[sdiy] OT: DMM recommendations

[Richard Wentk]

This.

It’s like buying a Moog 55. 

We’d all like one, but unless you’re making a living from it or have a small mountain of cash lying around and you can’t think of anything else to do with it, there’s no rational justification for the price [1], especially considering the opportunity cost of the other things you could spend the same money on.

There’s never been a problem checking mains voltages with my Maplin cheapie. I wouldn’t plug into the local substation, but for the things I use it for it’s absolutely fine. 

The price difference between a cheapie and an 87V is enough to buy an entire project’s worth of components, or a boutique synth. 

On a value for money basis, I don’t find the extra expense rational or justifiable.

Richard

[1] “It will probably increase in value” may be true, but unless you buy cheap and sell to collectors, even super-expensive synths like CS80s barely keep up with inflation in real terms. 

> On 6 Mar 2018, at 19:41, Tom Wiltshire <tom at electricdruid.net> 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
> 
> ==================
>       Electric Druid
> Synth & Stompbox DIY
> ==================
> 
>> 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.
>> 
>> -Byron Jacquot
>> 
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