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Multi-meters - Recommendations ?
Toprivetguns - 12/1/12 at 10:45 AM

Morning all,

Im looking to buy a decent multi-meter (£30-£60) oiro and with such a wide variety on the market, I was curious if you guys have any input on brands, reliability etc ?

Cheers

loggyboy - 12/1/12 at 10:58 AM

Any reason for not getting a billy basic £5 one from maplin/toolstation etc?

Unless your doing complex electronics, theyre more than enough to check car circuits etc

Toprivetguns - 12/1/12 at 11:01 AM

quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
Any reason for not getting a billy basic £5 one from maplin/toolstation etc?

Unless your doing complex electronics, theyre more than enough to check car circuits etc
.


Ive been through two fairly cheap one's already im afraid, by no fault of my own. If you can recommend a durable cheap one im all ears !

[Edited on 12/1/12 by Toprivetguns]

Myke 2463 - 12/1/12 at 11:03 AM

Fluke will last for years ( mine is 18 yrs old and used every day - good as new ) and accurate, beware of lookalikes.

cliftyhanger - 12/1/12 at 11:08 AM

I use the cheap yellow ones, usually under a fiver. I work on the principle that when I tread/drop/hit/drown etc the thing it WILL break, and this way it doesn't cost much. In fact a couple came in rubber cases, so should last a little better. And accurate enough for car stuff.
Not sure your budget will buy a "proper" meter

loggyboy - 12/1/12 at 11:09 AM

ive had this one for about 10 years, melted one set of leads on a 240V short (Stupid mistake that left me tingling!), but they still worked after! Been through a couple of 9v batterys in those 10 years and its still going strong!

http://www.maplin.co.uk/domestic-multimeter-37279

Toprivetguns - 12/1/12 at 11:19 AM

Cheers for the input guys !

splitrivet - 12/1/12 at 11:37 AM

Flukes are the dogs but you'd be hard pressed to get one under £150 ish, I agree with the el cheapo option.
Cheers,
Bob

jossey - 12/1/12 at 11:38 AM

ive had cheap ones and expensive ones "borrowed" from work.

broke them all so i guess cheap is best.

I normally break them standing on them or something like that. next had one actually die on me????

the screwfix ones are ok but not as cheap as the ones off ebay. i bought 2 including postage for £9 from china.

one died when i dropped it the other still works ok.

blakep82 - 12/1/12 at 11:47 AM

http://www.maplin.co.uk/search?criteria=multimeter

quite a range there, i got one of the ones in a blue rubber case from maplin years ago. does the job, i remmeber it being less than £20 though, i guess thats the way things are though.

the one i got doesn't seem to be on there
similar to this one
http://www.maplin.co.uk/31-2-digit-digital-multimeter-4407

might actually be that model... not sure. same manufacturer though

britishtrident - 12/1/12 at 11:53 AM

Not worth spending much over £20 Uni-T is a good Chinese brand If you want an autoranging one the has both a DC and AC clamp meter then the UNi-T UT203 is a general purpose multimeter will also measure alternator and starter current can be found on Ebay or try this UK seller he delivers very quickly at a very compedative price.
http://www.heliguy.com/Extras/RC-Helicopter-Tools/UNI-T-Digital-Clamp-Multimeters/


Maplin sell the Uni-T UT201 a good meter but that model only has AC clamp function.


Also if you want to measure current be aware that most multimeters are fused at 10 amp which restricts their usefulness for car use, for car fault finding I use these Car Fuse Current Amp Meter Standard/Mini Kit 2 Meters | eBay

l0rd - 12/1/12 at 12:30 PM

I am looking to get myself one of these

linky

tegwin - 12/1/12 at 03:46 PM

I would get one from a reasonably "reputable supplier"... just in the hope that it will be of a reasonable quality in terms of callibration.

I have this one Rapid Electronics

Does everything I need..... continuity tester is the most used tool..... Comes with a temp probe... really handy for setting up various cars of the years :-)

rusty nuts - 12/1/12 at 08:51 PM

A little bit over your budget but so much more versatile than just a mutimeter have a look at a Power Probe 3 for about £90

iank - 12/1/12 at 09:56 PM

I've got one of these, perfectly happy with it, but maplin seem to have moved on to newer models

http://www.maplin.co.uk/ut105-automotive-multi-purpose-multimeter-46449

ashg - 24/1/12 at 08:37 PM

i have got a fluke87v for electronics and a uni-t for the garage. on occasions i have compared them and the range and accuracy on the fluke wipes the floor compared to the uni-t but then it cost over ten times what the uni-t did, unless your measurements need to be accurate into in the milivolt range you only need a uni-t.

to be honest the uni-t was a really good buy for the abuse it has taken, i even managed to partially run it over once rolling the car forward. when it wouldnt roll any further i realised the multimeter was acting as a wheel chock.

its the older model of this but its essentially the same
http://www.maplin.co.uk/ut50c-digital-multimeter-with-temperature-and-frequency-46392