revtothelimit - motorbike forum

I've been buying the cheap £20 multimeters for years, and they're ok, but lack precision and tend not to last very long. The jump up to a fluke device is pretty big, though. Is it worth it for the quality, precision and longevity? I do have a Fluke 240-volt meter and continuity tester, and despite not having looked after it, it's lasted well and is unscathed. It's small potatoes compared to a full fluke multimeter cost wise though.

I use them for car/bike diy, home diy and hobby stuff.



Thanks

dern wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2026 10:44 am I've been buying the cheap £20 multimeters for years, and they're ok, but lack precision and tend not to last very long. The jump up to a fluke device is pretty big, though. Is it worth it for the quality, precision and longevity? I do have a Fluke 240-volt meter and continuity tester, and despite not having looked after it, it's lasted well and is unscathed. It's small potatoes compared to a full fluke multimeter cost wise though.

I use them for car/bike diy, home diy and hobby stuff.



Thanks

That's really a question that only you can answer.

If I had the moolah, I might buy one.... but my current one still works ok (for my use) and only needs a new battery very few years.

I'd also baulk at one if the interface wasn't immediately easy to use.... (Cheap multi-meters are simple to understand the controls... I have a couple of high-end electrical test devices I've never used because I simply don't understand the controls or notations and I don't have the handbooks).

My use of a multimeter is slow and plodding and I really need to think what I'm looking for/what results mean,so buying something intended for professional use would probably be overkill. I have a couple of cheap meters that have reliably served my humble needs for years,I'd probably be more inclined to buy a Fluke if they had shit the bed by now.

Like you,it doesn't stop me looking occasionally,anyway.

I've got a Parkside one from Lidl.

It's green.

We use Fluke multis at work in different depts, even the eejits can't kill them.

I've had one in my dept thats been in near daily use for the last 10 years, goes for calibration every year, minimal if any correction needed, not broken or succumbed to wear and tear.

I have a decent Fluke - gets dumped in a toolbox at home buried under allsorts of shit, must be 15 years old now and all it ever needs is a battery change.

I have had a cheapo (Draper?) one for decades. It never occured to me I might break it?
In truth I don't know how it really works. I can check for continuity, I can check for volts, everything else always seems a bit vague as to what result I'm looking for.

I think I've broken about half a dozen of the 20 quid ones. They get dropped or stop working for whatever reason. I have 3 now, just in case one plays up, and I think 1 of them is just about hanging in there while the other two are ok in a pinch... like if I just want to know whether there is 12v there or not. I was about to buy a new one and fancied something better than the usual plastic tat.

There doesn't seem to be much in between the cheap ones and the fluke ones. I'm wary of brands like Draper as they frequently seem to be just the cheap ones at twice the price. It doesn't matter to me if it has a warranty if it stops working when I drop it. I just want it to work when I need it to.

I was going to suggest a middle ground, not a million miles away from the 50 quid Amazon special I've been using for the past 7 years;



But when Fluke can be hand for less than £150 then Id just jump straight to them if you use it often enough.

My usual fuckup with em is to forget to knock it off and run the battery down.
My next one with have an auto switch off feature.

I bought an Aldi el-cheapo one about 25 years ago. Still going strong, although IIRC I changed the battery about 10 years ago.

I've had the same cheap multi meter for over 30 years, could be 40, it still works, I think I bought it from Revetts in Stowmarket, but I could equally have bought it from the hardware shop in Needham Market

I think it all boils down to frequency of usage and how important it really is to you with regards to accuracy.

I have a Fluke but my usual go to one is a cheaper Lap one which was bought from Screwfix, it does everything that you would ever need and it’s accurate enough. The reason I purchased it was I had left the Fluke one at work and needed one out in the field one weekend so went and purchased this one and it’s been a great multimeter. I think it was £30 odds.

I bought a mid-price Duratool D03122 a few years ago and it is still good. I have blown the odd internal fuse when measuring current but it still accurate enough for most purposes. I tend to make a mental note of any inaccuracy when measuring voltage but unless very small values are involved its consistent and repeatable. I recently needed to check several dozen old fashioned resistors and those gave consistent results too.

I have a cheap (about $5) Gardner Bender GMT-318 that takes a single AA battery. When that battery dies I will likely throw it out as I had to hammer the fucking battery into it as the battery compartment is too small for the required AA.
I also have 2 or 3 of the ones they give away at Horrible Fright that use a 9v battery

Plus a fairly decent Innova 3340 which is the one I actually use. I have other electrickery tester doodads from Klein for household stuff.

My daily on the electronics bench is a UNI-T UT61E which is a regular DVM

In the workshop I use a UNI-T UT210D which is a AC DC clamp meter which can also be used as a DVM.
Apart from being able to measure up to 200A I find it convenient to use the clamp to hang the meter off when using it.

On the cheaper side I use a Astro DT132A which I have nothing to complain about and I wont be to bothered if it gets broken.

It's also useful to have an analogue meter so you can see spike or pulses, one example would for working on indicators where
a DVM will register the change in volts or amps but you wont see the peak reading accurately.

Analogue meters are also useful for testing condensers (capacitors). On a high ohms reading you should see a flick of the needle, returning to infinite resistance. Swapping the leads over gives another flick. This is not a foolproof test but is a good indicator.

I use a multimeter at work, lives in the bottom of the toolbag, and it just won't die. Maplin Precision Gold, made in Taiwan. Must have had it 25 years now. Also have an inherited AVO-8, still in perfect working order, must be 60 years old ...

Zimbo wrote: Mon Mar 30, 2026 10:10 am I use a multimeter at work, lives in the bottom of the toolbag, and it just won't die. Maplin Precision Gold, made in Taiwan. Must have had it 25 years now. Also have an inherited AVO-8, still in perfect working order, must be 60 years old ...

In a past working life AVO was for the accurate work while Fluke (or any digital meter) was quick and dirty.
There's an inherent error in digital meters that AVOs don't have but I can't remember what it is any more. I think it was because an AVO derives current from measuring voltage and Flukes derive voltage from measuring current, could be the other way round.

Every garage workshop needs this one.
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/multi-fu ... O0QAvD_BwE