Shopping Fluke multi-meters -- which model do you prefer?

[mort]

I'm getting lost in the sea of choices. Looking for a modestly priced unit that will have a wide uF range down to just a few pF, ac and dc voltage down to millivolts and up to 800v or more, and ohms down to milliohms and up to 10M or higher. Every model I look at seems to be limited in one of these ranges.

A clamping amprobe would be a bonus but not completely necessary.

Thanks for any direction/advice.

[Enzo]

A clamping amp probe is an accessory you can get to plug into just about any meter. Or you can get a stand alone one. AMpprobes are not used for super precise readings. If I want to see if some unit is drawing 10 amps instead of 2 amps, I don;t really care if it is 10 amps or 10.263 amps. Y'know?

I don't know what your budget is. Modest means different things to people of different incomes. Nor do I know what models you are considering. But in general, I use my meter more than all the other things in my shop combined. I never expect it to measure a few millivolts, especially on AC. Consider that your probes will pick up ambient AC in your environment. If you really do a lot of fine work needing accurate low level audio measurements, look into what we call an "AC voltmeter". It is a specific piece of gear, and not referring to an AC panel meter. For example I have an HP 427a, as well as the one included in my HP 334 distortion analyzer.

Don't a lot of meters have 1000vDC ratings these days? On the other hand, how often do you need to measure 800v? I used to service video monitors, and I have a high voltage probe that plugs into my meter. With it, I could measure the 30,000 volts on a color CRT anode. Or 800v. I guess the point is if you have a meter that does everything else but is limited to 600v, would it hang you up so bad?


it is hard to measure milliohms with a hand meter, especially when your probes typically have a resistance of tenths of an ohm. (100s of milliohms. Super low resistance readings don't come up for me very often. I do see occasional 0.1 ohm ballast resistors, though 0.22 ohm and 0.47 ohm a a lot more common. And if I was tracking down two traces shorted together, I could use a super low resistance meter to trace the short down to the spot. But for actual accurate low resistance readings, we use a four-wire system, also called a Kelvin resistance measurement. Google that. So again, is milliohms that important in your hunt. if you have a specific need, fine.

I am old school, I don't think of my meter as a cap meter. But I realize the cap function has been added to most meters these days. I have an actual cap meter close at hand, though I rarely use it. generally, the value of a cap is not the issue. More likely leakage or ESR are the problem. When cap function was first added, it often stopped at 1uf or maybe 10uf. Nowdays they can measure much larger. if you work in RF, then caps as low as 1pf can be of use. Sometimes we put a couple short pieces of wire next to each other to form what is called a gimmick capacitor. Google that for some pictures. My cap meter can handle 1pf, because it has two things. One is slots on the unit to plug the tested cap into, and also a zeroing control. So you can null away the capacitance of your probe leads. Most hand meters lack the zero, as far as I know.

I am not suggesting you don't need or want any of those individual capabilities. But I am suggesting you should write a list of features you want in order of importance, and decide how far down the list the deal breakers go, and wher they just turn into wishful thinking. I'd LIKE my date to look like Rachel Hunter, be interested in amp circuits, want to hear my jokes. But I'd settle for one who didn't look like Phyllis Diller, tolerated my yammering about amps, and didn;t smell bad.

[mort]

Maybe it is just a bit of wishful thinking, as I've gotten by just fine on what I have so far. But here's where my wishful thinking comes from...

I have 3 multi meters. 2 Fieldpiece and 1 Fluke.

The Fieldpiece SC53 is the closest to perfect for me out of the 3 but it doesn't like to read millivolts. It reads down into 10ths and 100ths of nF, up to 600vdc or vac, up to 40M and is very small so it fits into my tool bag for work so I like to leave it on my work truck.

The Fieldpiece SC66 is very similar but much larger and only reads up to 200K and a whopping 20vdc

The Fluke 324 is nice to use and responds very quickly but only reads up to 4K and down to .1uF

All of these were purchased mainly for HVAC work but have sufficed for amp work as well. The SC53 gets used the most and sometimes I forget to put it back on the service truck and then I'm stuck putting up with a bulkier meter while at work. The Fluke is nice and isn't real big but I just bought it recently and will probably take it back(didn't pay close enough attention to its limitations). I'd be willing to spend a couple hundred bucks if I could find my Goldilocks meter.

[DrGonz78]

The Fluke 189 is the latest meter I added to my collection. I like it very much and it is the most accurate one in my collection.

Buy them used on Ebay and take them apart to clean up the insides. The one I bought had some troubles with the screen but it just needed a cleaning to get to work 100% again. I like these deals that come with cases and all sorts of test leads. Some people don't like buying these used, but the price is right!


Fluke 189 True RMS Digital Multimeter | eBay

[g1]

That's a nice meter Dr.Gonz. It goes down to 10pf, I don't know if you'll do better without a dedicated capacitance meter. True RMS up to 100khz, can do temp. if you get the right probe. DC volts down to 10uV.

[mort]

Yep, the only limitation I saw in the specs was max 50uF but with everything else it does so well, I see that as a marginal limitation for amp work and could just use one of my other meters that go up to 200uF if/when needed. Thanks for the suggestion.

[g1]

Yep, the only limitation I saw in the specs was max 50uF

Careful! I got caught out by that once, now I always check . It's 50mF, or 50,000uF.

[mort]

Careful! I got caught out by that once, now I always check . It's 50mF, or 50,000uF.

DOH!!

Looks like a Goldilocks meter then

[olddawg]

I just bought some cheap multimeter meter at Fry's new for $14. It amazes me what it does. Hfe, capacitance, inductance, even has a temperature probe. It does everything anyone needs to do for most audio on a bench or in the field. I own several Beckmans, Flukes, etc when I want to feel professional, lol. The one thing I would advise you on whatever meter you get is to avoid ones with auto-scaling. I've seen so too many inexperienced (and experienced) techs drive themselves nuts confusing 1k for 1m etc. Especially if you don't have the vision of a 19 year old and overlook a tiny icon contorting around.

[Drewline]

I use a Fluke 115 these days as well as my venerable 77.