OT: Multi-meters

[SD-50]

Hello gents
Somewhat OT, need to replace a 40 year old Fluke DMM that?s starting to act up, causing me grief while putting together the Markwart 604 XO. Recommendations for a decent, inexpensive multi-meter with the basic functions.
Thanks

[BillWojo]

Well, you already know about Fluke quality so I won't go there. If I was looking to buy a reasonably priced DMM I would do my research over at the EEVBlog website. Enter the forum and go to test equipment, there is more than you would ever want to know about DMM's including a large spreadsheet with all the common units listed.
For entertainment, find one of Daves video's where he test and dismantles a cheap unit. It usually ends in smoke and flames and should be enough to discourage anyone from using the dirt cheap units on tube type gear. That said, there are some units around 100 bucks or less that are very good.
There is an ebay vendor, Frankie from Hong Cong that sells some decent stuff that is a member of the board as well. I have ordered test leads and such that are surprisingly high quality at very reasonable prices from him. He even had a custom set of extension leads made up for my Fluke 187 that I use in my service kit. They add 2 meters in length, plug into my Fluke and my stock leads plug into them. All molded connectors. Cost me 45 bucks for 3 sets! Nice when your at the control panel and need to monitor an output 10 feet away in the control cabinet.

Billwojo

[SD-50]

Thanks Bill, will check out the sites.
Cheers

[RonSSS]

So you are saying Fluke is good or bad?

FWIW, the same company who cheezed up Tektronix after buying them in 2007 also owns Fluke.

Ron

[BillWojo]

Ron, Fluke is still top of the line, and still priced accordingly. For a guy like me that is always troubleshooting industrial machine tools, I wouldn't want anything else. One feature that I love about my model 187 is the min/max capture. I can monitor a power supply and catch glitches like a very short duration dip that might reset a processor or let a contactor fall out. It has helped me find faults that I otherwise would have had to guess at.

BillWojo

[RonSSS]

Thanks.

I'd tend to buy a Fluke as well.