Multimeter buy advice

>>1041564
Dont buy a $3 hobo freight multimeter

>>1041569
what's a decent price? do you have any recommendations? amazon links perhaps?

Depends on what are you going to do with it and what is the acceptable price range.

>>1041591
just hobby stuff, you know.

repairing, building, experimenting.

Don't buy anything without auto-ranging, don't buy anything cheaper than 40$ if you are going to regularly work with mains voltages. Avoid buying ones with a shared mA/volts jack, ones with a transistor tester, ones with less than 4000 counts on a display. Thoose aren't necessarily bad, but it's usually a bad sign.
>>1041593
What is your hobby stuff, is it more related to low voltage electronics, or high voltage(110/220v)

Electrician here. I like my klein. It was $60, but I believe they have some for $30. I'd recommend em, only thing I hate is they make their meters in china. Check the following brands:

Klein
Greenlee
Fluke

>>1041596
no high voltages.

Get a good fluke if you are doing anything that's important. Otherwise any piece of crap will do.

>>1041599
If so, then I would recommend
Uni-t UT61E, best accuracy and features in 50$ range. But no temperature probe for some reason which is annoying.
UT139C, different features, more useful for home electrician work, less accuracy, more rugged for higher voltages.
Watch EEVblog multimeter guide and 50$ multimeter showdown for more options and explanation of various features.
Flukes, Agilent and other top-tier brands are good, but unnecessary if you don't work with anything higher than 12v. are good if you have

>>1041608
Messed up the last line
Flukes, Agilent and other top-tier brands are good if you have the money, but unnecessary and overpriced if you don't work with anything higher than 12v.

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>>1041599
>no high voltages.

everyday price $4.99

>>1041619
it says right there reg. price $9.99

hey guys, the cables in my cheap chinese multimeter broke (the whole thing, cables, leads, etc). how can I replace these things safely, in a DIY way? I don't work with voltages higher than 20V (laptop chargers), and even then, I'm very, very carefult...

>>1041623
The cheapest ones cost like 2$ on ebay/aliexpress so order some. Then just solder your old ones together and use some duct tape, 20vdc won't hurt you anyways unless you put it on your tongue.

>>1041623
if you have some banana plugs hanging around you can just put some wires on the end of those

>>1041621
You can order them for much cheaper, like: >>1041628

Don't listen to the guys who tell you that you must buy a good quality multimeter, or that you must have a digital one. Unless you're working on something where safety is a major concern, good multimeters are only occasionally more helpful than cheap ones, and even a simple galvanometer can be used for pretty much everything if you apply it with comprehension and ingenuity.

You have to pick according to your own needs, resources, and tastes. I think most beginning hobbyists are way better off spending $40 on a $3 meter, a $20 oscilloscope kit, and $17 worth of other cheap parts and equipment than a $40 meter.

Whatever you get, though, make sure you get both alligator leads and fine-tipped probes for it, or work out how to comfortably and reliably improvise the equivalents of either.

>>1041621
>reg. price $9.99

I didn't say regular price.

When I said everyday price I meant the price you can buy it for every day in the HF store.

NOTHING at HF sells for the catalog 'regular' price.

>everything is always on sale...

>>1041628
>>1041636
thanks

>>1041564
>Any advice on what to and not to buy?

Don't buy an expensive meter for your first meter.

>>1041619

After you've learned how to make tests and take readings you can always step up to a better meter.

>electrician who works on ac only stopped by my garage
>decides to check AH on a car battery sitting on floor
>switches meter to amps - touches leads to pos and neg on battery
>puff of smoke and needs a new meter

Wait until you're more experienced to buy a nice meter.

>>1041648
+1 for this.

My first one got cooked on some ranges but my fluke I have now never has. I have a similar fluke at work and have never managed to kill it even in close proximity with RF in the kw.

I have the one in your picture actually.

It's not even bad, but there's things to consider.
The Frequency setting isn't what I'd call useful.
The Temperature settings just doesn't work, like at all.
I tried it on several of these since we used them in school. Dead on all of them.

