Actually, you may go to local Sears store, they have Craftsman Auto Ranging Multimeter model 82139 selling around US$30. Not too bad for a brand new one. We got a few, the only cons we have found is the plastic protection enclosure won't last long at low temp environment, a few of the plastic stand fall apart after a few years, though, nothing related to the accuracy or electric circuits. Surprise enough, one of my fellow bought a US$1 (holiday promotion, normal price varies from US$2 to 10, depends what kind of coupon you find from local stores) at harbor freight: "7 function digital multimeter" (item #90899). After a few years, it still runs. The meter itself works. The pins are short and the build quality of both red/black pins are really poor. My fellow managed fixed one broken wire. Other than that, everything else (especially the meter itself) seems great for an US$1 item. If you are good enough to figure out what could be wrong on those thing, you may give it a bet on this brand new one dollar harbor freight items. If not, spend more on the fluke, and no worry. Funny N. Au Group Electronics, http://www.AuElectronics.com http://www.AuElectronics.com/products http://augroups.blogspot.com/ ________________________________ From: PICdude To: piclist@mit.edu Sent: Mon, December 28, 2009 9:56:22 AM Subject: Re: [EE] Average DMM recommendations? Quoting Dwayne Reid : > If you don't mind purchasing used equipment, pretty much any of the > Fluke 80xx family would suit your needs well. They stack nicely on > the bench. > > I'm particularly fond of the Fluke 8050A - 4.5 digit, 0.3% accurate > on DC Volts, true-RMS AC responding, direct reading in dB if you are > doing audio stuff. I remember paying more than a month's salary when > I purchased my first one but most of the others cost much less > because I bought them surplus many years later. I have 4 of them and > rely upon them daily. > > I check the calibration every couple of years or so against my HP > 3455 bench meter - they age gracefully. I haven't had to adjust any of them. > > I have other Fluke instruments in the same form factor - they all > stack nicely. > > dwayne > I was looking at new, cause finding used equipment takes so much time, and I'm wary of ebayers, but this is convincing. I'm seeing current prices on these from $30 to <$100, and I really like Fluke. Still using an 8060A after 2 decades. I might be convincable, but I will check to see if there are non ebay sources of these used, and I would feel much safer with that. Cheers, -Neil. -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist