Harbor Freight ($2.98 on sale) for keeping in the junk in the back of my car to check out stuff I find in surplus and salvage where accuracy is of no concern. Good for determining voltage on lead-acid batteries to find out if they are useless or possibly restorable, continuity of transformers, rough balance on bridge transducers, etc., before buying. Once used the HF DVM from my trunk to help an electronically naive friend determine why his furnace wasn't working (he neglected to remove the shipping tab from the new thermostat contacts), then left him with the DVM to aid his electronic education.
My Fluke 77, circa 1982, has been quite forgiving of some amateurish mistakes...... I seriously retarded it once, sent it in to factory, and even well out of warranty, I had it back in a week, fully functional, and recertified to Fluke standards.........no charge.
Let's see anyone get that kind of service from Chyna !!
i have heard alot of good stuff about fluke. right now the only thing i have that thay made is a cyn tex lazer pointer ir thermometer. it is vary good. i have even droped it on gravel in the case and nothing happened. right now i have a cheap clamp meter from a tool sale the clamp doesn't even work. i think i may just get rid of it the continuity beeper works off and on. and it anly mesures full volts so it just rounds the voltage to what it is closest too. this is kind of anoying sometimes and i don't trust it when working with anyhting over about 24 volts. i am looking at this one. http://www.multimeterwarehouse.com/DT9205f.htm could someone take a look at this one and give me an opinion if this is good or if i should keep searching.
i have yet to see a fluke that had all of this and i don't want to go over $20.00. and this looked like a verry good one too.
That DMM seems pretty good for $20. Harbor Freight has one for $22 that has a rubber protective cover as well as temperature measurement. Either way if it breaks you're only out $20 or so.