But other than that, it's a neat meter. Been measuring straight from the wall socket and I haven't died *yet*, so it's certainly better than your typical death machine $5 trash from Alibaba.

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>>1041564
> under 10 usd
>more than a year old
>it werks

>>1041812
I have that like 3 years now.
Bought it to monitor my uav batteries and then used it for my university electronics projects. Its been good even after a friend shorted the two leads when he was checking the house main. Careless fucker, thank god he was okay.

Bought a fluke now because of work. How do you guys label/mark/name your meter. Dont want people to steal it.

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>>1041596
>Don't buy anything without auto-ranging
Like a Fluke 87V?

>>1041564
For just fucking around with low voltage pretty much anything will work. You are going to blow fuses, that is a given. If you buy one of the big boy meters, prepare to pay like $6 per fuse for the small current range and around $12 for the big 10A fuse.

Ignore this guy >>1041608
and avoid uni-t like the plague. They are shit meters that can't even withstand basic static shocks and are actually dangerous because they lie about their voltage ratings.

One of the most robust 'inexpensive' meters is actually the radioshack rms meter:

https://www.radioshack.com/products/radioshack-true-rms-46-range-digital-multimeter?variant=5717081029

This little bastard outlasts most meters out there in destructive testing, even against many fluke models; look it up on youtube.

If you can, find one that also has an ESR function. It's great being able to check caps without having to pull them from the board.

>>1041648
>electrician who works on ac only stopped by my garage
wouldn't shorting a circuit have the same effect on ac? what does that have to do with being a shit electrician?

>>1041564
almost any digital multi-meter is going to be "accurate enough", there's been many tests showing this.

the "count" isn't really significant. 2K is perfectly fine.

up to 200 volts or so, cheap meters do okay. beyond 600 volts they're scary
to measure lots of volts or amps, get a cheap $10-$20 NCV/clamp meter. it is WAY safer than probes

auto-ranging in a DMM used to be a high-end feature. It isn't now--there's $5 meters that do that.
even so: having auto-ranging is not really important IMO, since you normally know about how much [whatever] you should be seeing

The safest meters have jack shutters. These totally prevent you from connecting the leads to the wrong jacks.
One of the cheapest that has them is the HoldPeak HP890CN, for about $25. it is sold china factory direct on ebay/aliexpress
(--Gossen Metrawatts have jack shutters too, if you feel like spending $500+.... )
Many other brands beep, or have LED jacks, or show on the LCD to show how the leads should be connected,,,, but they do not stop you from doing it wrong. ONLY jack shutters do that.

The two auto-ranging meters below are very popular, but don't have jack shutters:
Mastech ms8268 - $28 on aliexpress (this does have LED jacks)
Vichy (or Vici) 99 - $30 on aliexpress (this is the Fluke clone)

It's not really important for a DMM to measure capacitance or inductance, since you can just buy one of the $15 "mega 328 transistor testers" for that. It is better for testing capacitors, since it also tells you the leakage and ESR of electrolytics, and no cheaper DMM I've seen will do that. Plus it can test diodes, LEDs, transistors, darlingtons and MOSFETS.
,,,,,,
And once again--the mega-328 meters are NOT perfectly accurate--but you would have to spend a LOT more money for anything that could do this better. For $15 they are a great deal.

If you just want to mess around, get a Harbor Freight multimeter FOR FREE. I get a couple of them because there are only so many free flashlights you can own with those free coupons they put out everywhere. Free clamps, free screwdrivers, free tape measures, etc...

>>1041638
There's a 20 dollar oscilloscope kit? I would be interested in a link to that

>>1041648
>decides to check AH
he wot mate

>>1041564
I have an old analog fluke from like the 70s or 80s... Is it worth it to clean it up and use it, or spend like $50 on a new digital one?


For the record the fluke is fucking huge and heavy....

>>1042295
Google DSO138.
Naturally it's a piece of shit. If you're strapped for money, consider keeping that $20 and get a scope later.

