[sdiy] OT: DMM recommendations

[rsdio at audiobanshee.com]

There is a significant cost difference between manufacturing something that will last a lifetime versus something that is easily broken, discarded, and simply replaced.

It’s not about the complexity of the circuit, although precision ADC chips do cost quite a bit more than basic ones that aren’t as accurate. It’s more about the mechanical design, the cost of the materials used, and attention to things like practically sealing the electronics. Maybe the Fluke isn’t actually waterproof, but the enclosure has foam seals and a clever arrangement of the rotary switch selector that prevents dust and contaminants from getting inside.

I see people buying three or more of the same Behringer product as replacements when the individual units break. At the opposite extreme, E-mu Systems was notorious for building synths like tanks - sliding them down the banister at their home to see if they would survive the drop. It seems obvious to me that there is a cost difference here. I’d rather pay extra for something that could be a “lifetime purchase” as compared to a cheap version that might not work when I need it in a time crunch.

Brian

On Mar 6, 2018, at 12:41 PM, sleepy_dog at gmx.de wrote:
> >  After all, these days a multimeter isn’t exactly rocket science. It’s a decent ADC and a uP and a bit of software. How hard is that? £200 hard? Really?
> 
> Adhering to good engineering practises & not lying about compliance with the safety norms suggested on the stickers apparently is somewhat hard.
> I only ever bought 30 to 70 buck-ish meters myself,  but I will not for a  second believe I should e.g. be measuring high voltages with that.
> I have seen teardowns of meters which had smaller distances, and/or weaker fuses than needed to fulfill a certain norm, or fuses that should have had sand for absorbing heat but didn't (no idea whether that's part of a norm or just good practise). I don't know all that much about those kinds of things, but I didn't leave the forums where experts were musing about those things while laughing at fotos of offending gear with a good impression :-)
> 
> Tom Wiltshire wrote:
>> I don’t agree. Many people are test equipment snobs. The fact is there’s cheap stuff out there which is 99% as good as the vastly more expensive stuff in 99% of the situations. Maybe you’re that 1% user, but probably you’re not and you’d just like to think you really need that really nice bit of test equipment (I know I would). But you probably don’t, and you’ll find out that 9V is 9V or that that 10K resistor is actually 100K just as easily with something that cost £15 as £150.
>> 
>> After all, these days a multimeter isn’t exactly rocket science. It’s a decent ADC and a uP and a bit of software. How hard is that? £200 hard? Really?
>> 
>> My 2 eurocents,
>> Tom
>> 
>> On 5 Mar 2018, at 19:14, Byron G. Jacquot <thescum at surfree.com> wrote:
>>> I agree with Alexandre - if the alternatives are Fluke and import meters of questionable provenance, Fluke wins by a long shot.
>>> 
>>> Used Flukes are findable - check craigslist.
>>> 
>>> The Fluke 115 is a general purpose meter that also fits your price range - there's a kit with a case and an assortment of probes for just a hair over $200.  Don't confuse it with the other 11x meters, which are tailored for specific applications - electricians and HVAC.
>>> 
>>> Amprobe meters (formerly Wavetek/Meterman) are also pretty good, but I'm not up on their latest offerings.