Multimeter - purchasing advice

You did not say what your main purpose is for this multimeter. Is it for adjusting 0.001% voltage references? Or servicing audio equipment?

There are many boomers present on this forum, but no one mentioned it yet, so I will do it. Why not analog?

Digital meters are worthless looking at varying voltages. No matter what the brochures tell you. Forget about the bar graphs in the display "to show changing measurement values"

Most digital meters are calibrated for 50 or 60 Hz. Not even sure if there is a specification available for other frequencies.

Many digital meters puke when doing a continuity test on high self inductances.

Whenever I am working on electronics (including audio equipment) I prefer analog because it does not hide anything. Usually you don't need accuracy better than 5% or even 10%. You don't care about a power supply voltage of 14.8 or 15.2V. If you need to measure amplifier output voltage down to the millivolts, use the 50 uA range with a proper resistor.

And yes, most analog meters are 20kOhm/V. So?

The only field where digital multimeters are somewhat handy is resistance and capacitance measurement. I have a Voltcraft VC530 (Conrad) which is even quite accurate on capacitance measurement. For resistance measurement it is only easier so you can be lazy and not have to interpret the scale.
 
I mostly use the Brymen 869S (and have a couple of other brands as well) - this comes with really great specs, is fast and rather affordable. If you want higher specs, you need to hand over serious cash. The overall feel is a bit cheap, I guess all that money went into the electronics.
If you want something cheap, I'd go with something from a large retailer, such as ALDI or LIDL; or buy from an electronics retailer as Conrad or Reichelt. They essentially offer the same chinese stuff, however they make sure, safety requirements are met. (I'm pretty happy with my 30 EUR LIDL mutimeter from a couple of years ago. That one always gets used for "away from my bench" tasks.)
 
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I hadn't seen those. I have a UT61E (the early version, not a 'plus'). Is the input protection genuinely improved on the 161? I like the 61 a lot so yours sounds like a really good recommendation if the modifications and certification are genuine.
 
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I needed a 2nd meter so bought a Brymen 867S from Welectron (recommended vendor BTW) to supplement the Fluke 89 IV I bought used years ago (for around $100 IIRC), which I have never had any issues with and like a lot. When I started looking and decided on the Brymen, I was shocked with the prices of used Flukes. I like the Brymen as well (though I still need to RTFM on it). I bought the 867 instead of the 869 because it was enough of a bit cheaper and the 869 didn't seem to offer anything I needed over the 867.
 
About 6 months ago I bought a Fluke 8060A in almost mint condition. It hasn't been calibrated for a few years now, but compared to some current lab equipment I have access to, it still seems to be doing fine. Got it for 50 EUR.

I have a scope, but also having a multimeter that can actually measure voltages at higher frequencies makes me more at ease. Sadly, I haven't found a contemporary multimeter that comes close to this part of the Fluke 8060A spec, and I've looked. These things are simply engineered and built properly...

They are still out there, for silly money really, just saying.
 
Digital meters are worthless looking at varying voltages. No matter what the brochures tell you. Forget about the bar graphs in the display "to show changing measurement values"
Some have fast bar-graphs - these can show variation a physical meter might not?
Most digital meters are calibrated for 50 or 60 Hz. Not even sure if there is a specification available for other frequencies.
50 to 400Hz is the usual minimum range to cover static and vehicle AC systems. May go much higher in practice.
 
Many go up to 1kHz as per spec, but not all.

Fluke 8060A can measure True RMS AC voltages in the 20 Hz to 100 kHz range and besides that, it can measure voltages in dBm referenced to 600 ohm or in dB referenced to a user specified voltage.
 
If you're ok with used, why not get a Fluke? Look on the Bay of Evil for a Fluke 27/FM - the US military surplussed a few zillion of them ten or so years ago, and there are plenty available for well under $100. It's about the size of a brick, and can double as a blunt force weapon in a pinch, but is a very reliable meter.

IMG_8709.jpg


-Pat
 
I hadn't seen those. I have a UT61E (the early version, not a 'plus'). Is the input protection genuinely improved on the 161? I like the 61 a lot so yours sounds like a really good recommendation if the modifications and certification are genuine.
Teardown of a UNI-T UT61E+ True RMS Multimeter
"Unlike the out-going UT61E, the UT61E+ is not independently certified. There is no UL or CE logos on the meter. UNI-T does offer a model that is CE certified (UT161E) and the only differences I can see between these two meters, at least from the product manuals, are the inclusion of different type of fuses. For UT61E+, both the 1A and 10A fuses are rated for 240V with a dimension of 6mm in diameter and 25 mm in length. Whereas for the UT161E, it uses a 600mA 1000V fuse for the low current range and the fuse is slightly longer at 6mm x 32mm. For the 10A range the fuse is an 11A 1000V fuse with a much larger 10mm diameter and it’s 38mm in length."
 
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I think that OP have just ask question, and everbody have its own opinions. He don't know what to buy, as he can borrow multimeter from friend. At then end of day if he REALLY need a multimeter he will buy it in local store for 30€ and be happy.

When he get shocked by 230VAC then he will realize that he made a bad choice.

I don't get the OP that opens threads and ask what is better? Orange or Apple? Is windows better that linux?

And at the end of day he will buy nothing and just open new thread and open war discussion what is better.