>>1042333
I would keep it'd and use it. Then again I prefer the look of the old analogue meters. I know I'm old. I don't care.
Actually, no. You should send it to me. I'll dispose of it for you.

>>1041564

If you need it for your job, get a fluke

otherwise whatever sears is selling will do fine. IIRC they sell a brand called "sperry" which is pretty OK

Is having shittons of Unit measurements a bad sign? I'm looking at the HP-760B and it seems fine but just measures so many things:
VDC, VAC, frequency, temperature, Amps DC, Amps AC, capacitance, resistance, transistor hFE, Diode testing and Conenciton testing

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>>1043068
Not necessarily.

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>>1041564
u might want to consider one thats backlit.

Wide ranges, maybe capaciter tester on it.

Mine is a old fluke knockoff bought for my education about 15 years ago

DC range 200m - 2000V
AC range 2 -700V

pic related, same as mine

I bought a Fluke on eBay about 10 years ago for $70. Retail was close to $300. It was used and beat up. It still works great and I use it at least a few times a year. It's worth it if you're going to be using it for years to come, good for electronics work buy I also check wires doing house work and check car batteries and stuff too. If I had to replace it I'd get a used one on eBay again.

>>1042413
>DSO138.
>Naturally it's a piece of shit.
For someone who's used to having a good oscilloscope? Sure.

For someone who's learning about electronics and would have no oscilloscope at all otherwise? It's fucking amazing.

There's a world of difference in making waveform generators and being able to see the result, stop it, zoom in, etc. as opposed to just listening to it.

Also, it's a good little assembly/soldering project.

Okay so how badly did I screw up guys? I went to Harbor Freight today to use that coupon to get a free multi-meter (you know the one, the red cen-tech) and I've never used a multimeter before. Can someone explain to me like I am a moron how to use it? So far I tested a little triple A battery.

>>1041598
go with fluke.
I didn't even know klein made multimeter, although I'm a refrigeratorfag

>>1041564
Just get something that isn't complete junk and you're good. No need to go expensive or analogue. Cheapy auto rangers can be problematic.
You're basically gonna be testing resistance and continuity the most.
Any meter will do this

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>>1041619
This meter actually works pretty well, despite being fantastically cheap.

I tested it against some cheaper precision voltage/RCL references, and some other meters costing between $12 and $60. Pic related.

I tested this meter on its volts and ohms setting. I did not have a useful current reference to try comparing with.

It is the cheapest meter around. How shitty do you think it did?

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>>1043707
The result is in column #1, on the left.... on the volts and ohms settings, it did almost as well as others costing $30 - $60.

On the ohms setting, it was the worst multimeter tested--and yet it was only one-fifth of one percent off the reference module value.

Two notes:
1. It's possible that if you buy one, you get a lemon that works *really* shitty for some reason. The quality control on a meter that wholesales for ~50 cents probably isn't real in-depth, but this particular one seems to function exactly like it's supposed to.
2. I wouldn't trust this thing beyond 220 volts, or about 5 amps. But for anything less than that, it's perfectly fine. It was so close to the reference module that the difference literally does not matter.

This is the reason it's silly to say you need a expensive meter for hobby use.
Many passive parts (resistors, capacitors, coils) are 5%, 10% or more tolerance. Many diodes, transistors and other semiconductors regularly vary as much as 2-3%.
The amount of error present in many electronics parts is far greater than the amount of error that this meter introduces.

Why is having auto range selection such a valued feature?
Everyone says how it's the best hing ever and every meter without it is complete shit but the only argument I ever heard for that is that it's slightly more convenient. As if you couldn't be arsed to turn a knob from the highest to lowest setting and would rather want to have the decimal point being thrown all over the screen making measurements taking about 3 times as long because you have to find the fucking point first.

>>1043737
answered your own question..

>>1043740
Are you serious? Not having to turn a knob is now a super duper high tech completely necessary absolutely required feature?

