[sdiy] Multimeter advice?

[Dave Kendall]

I've got a PG017 and it does almost everything I want it to. Agreed  
it's sometimes a pain with caps. Mine's lasted 7 years of noob abuse,  
and still works perfectly. Has a diode tester, and 4 holes for PNP and  
NPN tranny testing - a nice touch as it'll do most pinouts I've come  
across. It has a 2-range frequency counter. It's also got a nice  
audible continuity tester, which saves you looking at the display when  
checking traces.

Maplin still sell them for about £25 (IIRC they were originally £50).

cheers,
Dave

On Dec 13, 2010, at 10:28, Tom Wiltshire wrote:

> Well, the multimeter snobs can laugh, but I've been using one of these  
> for the last twenty years:
>
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? 
> ViewItem&item=110611546527#ht_1034wt_1118
>
> It was the Maplin Electronics house brand when I was younger. It  
> didn't cost much when it was new, but it does everything I need, or  
> I've got so used to it that it would never occur to me to want  
> anything it doesn't do.
> The capacitance ranges are the least-used feature since they required  
> that a cap is out of circuit and also has reasonably long leads to fit  
> in the testing slot. This mostly rules out stuff you've unsoldered  
> from a board. It's occasionally been useful for sorting loose mixed  
> caps.
>
> It's had about 4 or 5 new batteries in it's life - so they last for  
> ages. And as to reliability, I have had to resolder a broken battery  
> connection wire once, but otherwise it's been fine.
>
> Maplin still sell multimeters, but who knows whether they're still as  
> good as this one has proved to be.
>
> T.
>
>
>
> On 13 Dec 2010, at 02:18, Paul Perry wrote:
>
>> Haven't been doing any electronics for a while - and then suddenly
>> I noticed that none of my multimeters were to hand.
>> A few moments later, it occured to me that the sneak thief that
>> crept upstairs & took 2 phones & 2 cameras and a set of very high end
>> earphones must have taken my  multimeters as well.
>>
>> Damn.
>>
>> So, if anyone has advice on what I should get, for general analog
>> pokery, I am all ears.
>> particularly,
>> 1. any good secondhand models to be found regularly on ebay?
>> 2. any reasonably OK Chinese types?
>> 3. Any amazing deals to be had?
>>
>> I'm in Australia, which means it's going to come from somewhere more  
>> than 6000
>> miles away, anyhow. At least the $Australia is high at the moment.
>>
>> paul perry Melb Australia
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