Buying A Multi-Meter

From someone who uses a meter everyday at work Flukes are great I have many different ones. My meter I use at home for the house and working on this crap is a $12 Craftsman.
 
From someone who uses a meter everyday at work Flukes are great I have many different ones. My meter I use at home for the house and working on this crap is a $12 Craftsman.

But you use a meter every day at work. A novice who does not is more likely to make a mistake and that's where the superior protection of a Fluke, Simpson, Triplett, Agilent, etc. can make the difference between "damn, those fuses are expensive" and a nasty burn or worse.
 
But you use a meter every day at work. A novice who does not is more likely to make a mistake and that's where the superior protection of a Fluke, Simpson, Triplett, Agilent, etc. can make the difference between "damn, those fuses are expensive" and a nasty burn or worse.

My $12 (new) meter is fused and auto ranging. And it only has one voltage setting, it will tell you AC or DC.
 
My vote is for a used fluke, it will probably be the last meter you'll buy. I have an 73 series 2 that I've had since the early 90's, It's a tough little meter. I'm suprised it's still working after what it's been through over the years.
 
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Used Flukes can be had fo for short money, the OP asked about $20-$40 new meters. A hobbyist does not need a $200 Fluke, that $20 Home Depot one is fine. Now a $20 used Fluke is a different story.
 
I recommend a meter with audible annunciator for going through many continuity checks quickly. Great for quickly going through connector pins and conductors and contacts w/o taking ur eyes off of the DUT. I won’t buy a new meter w/o this capability.
 
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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 ,
 
If that is your only forseen usage in the near future, then just get a Harbor Freight meter. However, if you ever do start working on house wiring or tube gear I would definitely recommend stepping up your meter game at that point.
 
My theory on meters is buy the best you can afford. That being said, it hurts a bunch less if a 25 buck Harbor Freight meter gets damaged if the user isn't familiar with using DMM's. For more serious users, a Fluke or Agilent is the way to go as their quality will be far better than the cheaper meters. Among my digital meters, I also have a Simpson 260 Series 6 analog multimeter which is a good meter, but has a lower input impedance and is harder to use than the newer DMM's
 
My theory on meters is buy the best you can afford. That being said, it hurts a bunch less if a 25 buck Harbor Freight meter gets damaged if the user isn't familiar with using DMM's. For more serious users, a Fluke or Agilent is the way to go as their quality will be far better than the cheaper meters. Among my digital meters, I also have a Simpson 260 Series 6 analog multimeter which is a good meter, but has a lower input impedance and is harder to use than the newer DMM's

For higher input impedance, there is the VTVM. Very popular among people who work on vintage equipment.
 
I have Flukes, Beckmans, Harbor Freight Dmms, Simpson 260s, Triplett Analog meter, and a few more. Most of what you are doing doesn’t require too much in the way of a DMM. Run what ya brung!
I rebuilt a Simpson 260 (analog) meter once that had a piece of 12 gauge wire soldered across the fuse when I opened it up! That’s one way of doing it.....
The VTVM was the way to go before the modern high impedance meters came to be. Check the specs.
 
I have a VTVM on my bench that I use for radio alignments but a good DMM will have an 11 megohm per volt input impedance which is about the same as a VTVM and for most things the DMM can be used in place of a VTVM. Also if tube equipment is being serviced, the voltages indicated in the service info will be meant for a meter which has a 20,000 ohms per volt input resistance which means that when using a modern DMM the voltage readings in some instances could be higher than what is shown in the service info due to circuit loading differences between meters.
 
I like VTVMs. VTVMs like me. I like old Tektronix Analog scopes. I like DMMs. I love pizza. They all work for me. Most of my equipment is a collection of cast off old surplus “stuff”. I would, however, like someone to prove that using a higher input impedance DMM will cause a noticeable difference, even when aligning tube equipment. I don’t mind being proven wrong, either. It’s how you learn. I love all of you folks... just stating an opinion. OK: I’m ready! (Insert Flames Here)
 
parman: I don't know, whether there's an exact rebadge on the US market, but what I typically suggest to hifi hobbyists, who are looking for a priceworthy DMM for various control jobs over here, is the Peaktech 2005 (https://www.peaktech.de/productdetail/kategorie/digital---handmultimeter/produkt/p-2005.html), because that's a pretty decent entry-level model, available for ca. 30 to 40 Euro and sporting quite a few functions - even incuding inductance measurement, which is a pretty rare feature among the DMMs in general and even more so among the inexpensive models.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
IMHO, beginners should never use the current ranges on any meter. They just shouldn't.

Most people use handheld DVMs, but don't forget you can get some really nice bench meters for cheap, used. My favorites are the HP3468A, the Fluke 8010A, 8012A, 8050A and the old Keithley 175 or 175A. The old Beckman 3010 series was also a good handheld, though not that common. We used to use them at work because they could handle over 1000 volts, unlike most others of the time.
 
Or look for a used Simpson 260.
i wouldn't recommend a 260 because although its a well built meter, it loads the circuit down at 20k Ohms/Volt.
The 260 is a fine meter, but it takes time to learn how to read the different scales. Plus, its only 20,000 ohms/volt, which can lead to in accurate readings in some circuits. Buy a used Fluke with auto ranging. Easy and very accurate. i use an 87 and a 79.
 
I like VTVMs. VTVMs like me. I like old Tektronix Analog scopes. I like DMMs. I love pizza. They all work for me. Most of my equipment is a collection of cast off old surplus “stuff”. I would, however, like someone to prove that using a higher input impedance DMM will cause a noticeable difference, even when aligning tube equipment. I don’t mind being proven wrong, either. It’s how you learn. I love all of you folks... just stating an opinion. OK: I’m ready! (Insert Flames Here)
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.
 
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