EEVblog #75 - Digital Multimeter Buying Guide for Beginners

Who else in the industry can give you 52 solid minutes of beginner advice on buying a multimeter?
Dave of course!, who started out wanting to give some "quick" advice, but as usual Dave likes to rant...
So you get a feature-by-feature breakdown on what makes a good general purpose multimeter. It turns out there is a surprising amount of stuff to talk about on the humble multimeter.

The other video on meter counts & accuracy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4JFeU-o2kc

And this is what happens to cheap meters when you overload them:
http://gossenmetrawatt.com/english/seiten/cautiondangerousmultimeters.htm

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• digital
• multimeter
• meter
• beginner
• advice
• review
• how
• it
• works
• tutorial
• feature
• ranges
• measurement
• probe
• fluke
• extech
• agilent
• cheap

[Billkwando]

The guy is a great presenter. He seems like he'd be a fun dude to have a conversation with.

[EEVblog]

@Billkwando Thanks. I'm a bit too much for some people though!

[EEVblog]

You obviously don't understand what surges are, and potential energies involved when dealing with mains circuits.

Just a simple household mains outlet has enough energy to make your meter explode.

Horses for Courses, as always.

[msichal]

OK. Nice video as always, BUT... What if I just don't have money to buy better multimeter? At the moment i use a cheap meter with manual range, but it has capacitance and temperature measurement, I think it isn't too bad.

[EEVblog]

@msichal

Like I've said a thousand times now on this blog, if a cheap meter is all you can afford then it's probably going to do the job. Just don't expect it to be reliable or entirely safe. I'm hoping to do reviews of some cheap meters soon to find the best one for say $50.

[moverton3181]

30:47 , "If you don't follow my advice then I hope Darwin sorts you out because you're an idiot if you measure mains with it, You're a fool!!" All I can say to that is Amen

[halleffect1]

one hung low :)

[lllllllRobot]

Would you say, that HRC fuses are a must, even if the multimeter has one of those safety shutter features? Doesn't seem like you'd need both, but if you had to choose would you go with one that has HRC over the safety shutters?

[johneastmond]

@EEVblog I'm also a bit too much for some folks. You can always tell who's who by the way they truly enjoy you or who tolerate you only because you're handy to have around. Being unconcerned about manners at times allow you to get the benefit of the entertainment value this adds.

[reaper00020]

My dad got a $25 multimeter as a gift from his mother, in those days that was 1/4 of his fathers pay for a week.

[magnus264]

@EEVblog you very good, just put some pauses in your speech from time to time. A part for that it's a pleasure and usefull to listen to you. You deserve your success.

[todd3293]

I just bought the BK Precision one mentioned in the 100 dollar shootout videos. Even though it was the best of the bunch, now that I've seen this video and looked up the specs, it doesn't have the good accuracy mentioned in this video. even though its 6600 count, its only 0.5% on DC mV and worse on the current accuracy. got me wondering now if I made the right choice. heh. maybe it's normal for meters that are only 100 bucks but you'd think it'd be higher accuracy for 6600 count

[Floppy2Blueray]

great video thanks

[Ibringthetruth1]

vc99 might be best deal.

or try amazon.

[Ibringthetruth1]

@albertosony

i was thinking of a vc99 youtube . com/watch?v=mF4__0mBKNA