>>1043745
yes, grandpa

>>1043737
If you are measuring a fiddly diddly connector and need both hands and it takes you a few seconds to get a good contact then its very convenient. It's also very convenient if the thing your measuring is changing (slowly) or you don't realise you might get a more accurate reading on a tighter scale.
Also selecting the right position on the dial takes only a few clicks and doesn't sound like starting a grumpy lawnmower

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How much can I trust the datasheets? I read through the datasheet to a 30$ meter I'm interested in and compared it to Fluke super pricey 200$ and 500$ meters (pic related, sorry for german) and the values seem suspiciously good compared to a meter 5 / over 12 times the price.

>>1043874
>How much can I trust the datasheets?
A cheap meter probably gives ideal results, and the expensive meters probably show typical results.
Even so, the difference of greater error with the cheaper meter is very likely to be so small that it does not matter.

You can buy the little reference modules like I did ( >>1043707 ) and check it yourself. The reference modules cost me $40 and it's not likely I'll ever use them much.

If you cannot spend much then I think it would be better to just get two different brands/models of meter and occasionally check them against each other, measuring the same thing. A resistor, or a current value, or a battery voltage.
A second DMM is more useful than (1 DMM + the reference modules) and if both meters are within 1 or 2% of each other, they're reading "close enough".

------

It is understandable to desire a DMM that reads "as accurately as possible", but none of them do that.
The accuracy difference between a cheap meter and an expensive meter is usually very small, and the cost difference is huge.

>>1041564
I was the OP for a similar thread, I bought the VICI 99, been 3 months now and absolutely no complaints ( I even used it to measure very high amperage ) its rigid, it fell and still didn't break. I got mine from a chinese seller on ebay so price was like 30$ iirc.
Fuck Fluke's overpriced meters.

>>1043707
All of those are shit meters and use similar internals except the exetech which is shit regardless.

>>1043874
The Flukes are probably specced over a range of temperatures, the cheapo's going to be at 25 C and I doubt they stand behind the specs anyway.

>>1044935
>All of those are shit meters and use similar internals except the exetech which is shit regardless.
Yea, but all of them read nearly perfect.
Even with the cheapest one, the amount it was off by is less than one percent. It's not really significant in most any circuit a hobbyist would ever deal with.

In what aspect are any of these meters not sufficient?
What would be the advantage of spending greatly more?

>>1044944
>what would be the advantage of spending greatly more

Absolutely nothing except for safety, just saying that trying to compare shit meters is a futile exercise.

>>1044947
>Absolutely nothing except for safety, just saying that trying to compare shit meters is a futile exercise.
Trying to compare unfounded opinions is a futile exercise, too.

>>1044944
>>1044935
So.... no meters under 1000 dollars are worth buying then is what you're saying?

>>1041593
find something used

>>1044944
>In what aspect are any of these meters not sufficient?
They are not Dave approved.

>What would be the advantage of spending greatly more?
Dave would not be disappointed.

>>1046736
Correct. One should only own a benchtop Fluke with MSRP at least 1000 USD.

>>1046759
That's what seems to be being said, yeah.

>>1046758
Dave knows his shit and all but he's an annoying, whiny sperg

>>1046736
There is an excellent meter out there that costs about $150 US, but good luck trying to get a hold of one on this side of the world.

Brymen BM857s.

>>1046878
>brymen
I looked at those too after looking at all the sperging about which meter to get on eevblog forum. Fuckin things are rare as tits

>>1046736
>So.... no meters under 1000 dollars are worth buying then is what you're saying?
*I* am not the one implying that; I posted the cheap meters I tested.

It's not realistic to recommend a high-end meter for home/hobby use, because the increased protection that higher-end meters have isn't really called for. Most people will never test anything over about 230 VAC; in the US, they might never test anything over 120 VAC. Much hobby use is 12 volts or less.

I also find it silly to test a meter by putting high voltage to it on all the settings--especially voltage far above the volts-scale rating.
That's not testing; the instructions almost certainly tell you not to do that. Even the instructions for Fluke meters says not to do that.
Youtube nobodies do it tho because the meter works as expected, and they want to show something dramatic.
It's kinda interesting to watch, but it's abuse tho--it's not useful or fair testing.

