Need a new multimeter and holy crap what a rabbit hole this is
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I was planning on treating myself to a Fluke, but finally wanted one with a DC clamp meter (and ideally logging). The 325 seems great for this, but loses fine measurements for electronics use (no mV/mA measurements) :(
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Okay, punting on the DC clamp meter functionality for now and down to the Fluke 117 and the EEVBlog/Brymen BM235
BM235 benefits:
117 benefits:
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@christianselig imagine being the kind of person that just buys a multimeter and goes on with their life. Wouldn’t they be amazing?
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@maddox I envy this person. Electricity scares me too much to be cavalier with choosing this stuff haha
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@christianselig Right? They all take a million AA batteries or they use bizarre, super expensive probes.
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@christianselig Fluke. You can’t go wrong with Fluke. I’ve had mine for 20+ years, dropped it off ladders, works perfectly.
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@Bryson I wish they had ones more geared toward general electronics use but also all in one. I wanted something like a 325 (I've wanted a DC clamp meter for so long haha) but it loses mV/mA measurements
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@christianselig I see the problem. Most people I know consider their clamp meter to be a separate thing.
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@Bryson I'm learning I probably should too haha
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@christianselig
True rms? How many digits? Combined AC+DC? Safety rating/max voltage? How loud is the continuity beeper? Capacitance? Frequency? Thermocouple? Averaging? Math functions? Data logging? Computer connectivity? Correct shade of yellow? 🙃
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@darryl_ramm Replied to the main post with what I'm looking for, but for the most part just think “electronics multimeter" rather than like HVAC, but I'd really love a clamp meter and data logging functionality. Maybe I just need multiple devices
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@christianselig
Ok I was being facetious about all the crap that folks never use. I own multiple Fluke meters, including a high end logging one, and a hand held Keysight LCR meter. Loop current metering is a mess. I end up borrowing probes or meters, either need high range (e.g. ~100A DC motor current… i440 probe is fine for that) or DC low-current (high-end scope probe). One device/probe is not enough, you may be the same unless you know the range and AC/DC needs and can find an exact meter.
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@darryl_ramm That's fair, I might have created too fine a search parameter haha
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@christianselig I’ve always liked Fluke, but it’s also been like a decade since I’ve touched hardware, so take that with a lot of salt 😅
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@christianselig
Personally as a Fluke owner I'd go with the Dave-o-meter.
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@darryl_ramm Elaborate
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@christianselig I got the Brymen and would choose it again. It just doesn’t make any financial sense to get the Fluke as someone who doesn’t earn money with the tool.
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@lx The price difference isn't that much, it's more that I'd expect the Fluke to last forever and I'd have less of an expectation of that with the Brymen haha
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@christianselig I would guess a fluke that completely matches the features of the Brymen would be more expensive. But from what I can tell you already discovered the infamous EEVBlog, I’m sure he has a good review or even comparison 😁
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@christianselig what’s so nice about the one being a fluke? I’ve never touched a multimeter in my life
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@DiodeHyena Fluke is kind of the gold standard brand for electrical measuring equipment and has been for decades
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@christianselig I started out with a 20 EUR meter. Used it until the dial went bust. Now I have a 100 EUR meter which has slightly more features (Voltcraft 292). If I were to earn money with this, I might consider Fluke, but as it stands it is absolutely great for being a hobbyist tool. So many features, even got a clamp meter.
EDIT corrected scope to meter. But scopes are another interesting topic... lots of great stuff below 500 EUR!
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@christianselig or treat yourself to a Pokit Pro.
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@akafester I don't want to have to rely on an app for a multimeter
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@christianselig I don’t think the 117 has uA, so don’t know that it’s what you are after.
I have the EEVBlog BM786 and the Fluke 179 with the EDA2 kit.
The EDA kit is nice as it has additional thin probes you can push straight into bread board holes, but ultimately, I prefer the BM unless I need to provide certified measurements, which I don’t.
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@bjkirton Microvolts would be cool but yeah not really needed. Why do you prefer the BM overall?
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@christianselig Honestly, the main reason is because it remembers the function you were last using when you turn the dial.
I bought the Fluke because it’s a Fluke, and I could. But I have nothing to recommend it for other than I do quite like the EDA2 kit probes. Both sets are better for electronics than standard MM probes but both sets are not exactly exclusive to Fluke and the BM ones have the removable banana plug things that I find pretty useful as well.
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@christianselig I think I would rather 2 or 3 BMs than 1 Fluke as I often need current and voltage at the same time.
I also bought an oscilloscope which is the best thing ever, and if I could do it over, would spend what I did on the Fluke on a waveform generator :)
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@bjkirton What do you use the oscilloscope for? I've heard a lot of recommendations for those but I've never personally needed one, wonder if I'm missing out
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@christianselig My son got into robotics and then I decided to do a Mech Eng degree for fun with a robotics major and so playing around with Arduino’s and basically anything with electronics and the o-scope lets you actually see what’s happening.
