[Elecraft] Recommendations for Multimeters

[Don Brown]

Hi
A friend of mine have been having a friendly argument for years about buy=
ing cheap or buying quality. I think it started with 1/4 drill motors abo=
ut 20 years ago but it applies to DMM's also. You can buy a $10 - $20 DMM=
 and it will work fine in most applications and you can buy one for $100+=
 and it will do the same. The difference is how well it is made an how we=
ll it will take abuse.  A quality meter will take a drop off of the bench=
 or ladder and keep on working. Forget and measure 120 AC on ohms and it =
wont bother it. They come with a really nice set of probes that would cos=
t you more than the cheap meter if you bought them separately. You can ge=
t it fixed if it breaks or you can get the parts to do it yourself if you=
 want to. It can be recalibrated if needed and if you look at the specs t=
he better meter is most likely more accurate. There is also the quality f=
eel to a well made piece of gear and something you can depend on. We woul=
dn't be building Elecraft kits if we didn't think that. So that is my arg=
ument for the $100+ DMM
My friend's argument is I can buy the cheap meter when it breaks go get a=
nother one. I can do that 4 or 5 times and still come out ahead. They are=
 throw away items. I guess he has a point but there is the hassle of gett=
ing another one just when you need it. =20
I am not saying the cheap meter wont last a long time if you take care of=
 it, just the odds of it getting broken or burned out are higher than the=
 better meter. I have several Fluke meters, one is very old (20+ years) t=
hat still meet all specs. This is typical for the quality meters.
My preference is a good quality DMM like Fluke Tektronix or Beckman and I=
 don't mind paying a little more fore something that I will have a long t=
ime. You may feel like my friend and that's OK we all are entitled to our=
 opinion. :-)
BTY I have a MaKita cordless drill motor He has several $15 Black & Decke=
r's he bought in garage sales. To each his own.
Don Brown
KD5NDB


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