>>1046836
>Dave knows his shit and all
Dave is a shill.
He used to be a Fluke shill; he would keep testing until only the Fluke meter was left, and then declare the Fluke the winner without killing it.

Until Gossen sent him a meter even-more expensive than the Flukes, and now he's a Gossen shill.

>but he's an annoying, whiny sperg
that too

>>1046898
>shill
oh okay. well whatever. that's kinda muddy for me since i don't watch his videos regularly

>sperg
worst part about him tbqh. voice gets all high pitched, and he sounds like the most annoying whiny shitfuck. I also hate his habit of constantly, needlessly smacking shit around with his stupid pointer and waving it all over the place

I want one with color display.

>>1047024
Not that they don't exist, but why?

>>1047032
or a multimeter that uses your phones display

>>1042333
Good bench meter. I rather like them and old PSM military analog meters. Analog is nice for watching how a system behaves since it's natural for comparisons. That's why military aircraft engine guages often use analog displays.

>>1043759
>yes, grandpa

He's no grandpa. Old folks are used to turning many Bakelite and other quality knobs and remember when Hewlett-Packard built god tier test equipment.

People who use tools for a living require efficiency to get shit done even if they can make do with less. I started when a Time Domain Reflectometer was the size of two large suitcases. Now they are hand held and self-powered. I'll take the convenient on thanks very much.

>>1047058
>Analog is nice for watching how a system behaves since it's natural for comparisons
citation needed

> That's why military aircraft engine guages often use analog displays
They don't anymore buddy.

Anyone used Reed instruments? Looking at the r5007 for like 90 Bucks

>>1046898
I'm glad some one said it, he makes up contradictory nonsense complaints about shit all the time.

He distinctly shat on a bunch of products because manufacturers hand soldered some components on for a revision, then keysight sent him a $18000 spectrum analyzer for a teardown and inside was hand soldered twirls of magnet wire that were crumpled up. Lost all credibility when he said it was ok because they know what they're doing.

He shat on the brymen 857 as well, saying how unless you were broke as fuck you should by the top end model instead which costs 3x more while having almost exactly the same features.

>>1047083
that anon is right tho (about the reason for analog dunno about military planes), I was at a hydro power plant last year and their control room was full of analog meters for all the power stuff and they said its because its easier to see and compare changes. Imagine you have ten meters, if they were digital you'd have to remember ten numbers but with analog you just look whether its in the red zone or whatever and you can easily see if something increased a dangerous amount etc. Its more natural to recall a position of a hand than a number.

>>1047084
I work for a reseller, seen a lot of people buy these. So far good feed back. I got one on a calibrator holds up to the specs. A lot of low cost meters do not.

I like the reed stuff cause it is cheap and holds to its specs. Also has a 1 year warranty. I am also a fan of getting used stuff online. A used 87V will set you back 300. It will pretty much be a good bench meter and field meter. Now if you want a great bench meter and do not mind used i recommend a hp/agilent/keysight 34401A you can get one for around 600 used. With 6.5 digits you can use it to calibrate other meters.

>>1047391
>I am also a fan of getting used stuff online. A used 87V will set you back 300.
This is another matter I do not understand.

The main difference between really cheap meters and really expensive ones (like Fluke) is mostly in the high-voltage protection that Flukes *attempt* to provide.
If you thought you needed such protection tho, why the fuck would you buy used equipment?
You don't have any idea what it was previously subjected to, or the real reason that the person sold it.
The only way to know that it hasn't already been abused is if you buy it brand new.

>>1043900
>the flukes will keep showing the correct value even after 5 years of use
>you're not going to kill yourself with a fluke if you connect it wrong

a shit chink meter is good for playing with batteries and low voltage power supplies, but just don't rely on it to keep you safe

>>1047841
>a shit chink meter is good for playing with batteries and low voltage power supplies, but just don't rely on it to keep you safe
Yea but the term "safe" here is a relative matter.
If you won't ever work with 1000 VAC, then whatever a cheap meter does or doesn't do at 1000 VAC doesn't really matter to you.

