Multimeter recommendations?

[OffshoreGas]

I had a bag of fluke meters till they were nicked, I now have three Mastec meters including an amp, continuity and multi. An electrical engineer friend of mine checked two of them over using his reference test gear and said they were fine for what I needed and great value and they have been for the past six years or so. Are they as well made, function rich or as accurate as a Fluke? No but they don't really need to be.

With Fluke etc you’re not paying for improved accuracy and stability you’re paying for the engineering/testing/design that stops the thing killing you.

 

[gmartine]

With Fluke etc you’re not paying for improved accuracy and stability you’re paying for the engineering/testing/design that stops the thing killing you.

They are CAT 3 - 600V

 

[OffshoreGas]

They are CAT 3 - 600V

They’ve got CAT 3 600v stamped on them, even if they are CAT 3 that’s a minimum standard. Fluke etc far exceed this.

 

[gmartine]

They’ve got CAT 3 600v stamped on them, even if they are CAT 3 that’s a minimum standard. Fluke etc far exceed this.

It's industrially rated equipment I grant you but that's the point isn't it? CAT 4 isn't domestic.

 

[OffshoreGas]

It's industrially rated equipment I grant you but that's the point isn't it? CAT 4 isn't domestic.

The problem is the cheap Chinese gear isn’t actually tested/designed to meet the CAT safety standards. The same way they all carry CE marks but very few if any have been through any sort of conformance testing.

Some things don’t really matter, how much damage can say a battery drill do but if you’re going to be poking it in things with 240v you want to know it’s safe/tested.

Sooner or later you’ll check an AC voltage with the leads in the current measurement terminals, we’ve all done it. With a decent quality instrument with fused protection and isolation slots etc you’re looking at a new fuse or possibly a new meter. With the cheap Chinese crap you may well be picking shards of glass/plastic out your face.

Would you buy a Chinese £300 combo boiler and install it in a customers house?

 

[fixitflav]

Personally I’d chuck that in the bin, having seen the charred remains of several no name multi meters it’s not something to mess about with.

Personally, I'm not going to do that, any more than you're likely to bin yours. The charred ones might have been because the user did something crazy. Mine is quite adequate for what I and I suspect heating guys and domestic electricians would use it for. It says it's OK for 600 volt, AC and DC. Somebody working on high voltage is in a different ballgame.

Sooner or later you’ll check an AC voltage with the leads in the current measurement terminals, we’ve all done it.

Not with my meter you wouldn't. It only has voltage terminals, current measurement just uses the clamp, ideal for eg vehicle alternator output.

 

[gmartine]

It's fair to say that the protection claims made by many budget Chinese makers should be taken with a pinch of salt, absolutely but some aren't as bad as they used to be like touting CAT 4 when they were 3 or even 2. Makers like Mastec and Uni-T I think are OK or in my respect good enough. Would I use them if I did commercial/industrial, absolutely not, I haven't had an event in the years of ownership but if I'm unlucky enough to be on the wrong end of a lightning strike when servicing a Chinese boiler, even a Fluke wouldn't protect me from that.

 

[OffshoreGas]

Personally, I'm not going to do that, any more than you're likely to bin yours. The charred ones might have been because the user did something crazy. Mine is quite adequate for what I and I suspect heating guys and domestic electricians would use it for. It says it's OK for 600 volt, AC and DC. Somebody working on high voltage is in a different ballgame.

Not with my meter you wouldn't. It only has voltage terminals, current measurement just uses the clamp, ideal for eg vehicle alternator output.

Would you fit a £2-300 Chinese combi boiler?

 

[OffshoreGas]

It's fair to say that the protection claims made by many budget Chinese makers should be taken with a pinch of salt, absolutely but some aren't as bad as they used to be like touting CAT 4 when they were 3 or even 2. Makers like Mastec and Uni-T I think are OK or in my respect good enough. Would I use them if I did commercial/industrial, absolutely not, I haven't had an event in the years of ownership but if I'm unlucky enough to be on the wrong end of a lightning strike when servicing a Chinese boiler, even a Fluke wouldn't protect me from that.

A multi meter is a magic box of tricks and technology, our earnings and safety is based on the quality of what’s inside it.

Some products are expensive because you’re buying a lifestyle brand (Apple) some products are expensive because you’re buying quality and sound engineering (Hilti).

Most normal people do not have the skills to know the difference between a well and poorly designed device. Given your talking about £100 between Fluke and Uni-T it doesn’t seem unreasonable especially given most meters last at lest 5 years, I’ve got a fluke 87 I’ve used most days that must be 10 years old.

Personally I don’t buy anything that my safety relies upon from an unknown source for the same reason I go to the Dr to get medication rather than a back alley somewhere.

 

[gmartine]

A multi meter is a magic box of tricks and technology, our earnings and safety is based on the quality of what’s inside it.

Some products are expensive because you’re buying a lifestyle brand (Apple) some products are expensive because you’re buying quality and sound engineering (Hilti).

