i was asked if their was anything i wanted for my bday by a family member. i'm considering asking for a good DMM. i have had 3 <$10 ones and they all last 5 yrs ish then fry. i have a good bench one, but only has basic finctions so looking at portable ones with cpacitance, HFE, diode, contiuity buzzer. i have been looking on amazon and am finding some that have what i want, but never hered of the brands. they are sinometer, and mastech. i have seen a few reviews on other meters saying that a mastech would have been beter. i know fluke is about the best, but for what i do their fairly $$ and for what i do a simpler cheaper one should be fine. anyone know anything about these brands? right now i have 2 that at the top of the list i'm considering. a mastech MS8268, or a sinometer MAS345. the sinometer is quite similar, but also has software interface, wich from what i'v read could come in handy.

if anyone has any other sugestions to look into i'll take a look at them. looking for ac,DC voltage, max volt 750-1KV. amps 10A would do, capacitance, resistance pref 40M ohm max or more, HFE, diode, and coninuity beeper. as well as software interface would be nice.
thanks.

 

Hello,

Fluke multimeters are very good but have their prices.

You could have a look at the Uni-trend UT71D:
http://www.uni-trend.com/UT71D.html
http://www.reichelt.de/Digital-mult...LA=2;ARTICLE=111328;GROUPID=4058;artnr=UT+71D

Bertus

 

BK Precision used to be the best value for price/performance. Fluke and HP are overpriced.

This one is decent.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BK-Precisio...239?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4abf8750ef

 

Have a look on EEVblog.com.
There are quite a few reviews ,& discussions,(&arguments) about various DMMs.

 

I rebuke anyone who says fluke is overpriced. If they were overpriced, they wouldn't sell. They do sell. Because they're worth it. Buy a used one on ebay. I got a fluke 189 used on ebay for <$100. one of the best investments I've made.

 

For the price, Klein is great. Klein has been supplying hand tools and power tools to professional electricians for years. They introduced test equipment about 15 years ago and costs about half of fluke for same features. Accuracy is a little less refined than fluke e.g. O.5% vs 0.3% for fluke). Very acceptable for a hobbiest.

For about 110 dollars, you get auto ranging, and thermocouple and most all features of a fluke 87. Available at Home Depot now in the professional aisle.

After a lot of research, I bought one for my son. Make sure you get the slightly more expensive auto ranging model.

 

What Strantor said !!!
I bought a Fluke 77 in 1984, and it has performed flawlessly ever since with one exception.
It was " Out of warranty " when I hooked a live circuit into ohm scale, and 'retarded' it a wee bit.
Sent it to Fluke, I had it back, repaired and recertified within 10 business days ! No charge !

 

ok thanks for the tips. was actaly looking at auto rangeing ones seems like be quite handy especily for resistance, else you have to guess and go through the ranges. i took a quick looks at the recomended ones, but look more tonight. took a look at the BK presision and looks good, but a bit more than wanted to spend, will see if any siilar or same model cheaper ebay, etc. thought about looking for used fluke, but i'v hered some people having bad luck with electronics from ebay, but chack reviews and sellers rating, etc should be fine.
thanks for the help

 

I have an Uni trend UT-70A for at least 6 years, and I never had a problem with it. It is a manual range one and I can recommend it. Not sure if I would want a meter with autoranging, it usually is too slow for quick measurements, but some meters allow you to hold the current range.

 

took a look at the BK presision and looks good, but a bit more than wanted to spend

believe me, if you buy a cheap meter you will outgrow it soon and it will sit on the shelf for the rest of it's life.

 

I've had a Fluke 111 for so long they no longer make them, replaced by the 115.

As autorange readings take longer then fixed range readings I'm also not a huge fan of autoranging but these have a RANGE button that allows one to keep the current range, or scroll thru all possible ranges to select one.

 

i have two uni -trend meters and they are very good indeed at a great price !!!
spark8217

 

ok think i'll see what i can find for used flukes some more. i don't plan on geting into anything much more complex than these functions, why i'm looking for some cheaper with what i want. acuracy isn't that critical +-.5% not a big deal, just for hoby use, ocasinaly some testing of house wiring and computer power supllys, and maybe a few other parts ocasinaly. i don't plan on getting a job in fixing electronics so don't see a point in somthing ral fancy. studying and planing to go into network adminstration so even for cases in that that need a DMM basic functions would do. also is it posible for a dimm to have a function for tracing wires like a toner and wand? think one of those could be nice for locating traces on PCBs, and other wires for netowerks, in divices, etc.

 

i have two uni -trend meters and they are very good indeed at a great price !!!
spark8217

Yeah, here's a semi good auto range one for $65. Probably good enough for hobby use.

http://us.dinodirect.com/multimeter...t-ut61c.html?vn=RGlub2RpcmVjdEZ1Y2s&AFFID=183

http://www.uni-trend.com/UT61C.html

 

For an inexpensive meter I've had a Radio Shack 22-163 for so long I don't remember when or how I got it, though I do believe I picked it out. It could be over 20 years ago I got it. Still in great condition though it is lightly used.

It has a buzzer for buzzing out traces.

I see one currently for sale, new, for $25-30USD on EBay.

 

looking at flukes on ebay saw a few mastechs that said mastech fluke. googled it to see if was like a fluke division, but it apears its a competitor. a few of the sites listing the major brands as fluke, mastek and a few others. they claim their just as good as fluke for less. sounds like its an asian based company and popular in areas around there. but i guess not that popular it the US yet because of compitions like fluke, etc. sound pretty good, but think i'll do a bit of reserch into them before i go with one. not that all forign stuff is bad, but not sure how that would work for waranty, etc if it was needed. i beleve fluke is US made, but not for sure, finding some flukes on ebay see if anything there that will work for what i want first though.

 

I'm with Ernie. My Fluke 27 autoranger can be pre-set to any range it has, and that cures the slowness problem. The Max and Min hold functions speed up measurements even further. It's a rare day when I have to get out the analog meter to catch a problem the Fluke can't see. They aren't made anymore, and if this one ever dies, I will cry.

 

... and if this one ever dies, I will cry.

Or possibly you'll repair it

 

found some fluke meters actaly cheaper than i thought i would. looking at a 87V true RMS, fluke 111, fluke vichy VC99. the 87V lacks HFE though, but still a posibility. thinking vc99, says vichy and fluke, but not sure what it is thinking vichy, looks like a fluke to me though. have to do some reserch. did a bit more looking one of these would work, but love one with a network/cliplead toner/wand+cable tester. seeing some with network, but only basic V,A, ohm in adition. kind of suprised that one with what i want doesn't exist. alot of the features could be quite nice in checking computers, etc especialy capacitance. and maybey add a CMOS/TTL tester but not sure exactly what that does.

 

found some fluke meters actaly cheaper than i thought i would. looking at a 87V true RMS, fluke 111, fluke vichy VC99. the 87V lacks HFE though, but still a posibility. thinking vc99, says vichy and fluke, but not sure what it is thinking vichy, looks like a fluke to me though. have to do some reserch. did a bit more looking one of these would work, but love one with a network/cliplead toner/wand+cable tester. seeing some with network, but only basic V,A, ohm in adition. kind of suprised that one with what i want doesn't exist. alot of the features could be quite nice in checking computers, etc especialy capacitance. and maybey add a CMOS/TTL tester but not sure exactly what that does.

I encountered this vichy thing as well. I smelt a rat. I strongly suspect it is a chinese ripoff of fluke.