And besides that, Fluke meters blow up too. There's reports on the OSHA website if you look.

Most multimeter accidents in the OSHA records are one of two things: either connecting a meter to voltage way, way over its limit, or trying to measure volts with the amps jacks (an error that more than a few 'professionals' have gotten injured making).

If you stick to relatively low voltage (<220 volts) and get a meter with jack shutters (HoldPeak HP-890, $25) then you have already avoided the two most common causes of multimeter-related failures and injuries.

>>1041596
>Don't buy anything without auto-ranging
Good luck masterbating the range button when voltage floats near the range treshold.

IMHO autoranging is annoying as fuck. I know i have 12V PSU. Waiting it jump to milivolts and back every time i move probes. Bleh

>>1042333

Fluke 87 here. Bought it in 1989 or so. They are expensive but Fluke now has a lifetime warranty. Mine had a problem with the screen and Fluke said "Send it in". I expected a bill but it came back fixed, new battery, and certified/calibrated. And free!

Dreams

>>1048201
>trying to measure volts with the amps jacks (an error that more than a few 'professionals' have gotten injured making).
Oops. Been there, done that...

>>1041569
Exactly, use the coupon to get it free with any purchase.
*im definitly not a sales representative*

>>1048456

That's why you get something with fast auto ranging. For me it was one of the best things about getting a used fluke 87III after using cheap chinese meters for the longest time.

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Just got two of these meters imported from europe at work.

Amazing meter for the price BUT THE BUZZER IS TOO FUCKING LOUD.

I use them in a large mostly empty testing room and it echoes and will probably bother the shit out of everyone in the office.

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>>1050316
87III? Get an 87V, man up bro.

>>1051120

No practical difference to me and a 87V costs about 3 times as much.

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Fluke 117

>>1041564
If you are going to trust your life with it, don't cheap out when you buy your test instruments.

>>1052059

This meter is a bad choice for 90% of hobbyists. It's an electrician's meter more than anything.

>>1050424

Bodge a resistor in series with the buzzer?

>>1052233
It's ok, one of the buttons turns off the buzzer for continuity testing etc. Having problems getting the pc connection to work in windows 10 however.

The Flukes for chinese market are cheap, and I understand they're just as good as american/europaean market ones, right?

http://www.dx.com/s/fluke

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I use this stuff when building and repairing guitar amplifiers. I tend to use certain ones for different things.

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>>1052285
And muh scope

>>1052285

I have that mastech one on the left, but, while it seems to work alright, it throws out all sorts of noise for no reason. garbled speaker sounds, random beeping. No idea what's wrong with it.

Factory reconditioned voltage multimeter from fluke ~$125 usually good warranties. Probably browse around on their site for what you want. Google "ABCs of multimeter safety - Fluke" for catagory ratings of your not sure what you need I would say most likely 2 or lower unless you are getting into motors and what have you. Never hold the probes with one in each hand. It could make a voltage circuit across your chest if they fail. And hot-dead-hot testing before you go work on wires with your bare hands. Meaning check on a circuit you know is live make sure the curcuit you want to work on is dead and verify your meter didn't die on you by checking again on that live circuit.

>>1052285

The component tester thing is really awesome.

>>1052287
>dat inbuilt function generator
real nice mate

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>>1052655
The dial on mine can be a little wonky at times, but it does work pretty well. I like to use the thermocouple that comes with it for my glue/wax pot.

>>1052697
It's great for measuring V loss on old coupling caps. I use it much more than I had expected.

>>1052795
Thanks! It gets used mostly for tracking down parasitic oscillations.

The BK precision meter seems to be the best all around. The Tenma cap meter is pretty great as well. It gives a reading almost instantly and seems to be pretty accurate even if you don't lift the cap out of circuit. The little radio shack meter has been surprisingly durable as well.

