Need to buy a new digital multimeter. Only really use it for general voltage and continuity checking so don't need anthing very fancy but am looking for something rugged and reliable.

Seem to be a number of low cost options for around £16 at places like Maplin but are they any good. Wondered if I would be better looking for a used Fluke or similar one on ebay but I suspect even second hand they will be more than I want to spend.

Any recommendations?

John.

I have this one and for car building it works just fine, dont really need anything else for working on the car electrics

DIGITAL LCD MULTIMETER VOLTMETER AMMETER VOLT OHM METER | eBay

i got one off ebay for £3 and it works fine and if i drop it im not bothered as i can get a new one. only issue is it takes 2 weeks to get stuff from china. which is faster than ive had stuff from some kit car manufacturers to be honest lol

I have used THIS cheap multimeter from Maplin for years.



They're so cheap I have one in the house and one in the garage. Never had a problem with either.

HTH

Neil

I would recommend any sub £5 multimeter for working on the car, then if it falls into the fan when you're checking the rad temperature sensor or step on it accidentally when working on a motorbike, it doesn't matter.

Guess how many I've gone through :-) You would have to go through a large number of mishaps before you got anywhere nearing the price of a fluke, which you would probably take better care of.

Edited to add... I'd go analogue by the way, it's easier to see a needle swing from a distance and funny angle than an LCD display, and most of the time you will be looking for yes or no answers.

Regards

Geoff

[Edited on 8/11/11 by locogeoff]

A super dooper cheap one has served me for years, I do have an analogue one that comes into its own if checking things such as ABS rings as you can see the needle flick as you spin the wheel, a digital one would not understand this.

So if I had to have just one device then this one Analog Multimeter Multitester Multi Read Circuit Tester | eBay

Regards Mark

The Green one sold by Maplin is very good it has a data hold button
Link


For autoranging the Uni-T brand are good the UT203 is handy as will measure DC current with the inductive pick up.

New UNI-T UT203 AC / DC AMP clamp meter UT-203 | eBay

Maplin on sell the UT201 which is a more basic version that only measurs AC current by inductive pick-up.

I find Digital meters work fine testing ABS sensors inductive or Hall Effect.

Hall effect sensor need great care to follow the correct procedure when testing or they can be instantly destroyed, with Hall Effect never measure the resistance always voltage or current.