Digital Multimeter suggestion wanted

[Terry Sare]

I used a Fluke 8060A ($325) at home for 15 years till the A/D went belly up.
Bought a 29.95 from the local electronic store the other day and it had all
sorts of options. Accurate enough for the house. For work, I bought Tektronics
DVM -- they speced better than the Fluke and were cheaper (umm, bought 25k worth
of equipment at the same time so got a good discount :-) )

Overall, the accuracy of DVMs is good enough that a cheapy will do for home use.
However, they won't survive the abuse the high dollar ones will. And no, of
course I have never, ever misconnected a meter, no, never! :-)


Terry Sare

PS: Just switched to outlook -- please tell me if this has the MS crap attached!
-----Original Message-----
From:     diy_efi-owner at esl.eng.ohio-state.edu at dell_unix
Sent:     Wednesday, May 06, 1998 9:12 AM
To:     Sare, Terry; diy_efi at efi332.eng.ohio-state.edu at dell_unix
Subject:     RE: Digital Multimeter suggestion wanted

>Aside from their durability, the one thing Fluke meters are noted for
>is their very high accuracy, which cheaper meters generally can't
>approach.  When I used to be a physics student, I don't

I cannot argue with that, while I haven't had it calibrated, it certainly
seems accurate.  However both my Radio Shack bench top model and the old
fluke, at least on the voltage scale, display the same readings for the
same voltage.  I never tested the other scales.

>accuracy is probably not worth the cost, and I would go for the Radio
>Shack unit.

True, maybe the cost differential on the accuracy is not the best argument
- but the durability sure is.  Being clumsey, I can appreciate how the
fluke "bounces" rather than "dissintegrates".  BTW, I have both meters...
the bench unit I use in the garage and the Fluke goes out of the house -
survives the toolbox.


Frederic Breitwieser
Bridgeport, CT 06606

Homebrew Automotive Website:
http://www.xephic.dynip.com/

1993 Supercharged Lincoln Continental
1989 HMMWV
2000 Buick-Powered Mid-Engined Sports Car

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