>>1052970
>It's great for measuring V loss on old coupling caps. I use it much more than I had expected.

What do you think about the accuracy? I still don't know if I should trust it. It seemed to agree with my fluke dmm when i measured some caps recently.

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>>1053473
It seems to be fairly accurate for measuring capacitance when compared to the Tenma. Good enough for my purposes anyway.

Fluke. There multimeters are as expensive as they are reliable.

>>1054228

If you don't hold your mobile phone too near.

>>1054231

>GSM

What year is it again?

>>1043707
i have the green one(mastech)

what do you think about it?

This thread isn't helpful at all

So I bought a used Fluke 179 (which goes for 500 USD where I live) for 125 USD. Its missing the stand on the back and thermal probes but otherwise it works perfectly. I was wondering about two things:
1) how to diy a reliable stand on the back of the meter?
2) it can't measure uA, whats the cheapest thing I should get to accurately measure microamps (and preferably even lower current)? As electronics student I kinda need the uA range but I thought the deal was so good I had to take it anyway...it was, right? I could still return it.

>>1054548
>whats the cheapest thing I should get to accurately measure microamps
Precision (or not) resistor and Fluke's mV range. Well, assuming you decide to keep it.

>>1054438
>i have the green one(mastech)
>what do you think about it?
I bought it because I wanted a meter that had at least some scales for both capacitance and inductance.
Like most cheap meters, it works well enough for 99% of stuff.

>>1054548
>So I bought a used Fluke 179 (which goes for 500 USD where I live) for 125 USD. Its missing the stand on the back and thermal probes but otherwise it works perfectly. ...
Go find the China clone for $25, and try the parts off that? (I dunno if there is a clone of the 179 really)

Alternately, return it and go buy a China cheapie for now.
I dunno where you are--but college courses where I live don't have students putting their hands on circuits in the kilovolt range, nor do they expect students to supply their own ultra-high-accuracy equipment.
There's no advantage to buying a high-cost meter for college use.

>>1055749
Well of course my school provides all the equipment, but come on this is /diy/ I am obviously tinkering with stuff myself at home both for fun and as an alternative learning method. I said I am an electronics student because I wanted to emphasise I am not an electrician who would have no use for uA.

I am thinking of keeping it right now because it has minmaxavg function, continuity beeper and autoranging which my other meter (cheap-ass UT33B, which btw has uA range, though with very questionable accuracy) doesn't have, and who knows maybe I'll be doing some outlet work at my house in the future and in that case I'd rather have Fluke in my hands than unfused UNI-T. I'll probably diy the stand myself with some wood and screws and whatnot. It doesn't seem like the 179 has a clone anyway.

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What's a good Cat IV meter for under $150 USD?

Fluke 87. Nothing less than perfect for everything i do as an industrial electrician

I've had pretty good luck getting fantastic deals on pro grade multimeters in pawn shops.

>>1059349
>Fluke 87. Nothing less than perfect for everything i do as an industrial electrician
,,,,,,?
>as an industrial electrician
yea because when you're checking that 230-VAC line you really really gotta know if it's 230 volts or only 229.99 volts......

There is a certain perspective about the matter that tends to get lost:
1. A bench meter is designed for high precision and very good accuracy
2. A multi-meter is designed to be reasonably accurate, portable and be durable enough to survive getting knocked around a bit

If you are fretting about the possibility of one-tenth of one percent accuracy issues with a DMM, you aren't quite grasping the overall concept here.

>>1059457
>accuracy is the only important aspect of a multimeter
jesus fucking christ, man

the whole point of buying a multimeter that isn't shit is that you get protection in case you accidentally put a gross overload on it

the difference being that a fluke isn't going to blow up in your face and burn your house down

>>1048456

Almost any auto ranging meter can be turned to manual ranging. Usually with the "Range" button.

>>1041596

Basically all of this. I will add that a shared mA/volts jack is especially bad, because if you put the meter to amps at the wrong time you bust the fuse.