On the hunt for a new Multimeter

Matt Battle

Hey everybody,

Well, I bought a multimeter about a year ago from Home Depot. I bought one that was on sale not knowing if it was good or not. It has served me well up to now. I am just looking to get a new one that has just a little more functions and more ranges then my old one. So I was wondering what some of the functions and ranges does your multimeter have? Also what is a good price range for a decent one?

-Matt

RDL2004

That kind of depends on what the one you have now can do and how much you want to spend on a new one.

True RMS AC, capacitance, hFE, and diode check are common upgrades from basic meters. For a little more money you can get them with built in frequency counters. I really like having capacitance measuring.

since I use my meter mostly at my workbench, I bought one more suitable for that rather than portability. It has a nice large display that will stay lit up while its plugged in the wall, but can also run off a 9 volt battery or 6xAA battery pack.

Matt Battle

RDL2004 said...
That kind of depends on what the one you have now can do and how much you want to spend on a new one.

True RMS AC, capacitance, hFE, and diode check are common upgrades from basic meters. For a little more money you can get them with built in frequency counters. I really like having capacitance measuring.

Hey RDL2004 thanks for your response. There are couple I have looked at and think about buying. The major upgrades I am looking for are True RMS AC, capacitance, hFE, and diode check, and maybe temperature reading. Here are two that I was thinking of buying. From the low end to high end of the list. here and here. Thanks for your input.

Regards,
Matt

Steve Andrues

I own, and use, a Fluke 87. It's a solid all-around good meter. You need to decide what features you want, but "creaping-featureism" is making them all the same anyway. In any case it's about .1 kilobuck for the meter.