Most normal people do not have the skills to know the difference between a well and poorly designed device. Given your talking about £100 between Fluke and Uni-T it doesn’t seem unreasonable especially given most meters last at lest 5 years, I’ve got a fluke 87 I’ve used most days that must be 10 years old.

Personally I don’t buy anything that my safety relies upon from an unknown source for the same reason I go to the Dr to get medication rather than a back alley somewhere.

You're over egging the pudding a little, first it was a face full of glass and now it's back room Dr. My safety relies on me not making mistakes first and foremost, secondly I'm mostly poking around low volatge PCB's and a bit of live domestic mains switching. On the odd occasion I have electricuted myself I usually haven't had a meter in my hand and I've owned Flukes they are very good meters but to replace like for like at the time was more than I was prepared to spend and I haven't been disappointed.
I think judging by your moniker you base your opinion by working on industrial systems where safety and other peoples welfare are paramount as they should be. I'm made my purchase judgement and decided a lesser meter was adequate for the risks I was undertaking, which I don't think are particularly considerable or comparible.

 

[fixitflav]

Would you fit a £2-300 Chinese combi boiler?

Not sure it's relevant, but no. I would only fit a combi boiler in exceptional circs, Chinese or otherwise. I think combis are a bad idea unless unavoidable. I might fit a Chinese heat-only boiler, if after some investigation it looked OK (that's in my own property, I'm retired and didn't work as a heating engineer). But it's harder to change a boiler than it is a failed multimeter.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Would you fit a £2-300 Chinese combi boiler?

you already do where are most of the parts made

 

[OffshoreGas]

you already do where are most of the parts made

There is a massive difference between manufactured in China to European QA/engineering standards and a Chinese product. Some very higher quality products come out of China but only if you specify them exactly.

After 20 years of having electronic equipment manufactured in SE Asia I haven’t seen much change in this. We couldn’t make much of what they produce but they are masters of reading between the lines.

Don’t explicitly say you want component xyz fitting/used you will get the cheapest part they think will do the same job.

They also completely ignore the whole CE/BS-EN safety standards because they know there is almost no chance of come back.

 

[OffshoreGas]

Not sure it's relevant, but no. I would only fit a combi boiler in exceptional circs, Chinese or otherwise. I think combis are a bad idea unless unavoidable. I might fit a Chinese heat-only boiler, if after some investigation it looked OK (that's in my own property, I'm retired and didn't work as a heating engineer). But it's harder to change a boiler than it is a failed multimeter.

It just seems strange to me, very few people would go on eBay and buy a non name boiler part and install it in a customers appliance yet they’d happily poke a £15 meter in places where there are voltages that would easily kill you.

A designer t-shirt or £1000 phone basically does the same job as a £20 equivalent. In other situations your safety can be entirely dependant on a product motorcycle helmets, safety goggles, car tyres etc. In those situations I’m happy to pay a little extra for what I see as worth paying for.

 

[Burger]

you already do where are most of the parts made

And multimeters

 

[fixitflav]

It just seems strange to me, very few people would go on eBay and buy a non name boiler part and install it in a customers appliance yet they’d happily poke a £15 meter in places where there are voltages that would easily kill you.

OK, you do it your way, I'll do it mine! I don't think there's any chance of my meter telling me something isn't live when it is, so risking death. If the meter fails completely, you know about it and think of something else.
Incidentally, out of curiosity, how would you measure a current of a few 100 amps without breaking the circuit? Not with any of the meters advertised here.

 

[OffshoreGas]

OK, you do it your way, I'll do it mine! I don't think there's any chance of my meter telling me something isn't live when it is, so risking death. If the meter fails completely, you know about it and think of something else.
Incidentally, out of curiosity, how would you measure a current of a few 100 amps without breaking the circuit? Not with any of the meters advertised here.

As you say it’s your life you’re putting in danger. There is however every chance a multi meter will indicate zero volts when a voltage is present if for example you have the leads in the wrong terminals, the meter is on the wrong range/setting, there is a break in a test lead etc. That’s exactly why it’s considered very bad practice to prove dead with a multi meter and not a test lamp.

Want to measure 100A, you’re more than likely to use a clamp meter. Which is non contact so any old junk is fine.

 

[macka09]

Has anyone used one of the Regin multimeters?

 

[Harvest Fields]

Which one?

 

[Burger]

I haven’t, but on a different note, I believe offshoregas might have been on about this?
https://content.fluke.com/promotion...dmm/fluke_dmm-chfr/files/safetyguidelines.pdf

Also check out this little multimeter:
DHS Spares, buy now at dhsspares.co.uk

 

[OffshoreGas]

If there’s any chance your going to be sticking a meter anywhere near mains voltage pay a little bit extra and buy from a recognised brand.

You wouldn’t buy a car seat for your kid, a boiler to fit in a customers house or a smoke alarm from a knock off ebay seller so why would you buy a meter you rely on for your safety from one?

Buy a Fluke 110 series and you’ll still be using it in 10 years.