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Old 07-22-2010, 01:24 AM
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RitchieMars RitchieMars is offline
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Multimeters?

After working on my Admiral for awhile, I quickly came to realize that my $20 analog Greenlee would not suffice. I'm looking around for good deals on quality digital multimeters that can handle basic television repair work, and of course be a natural for any work I should do on radios. Are there any in the $50 price range or less that would be suitable?

And just wondering, what meters do you guys prefer in general?
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Old 07-22-2010, 11:17 AM
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The best all purpose (and affordable) meter would be from Harbor Freight:

http://www.harborfreight.com/ac-dc-d...ter-37772.html

A few years back, there was a page where a guy compared this to his Fluke. It held up pretty well, until you got into the <5% accuracy range. But for $20, you will not find a better deal. Tests all the voltages and resistances you would need to radio and tv work.
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Old 07-22-2010, 07:27 PM
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RitchieMars RitchieMars is offline
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At that price, I should have started with one of those all along! But yeah, I just bought one so I could have it here sooner better than later. I'm beyond tired of not being able to take any accurate measurements and having to do so much guesswork...
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Old 07-26-2010, 12:14 AM
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The best DMM I have ever used (and I still do use) is a Beckman Tech 310. It has not been made for probably 15-20 years, though.

I have a few of the Harbor Freight DMMs that often go on sale for $3 each, and it is certainly usable for basic stuff.
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Old 07-26-2010, 01:36 PM
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Don't bother with the $3 Harbor Freight meters, I don't think they can even measure any resistors over 1 meg (the $20 model will do up to 20meg).
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Old 07-26-2010, 09:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV View Post
The best DMM I have ever used (and I still do use) is a Beckman Tech 310. It has not been made for probably 15-20 years, though.

I have a few of the Harbor Freight DMMs that often go on sale for $3 each, and it is certainly usable for basic stuff.
I lucked out and got a MIB Beckman 4410 - their TOTL True-RMS "handheld" - from a eBayer - for $13, including shipping! It eats batteries, but I love the 4-1/2 digit display. It's one use is measuring those tiny 1% resistors. I hate having to figure out the colors - is that red or orange? Measuring a 1% resistor is a breeze with it. I use my Fluke 75 for 99% of my measuring needs.

As for the $3 HF meters, I have about 30 of them, all "MEET USA" brand - got them in Dubai at their 5&10 store. I paid 5 Dirhams each, or about $1.36 each, with an alkaline battery that was actually pretty good. I checked them for accuracy - 50VDC from my Fluke 332B measured +/- .5V, or about 1% basic DC accuracy. AC was off by about 3-1/2% at 60Hz, and 12% out at 400Hz. Resistance is the worst, about 10 percent off across the board. Still, they are ok for measuring use with the truck, or as a go/no-go tester for Christmas lights. I've yet to toss one out, which is what my original plans were should one fail. But for regular use, these are useless.

Cheers,
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