp://www.tequipment.net/DranetzDigitalMultimeter.htmlQuoteAre you a pessimist or an optimist?1% done, which is infinitely better than zero!Dave.

author: doctorm
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2010, 02:48:31 am
content: an optimist actually. why?

author: doctorm
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2010, 02:57:09 am
content: oh i think i know why you said that. i ment you mentioned them on this post not the past ones lol sorry.

author: MrPlacid
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2010, 04:54:34 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on June 18, 2010, 02:34:14 amWow, that's a long time. Dave, just to let you know, after the $50 shootout, I couldn't hold myself back for the $100 shootout; so went to fry's electronics and bought a fluke 87v plus tax almost $400. After I gotten to know the 87v better, I love it so much that I purchased 2 more fluke 87v on ebay. One of the ebay meters came in yesterday and I am truly happy with it.These 87v meters are gonna replace my $4 Harbour Freight meters. I own 3 of them cheapies. Big jump huh?http://www.harborfreight.com/7-function-digital-multimeter-90899.htmlPS: I am still looking foreward to the $100 shootout. The $50 shootout was spectacular.

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2010, 10:46:28 am
content: That's a big jump from Harbor Freight to 3x 87V. Can you give us your impressions of it, since you have a fresh eye, going from cheapie chinese to a top line meter?Quote from: MrPlacid on June 18, 2010, 04:54:34 am

author: djsb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2010, 10:47:07 am
content: I bought my Metrahit X-tra from GMC instruments in the UKhttp://gmciuk.com/measurement-125-36-Metrahit-X-tra-True-RMS-Multimeter-with-DataloggerI think it cost me around £400 and worth every penny.David

author: MrPlacid
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2010, 02:57:13 pm
content: Quote from: saturation on June 18, 2010, 10:46:28 amI am guessing you're asking about the 87V and not the $4 chinese cheapie. I used to dislike the fluke and was hoping for something in the $100 shootout to give me an idea of what to buy. Thought it was overrated, but the Dave's video on the destruction of the fluke always stayed in mind.Anyways, bought the fluke the first day and just like Dave I didn't read the instruction. Instead I check out the quick start page and rewatch dave fluke video to see how he use his. I have to say the auto range is pretty handy. And after learning to use the fluke 87v, it isn't very hard to use. (Thumb up!!) It looked bigger from the video, but in my hand it's just the perfect size. (Note: I am very short.)The only thing I dislike was that the tilting bail didn't come out evenly at the hinge when you tried to stand it up. I check that out on the 2nd fluke too when it came in and it was the same. But I quickly remedy that with a clear, thick piece of plastic cut to fit on the inside of the yellow jacket. Now it pulls out cleanly and evenly so that the hinge wont eat into the top pad of the fluke inside.Two days ago, one of my ebay meter came and I wanted to quickly test it with something around me hoping I didn't get a bad unit from ebay so I decided to test main. But my head wasn't on right and for some odd reason I decided to switch it to amp instead of voltage. (PS: I knew way much better than this!) A little pop happened at the probe and not in the meter. A fuse got fried so I replaced the 10A fuse, it's slightly brown but it was one tough fuse. Nothing inside got burnt like the Dave's Extech tweezer. As I replaced the fuse, I was satisfy of the safety of the fluke meter.(A month ago I tested main with my cheapie meter. It worked but I was fearing for my life.)I can't say how much I love the fluke 87v now. It's built quality is top notch. I have so much confidence in it.The reason I bought 3 Fluke 87v is that I can interchange the probes and I only need to carry spare fuses for that specific model. Another plus side is that I only need to know how to use one device. Also, I can check them against each other. Well, that is what I told myself to convince myself to get 2 more.

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2010, 10:36:03 pm
content: Another inquiring mind in this forum ..Another tip for the tilting bail ..https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=455.0