Seeing an input signal and an output at the same time and being able to see the transients etc really helps learning and understanding.
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@christianselig When dealing with power being on/off and how many volts, MM can be fine, but any type of signalling, amplification, etc and the o-scope makes it 100x easier to see and understand.
I got the Siglent 1104X-E and did the firmware hacks to get all the features. No regats.
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@bjkirton interesting, interesting. Thank you!
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@christianselig Fluke, Klein, and Greenlee are all good. Greenlee is what my licensed journeyman and master electricians typically prefer.
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@quarterswede The electricians on Reddit seem to hate Klein haha
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@christianselig There’s a lot of hate for Apple too …
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@quarterswede Not for reliability reasons though
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@christianselig If it works its a Fluke!
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@christianselig I have and use a Fluke 117 and love it. No regrets.
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@christianselig I think this is the first time I have abjectly disagreed with you. I’m a big fan of the "buy cheap/used first for tools" if it breaks from use, or that will no longer do the job, then buy the swanky one.
But I also have ADHD and switch hobbies constantly. Possibly related?
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@nerdwoman hmm what part do you disagree with? I typically follow your philosophy too, my existing cheap old multimeter just sucks haha
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@christianselig I think mentioning Fluke right off the bat made me cringe a bit in price reaction, but I also somehow missed that your previous one died. A two-for-one, my bad
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@nerdwoman oh no all good! I would probably react similarly haha
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@christianselig Heh, went down that rabbit hole a decade ago and landed on a totally overkill Brymen BM867. Some of the overkill features have come in handy later though. No idea what the hobbyist sweetspot is currently.
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@joakimfors The Brymens look super nice! I wish they had one that combined a little clamp meter too but I might just pick up two of their separate devices. Everything on EEVBlog seems to be out of stock though and I love the blue ;_;
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@christianselig Yeah, there's always one feature missing... that you don't really need but really want. 😅
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@christianselig ... it's starting to come back to me now... watching DMM reviews and reading eevblog. I remember that one advice was that you often need two MMs so that opens up to get a clamp meter and another one to get some feature overlap... e.g.temp probe is a nice feature to have... which my 867 sadly is missing.
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@joakimfors @christianselig
Oh, thank you, thank you...
During various tool box consolidations over the last year (in my Swedish death cleaning era), discovered at least 3 aged multimeters and one oscilloscope accumulated over a 40-year career. All of them had something wrong from wide-spread damage from corroded batteries to probably got dropped somewhere back in time and broke welds/connectors, etc. Back in the day, it was HP all the way for quality, but definitely not anymore. I've been trying to figure out what to get...
Ordering a Brymen BM867 on the strength of your advice/experience. I may be on the other side of halfway through, but I still need a multimeter for ongoing hobbies and repairs.
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@CynthesisToday @christianselig Nice! Hope you did your own research as I'm most definitely NOT an authority on the subject. 😅
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@joakimfors @christianselig
Never even heard of Brymen before. Reviews of the brand, including this model, are consistently good. I'm not an electrical engineer (EE)... I'm a chemical engineer. Not looking for an EE brag-able device. Yours has been working just fine for you for 10 years? Plus reviews? Sounds good to me.
Now that I know a major failure mode, battery corrosion, I'll take the batteries out if I'm not using it in the hopes that this one will last for my remaining life...
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@CynthesisToday @christianselig Yeah, mine's been fine for my modest needs and they seem to be the go-to brand for EEVBlog which is good enough for me. I just didn't want to seem like an expert on the subject. :blobcat_winking:
Happy if I could point you in the right direction though. :ablobcathappypaws:
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@christianselig I had the best deal of my auction buy days with 4 Fluke meters for $20Cdn. Then I spent $15 each for probes. After that, just the odd 9volt battery for when you leave it on forever, and the odd fuse when your brain wasn’t thinking🙃. I dream of a clamp meter every 5 years or so, but you don’t need it. That is why the great-descendants of this multimeter still are for sale.
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@christianselig I have a fluke 115, overall nicest multimeter I have ever owned. But the eevblog 121gw that I bought last year is probably better value for money.
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@christianselig I suspect this doesn’t belong in a Fluke-level conversation - but this is the latest meter I’ve obtained for use mostly on my workbench for general electronics. The basic scope in it might be useful for you or prove fun to explore. https://a.co/d/4I17LJu
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@halfpress Dang that's pretty spiffy. What do you use the oscilloscope for?
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@christianselig Nothing too major - the occasional probe to see what signals look like on retro devices I might be restoring or simpler Arduino-type stuff I'm working on sometimes. Things that aren't likely to be stupidly fast (so retro things work well). I have a larger, faster scope as well - but it's developing some issues in the rotary encoders of its knobs and the portability on this seemed nice as a backup.
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@halfpress interesting. Always hear people talk about scopes but have never had one, now I’m curious!
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