• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Cheapo multimeters

The cheap small "brick" multimeters are available everywhere and are more or less junk. I've used several of them and they're super inaccurate and/or the dial stops working properly, so you have to swipe it back and forth to get it to work. Everywhere that sells multimeters usually has one with their own brand name slapped on. Walmart, Harbor Freight and Tractor Supply sell them in different colors. I've seen blue, red and black ones.

Walmart used to have one of their own brand multimeters that was $20 that was pretty good. The probes were good and it had a temperature gauge in farenheit.
 
See the eeVblog YT channel. There are a couple of good videos on this.

DMMs in general have gotten a lot better over the years. 6000 count multimeters are now pretty close to the "budget" brand.

As a matter of fact, Dave reviews a new model today.
 
Last edited:
I don't mean under 10$. 20 - 40$, closer to 20$. A video I watched mentioned the Vici brand iirc. I have an NJTY in my watch list.

I currently have a Craftsman unit that's about 5 years old, but I haven't used it for electronic work at all (yet). I also have a small Radio Shack unit that I can't find at the moment. It also needs (mechanical) repair. Also have an analog Archer? unit I bought about 25 years ago. I figured I'll likely add something before long.
 
I have 2ea cheap $9 ones from Harbor Freight. They work well enough. They are within 1 digit of my 5 digit Fluke. The Ohms usually start with about 2 to 4 ohms with no zero.
I've had them for about 3 years. The only one I've replaced the battery in was one I left it in ohms for over a month. I don't worry about dropping it or otherwise blowing it up. They do much more than what I payed for. They only have 2 AC scales.
Dwight
 
The cheap small "brick" multimeters are available everywhere and are more or less junk. I've used several of them and they're super inaccurate and/or the dial stops working properly, so you have to swipe it back and forth to get it to work.

Cheap multimeters with analog meters are junk (as are older analog ones that haven't been well preserved), but I've had mostly positive experiences with dirt-cheap digital units. Have one I bought at Fry's a few years ago for less than $20 that even has a frequency counter. (Only goes up to 20-something hz, but that's still useful.) Only bad thing about it is it uses watch batteries, but that's my fault for getting one so small.

Now, sure, I imagine that these things are pretty far from "laboratory accurate", but if you just need to check the voltages from a PSU or get a sanity check on whether you interpreted the markings on a resistor correctly they're fine.
 
My knock-around DMM that I picked up 6 years ago is this one or its first cousin. It's not bad for what it is and the big display even has a backlight. I wish the continuity tester were louder, but that's about my only complaint.

There are better ones today for the same money; just check alienexpress for a bewildering array of choices.

On all of these DMMs, oxidation will creep in the switch contacts, so before you go measuring low-resistance stuff, give the selector knob a twirl or two to knock it off. That even goes for DMMs with gold-plated contacts.
 
That's all I use is cheap DMMs. Right now have a yellow no-name for my general computer/guitar electronics stuff, and then a dirty older red one for my cars. The red one is about 15 years old. The yellow one replaced another one I had that was a lot fancier. The yellow one replaced a 15 year old one that had a built in flashlight and backlit screen.
 
I still have my 90's vintage Fluke 29 series (purchased new). Changed the batteries a few times and I think I had to clean the contacts for the LCD once. Also had to get new probes.
 
I have my trusty Radio Shack DMM that's served me for many years with no issues. I think with the yellow plasticky cover it tries to look something like
a Fluke. I doubt I payed much when I bought it.
 
Dunno about the modern day flukes, I have a Fluke 189 and a Robin 4012 automotive meter bought new years ago and never had a problem with them, And a few other meters i picked up over the years, The Extech meters are supposed to be very good but like most manufactures you can get low end and top of the range meters, Depends on your budget and what features you want in a meter.
 
Do modern day Flukes live up to their legacy? I can't see buying one now that they're no longer products of democratic society.

"A wholly owned subsidiary of Fortive Corporation (NYSE: FTV), Fluke is a multi-national corporation headquartered in Everett, Washington, USA. Manufacturing centers are located in the USA, the UK, Asia and The Netherlands."
 
Back
Top