Buying A Multi-Meter

What I was taught in electronics courses was the higher input impedance is needed more so in certain RF circuits to avoid loading down the circuit, which prevents you from getting an accurate reading.
Thass my point! And the modern DMMs have even higher input impedance than the VTMs that I love so much.
 
The Harbor Freight CenTech 98674, for example, has a stated input impedance of 10 Megohms.
 
Thanks for all the answers, lots of good ones too. I'm only buying this because one of my vintage TT's has a bad hum and I was told I need to check my ground wire, not just visually but with a meter. So that's what I want to do, don't know how to do it but if I can fix the TT it will be worth a few bucks to buy a meter. Maybe down the road I can use it for something else but I'm no electronics repairman ,

Hey man, you should start a Go Fund me page, then all these people wanting you to buy more meter than you need can donate to your meter fund.

:beerchug:
 
Many good recommendations here. And I understand that you're just looking to check a ground wire on your TT. But consider this: I have a well equipped bench, but for probably 98% of the troubleshooting I do the go to tool is the DMM.

Just something to think about before you buy.
 
Or look for a used Simpson 260.

I used to use a DMM, but these days I use my Simpson 260 95% of the time. Not just for tube stuff, but for pretty much everything. The only time the DMM comes out is if I need to measure frequency, or a capacitor. For high impedance I use a VTVM or just the oscilloscope.

For the OP I suggest to go ahead and buy a cheap DMM. No sense investing a lot of money up front, and once you use it a while you'll know what features you really want/need. Manual range setting is OK. Just make sure you get one which measures high values of resistance, up to the M ohms, some of the ones intended for electricians or automotive techs don't, and aren't useful for electronics. Once you get a better one, you'll find that there's plenty of situations where you may want to use two meters, and having the cheap one around is still useful. It's easy to spend someone else's money for them, but I think unless there's long term plans for a tool, it's best to get just the cheapest thing which will do the job.
 
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For the OP I suggest to go ahead and buy a cheap DMM. No sense investing a lot of money up front, and once you use it a while you'll know what features you really want/need. Manual range setting is OK. Just make sure you get one which measures high values of resistance, up to the M ohms, some of the ones intended for electricians or automotive techs don't, and aren't useful for electronics.
I don't even know what feature I need to use to check my ground wire LOL . M ohms? I have noticed the cheap ones usually say auto testing on the package. One said for hobbies on it, I thought that might be me!
 
I used to use a DMM, but these days I use my Simpson 260 95% of the time. Not just for tube stuff, but for pretty much everything. The only time the DMM comes out is if I need to measure frequency, or a capacitor. For high impedance I use a VTVM or just the oscilloscope.

For the OP I suggest to go ahead and buy a cheap DMM. No sense investing a lot of money up front, and once you use it a while you'll know what features you really want/need. Manual range setting is OK. Just make sure you get one which measures high values of resistance, up to the M ohms, some of the ones intended for electricians or automotive techs don't, and aren't useful for electronics. Once you get a better one, you'll find that there's plenty of situations where you may want to use two meters, and having the cheap one around is still useful. It's easy to spend someone else's money for them, but I think unless there's long term plans for a tool, it's best to get just the cheapest thing which will do the job.

Best advice in this whole thread
:beerchug:
 
I don't even know what feature I need to use to check my ground wire LOL . M ohms? I have noticed the cheap ones usually say auto testing on the package. One said for hobbies on it, I thought that might be me!

Resistance. You don't need M ohms for this job, just the low ohms scale, Rx1, or whatever. Post some links to the home depot website or whatever of what you're considering, and I'll give you a yay or nay.
 
I have a couple of these:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71qDdujsuKL._SL1000_.jpg

Manual ranges. V, I DC and AC, resistance, diode & hfe. No capacitance, inductance or frequency ranges. AC V range is intended for mains, not small signal work.

They cost me a few quid. I think the first one may have been a Christmas special, at £3. The second one maybe £5.

If I need better, I can borrow one of the Flukes from work. I rarely need better.
 
I don't even know what feature I need to use to check my ground wire LOL . M ohms? I have noticed the cheap ones usually say auto testing on the package. One said for hobbies on it, I thought that might be me!
There are lots of videos and “How To” posts on the web. Go forth and study!
 
The Solartron in the middle is my bench meter; it and the Marconi power supply on top of it cost me £15 at a liquidation auction. I also have several portable cheap LCD meters which are fine for pretty much everything I might need a multimeter for.

Solartron.jpg

Despite having little practical use compared to the above, my mint-condition AvoMeter Model 8 is my favourite:

AVO.jpg

Apologies for the rather poor phone pics.
 
Really no bad advice in this thread. Nobody mentions Radio Shack anymore....I have a 30yr old DMM still ticking and pretty accurate as checked by my Fluke.

My only issue with Fluke, is that their meters target a specific professional trade...HVAC, electrician, electronics, etc....so a handyperson that fiddles with HVAC/furnaces, electrical wiring & testing, motors, automobiles, home electronics etc., might have the need for $700 plus for three different Fluke meters. Lower priced companies like Mastech make full featured semi-professional DMM meters with just about everything included in one meter(clamp on, inrush, cap checks, diode, freq monitoring, temps etc). Worth consideration depending on your current or future usage, though likely much more than what the OP had in mind.
 
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