What is your go to DMM

S

Spiff4565

Active member
I've gone through various inexpensive DMM' over there years. Early on I actually had a analog meter! I'm sure there are some here that had no idea such a thing existed. Right along with a rotary dial phone that was hardwired to the telco.

My current DMM is a Ruoshu 205A and has served my needs fine. I have an older, cheap DMM that has earned its keep based on the convenience its built in trans tester provides.

I have been dying the Zoyi ZT703S. It has a nice display, tone generator and oscilloscope. Perhaps a bit advanced for my needs as related to assembling PCB pedals.

Anyway, what is your preferred or trusted DMM?
 
I use ANENG AN8008 very often. For stuff like pedal building, it is all you can need. Yes, it is cheap but I have no problem with accuracy. I bought it mainly because it has a uA measurement option and I am using it mainly because it also has a capacity measurement option and it is small enough to easily take it with you.
 
Fluke 179, somehow I managed to get one on eBay for $125 brand new many years ago by combining a couple of different promotional deals.
 
For a long time (>20 years?) I've had a Korean made EZ Digital DM311. I don't know what I paid for it but I'm thinking it wasn't very expensive. But it was before you could find a glut of cheap Chinese ones--it was probably the cheapest I could find at the time.

More recently I bought a cheap Chinese one (AstroAI) just to have a backup (and because it was on sale for a great price on a Black Friday). I like it better, as the DM311 requires you to select the range of ohms when measuring, so I keep having to make adjustment. And the new one has a transistor tester, which the old one lacks.

You all have higher end ones--for what I use it for (just checking that I got the right part, and continuity checking), a cheap one suffices.
 
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Many years ago, I lent a good friend a Fluke while he was trying to set up his diesel for biofuel. His car got broken into and it was stolen; he had no sense of what meters cost, and was already upset, so I told him it was no big deal. A bit crushed at the time (didn't have much spare "hobby money") I hit eBay, and found a used, certified Fluke 27/FM for around $100 and went with that—which is still serving me very well.

For my shop, about 10 years ago I bought an Amprobe AM-510 for around $50—it was really great for the $, so I bought a second for the shop, and one for my son. I know my son's is still working fine. Looks like they're around $60 now. They offer more potential measurements than the Fluke I have does, but I've never really been pleased with general multimeters that can measure capacitance, transistors, etc. When I was mainly building stereo stuff, I eventually bought a used (but certified) Agilent 5 1/2 digit multimeter, I was interested in matching resistors for differential balanced circuits; but that's way overkill for what we do here.

The one thing about Flukes, at least the ones I've used, that can easily be improved, is the leads. A few years ago, I got a set of leads that has all sorts of probe attachments, which has been super useful, and I think cost $25 or so.
 
spi said:
You all have higher end ones--for what I use it for (just checking that I got the right part, and continuity checking), a cheap one suffices.
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+1 fellow cheapy user

(is AUD$60 cheap?)
not sure if mine is a "good one" or not, originally bought it from local hobby shop to measure plate voltages on amp builds, before i had even thought about building pedals...
but it's noted as Cat III, 1000V max, 10M input impedance, does some things automatically, Hz mode was helpful when dialing in a few modulation builds, hfE for ballpark gains, and with some vero rigs, it's helped me measure JFETs, germanium transistors and diodes, no worries.

i'm wondering what i'm missing out on by not having a super duper.
 
Feral Feline said:
Accuracy, reliability, perhaps longevity and lastly features.
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understood, i get what you're saying, but i guess i'm making a point/query about diminishing returns in the context of building analog guitar pedals..

do i really need a mercedes G wagon to pickup 3 bags of potting mix when a 30 year old toyota will achieve the same end result?

like yeah the G wagon will definitely get me to bunnings and back faster, might even feel like a boss driving one, those electronic tailgate/boot open/close features look pretty cool - would make it even quicker and easier to load the vehicle, but at the end of the day, both are gonna make it home with 3 bags of potting mix.

i'm yet to approach a build where i was like "geez i wish i had a better multimeter." - because every circuit problem ever has been caused by me being a spud. not because of an ungilded multimeter
 
owlexifry said:
understood, i get what you're saying, but i guess i'm making a point/query about diminishing returns in the context of building analog guitar pedals..

do i really need a mercedes G wagon to pickup 3 bags of potting mix when a 30 year old toyota will achieve the same end result?

like yeah the G wagon will definitely get me to bunnings and back faster, might even feel like a boss driving one, those electronic tailgate/boot open/close features look pretty cool - would make it even quicker and easier to load the vehicle, but at the end of the day, both are gonna make it home with 3 bags of potting mix.

i'm yet to approach a build where i was like "geez i wish i had a better multimeter." - because every circuit problem ever has been caused by me being a spud. not because of an ungilded multimeter
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I'm with you and I get what you are saying.

That's exactly why I've got two cheap DMMs and "eventually" may upgrade ( ie never or maybe if/when one of mine dies).

Nonetheless, I apologise as I did read your post incorrectly — you specified your "not having a Super Duper" :

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I encourage making one on vero or perf ! 😜

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Uni-t 61e+ is as much money as I could justify dropping on one. It gets the job done but I wouldn’t trust it with mains.
 
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