What Fluke Multimeter should I get?

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ron-e-g

ron-e-g

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I want to get a hand held multimeter for checking signal levels on my various equipment. I get lost on ebay. there are so many models. And most don't list the specs. Rather than just throw (more) money at it, I'd like to hear what some of you use and why. I don't have enough knowledge to really know my possible need in the future. One thing I have learned, is it must be true RMS, but that only narrows down the choices slightly. I've decided to get a Fluke. It seems to be the industry Standard.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
Hey, sorry it isn't the answer you're looking for but I just today got a new multimeter. It's an Amprobe AM-270. I got it off Amazon for $77 shipped although other websites sell them for as much as $110.

I will be putting it through its paces this week but I can tell you it's a True RMS meter that's intended for commercial use and it's supposed to do everything I need it to including frequency, capacitance, temp, backlit display with hold feature etc, very full-featured, seems sturdy/well built and has excellent range specs. It's clear that Amprobe is competing directly with Fluke with this meter but the price is much more competitive. There are a couple videos that show the additional features and pet tricks of this meter, just search the make and model on YouTube. Definitely worth looking at if you're looking at a good general DVOM with advanced features. The more "do it all" type Flukes were just too expensive for me and I also don't like "oversimplified" control panels; when I started researching this Amprobe it seemed like it did everything I could possibly need it to and then some, at a really reasonable price. We'll see if it lives up to the specs.
 
Thats perfect. Gives me more options to look at. I'll look into that one. What is your intended use for this meter?

Thanks for the response Briank.
 
ron-e-g said:
What is your intended use for this meter?

Thanks for the response Briank.
Click to expand...


Certainly, hope it helps!

I intend to use it as a general purpose meter, but particularly for testing, fixing, and occasionally building electronic equipment, calibrating tape machines, and also for around the house.

The meter just came in the mail this afternoon and I've been playing with it a little. I replace a lot of capacitors in old gear so I wanted to see how the cap check is. I checked some new unused caps and according to the meter they were indeed in spec. I then checked some old caps I just pulled out of a hi-fi tube preamp that managed to bubble its phono section caps in only 9 years (poor chassis ventilation!) The bubbled caps all tested well out of spec according to the meter. Some other caps pulled out of areas that didn't get exposed to as much heated tested closer to spec according to the meter. Amprobe claims the maximum capacitance value is 9,999uf which is pretty high for a meter in this class. I tested some old 10,000uf caps pulled from the power supply in that tube pre and they tested around 9,100ufs--which I believe--and it shows that the meter will indeed check values that high.

I also did some general AC and DC voltage tests on outlets and batteries against another meter. Seems calibrated accurately. AC auto-ranging has a couple second delay which is pretty typical. Nice thing about this meter is you can override that feature and set the range manually--then it reads very quickly. It also checked vDC of batteries quite quickly even with auto-ranging.

I also tested temp measurements with the thermocouple and found it to be pretty fast and responsive. It was also accurate against other thermometers I'm familiar with, at least at room temps. It's kind of a bonus feature to me but it will be very handy for finding overheating chips and transistors in misbehaving equipment.

I'm also already making use of the MIN/MAX feature so I can see how well one of my Furman power line regulators is clamping down on an AC line that its built-in meter says is dropping sometimes. By taking extended sample measurements from the Furman and the outlet it's plugged into and comparing the max and min volts read and the difference between them I'll have some insight to how stable it is. Should be a handy feature--it would also be useful for tracing intermittent connections especially in "vintage" or hot-running gear.

Only beefs so far are that the continuity check is a little scratchy at first; the backlight doesn't stay illuminated as long as I'd like and looks a bit splotchy. I'm glad to have one at all, it's a nice luxury and will be great for taking measurements in dark places like under consoles and big tape machine cabinets, behind equipment racks and so-on.

Overall my first impression is that this Amprobe is a big step up from the cheaper meters I've been using. Sorry I can't compare it directly to a Fluke. It seems to be competing with the Fluke 117 which costs about twice the price and doesn't spec quite as well on paper. I'm sure it's a nice meter but you can see why I chose the Amprobe.
 
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Great review. I can see by your post you have knowledge in the electronic field. As for me, I'm only recently getting involved in that area. I have spent most of my time learning to play music then learning to record that music, then learning to mix same music an on and on...both analog and digital. I decided to get back into analog R/R tape (multi-track) little over a year ago. I want to learn more about the finer workings of the Recorders and console I have. So for me it's like learning the strings on the guitar... stage. Never mind scales at this point.:facepalm: So terms like millivolt, volt amperes or the corresponding symbols are foreign. Matter of fact, just starting the test procedures in the Console manual. After making the necessary switch and knob selections It ask me to apply a nominal 1.23 signal to the various sections to test. Like, PGM Receive Insert, or Stereo Receive Insert. Honestly..I don't even know how to get a signal like that. And.. once I do, how do I apply it to the inserts? Second, My mixer is all balanced with access only through TT/bantam patch-bays. There is not a lot of adapters avail. for bantam to anything else. That I have found.

I have an O-scope, and AC millivolt meter, and frequency counter, but I just don't know enough about them to get what I need. For instance; take the Leader 181 meter. There are 4 different scales on it and 12 different settings. Hey I can read, read the manual...still in the dark! And to top that off a UHF input connector! I don't know how an old guy like me is supposed to get a working knowledge of all this.:)

So... I poke around here hoping someone will throw me a bone, once in awhile!:D Just kidding but... not really!

Anyways thanks for your response. I does indeed, get me a little further down the road.
 
Ooooo!
Meters for audio work are a bloody minefield!

True rms? Take this with a shovel full of NaCl. Most DMMeters have a limited HF response and many start to "droop" at as low as a few 100 Hz. So, rms might be "true" for a distorted 50/60Hz reading but will be way off for noise*.

A couple of months ago I check about 5 of the DMMs in the lab and they ALL read differently on pink and white noise.

Fortunately it has never been easier to check the response of a meter. Just record 100, 1000 and 10kHz on a PC from Audacity at say, neg 6 and see what'appen!

*I would like some top chap to give me some guidance here because it seems the accurate measurement of noise is something of a movable feast!

Dave.
 
Thanks arcaxis, I'll have a look at those. You are so right about that auto shut-off. Just today I noticed I had left mine on...but found off.;)
It too has that function.

Dave, I'm just wondering what the tascam (or any other) tech's used in the day. My console is mid eighties. And they had to use something to do the test outlined in the service section, of the manual.
 
What's important is the BANDWIDTH of the meter in AC mode besides being TrueRMS. You need also to cover up to 20Khz, which most DMMs don't do. You need to use a meter with HF or high bandwidth capabilities, the Agilent above is a good example. A good value is the Leader LMV181 of 185, you can find them on ebay for less than $50 and they have the bandwidth needed as they were used for RF. They work well with pink/white noise as well. As someone mentioned before the "typical" true RMS meter today does not have more than 1khz bandwidth. This can lead to a lot of errors on calibration. If you have a scope, you can also use that.
 
In the day, and to this day for me, I use a HP 3400A true RMS voltmeter. Bandwidth to 10Mhrz. These were very expensive meters in the day. My latest I acquired for 20 bucks at the local surplus shop. I took it to work and sent it out with a bunch of other equipment that was due for cal and it came back with a clean bill of health and a cal sticker. It gets re-calibrated every year. I havent come across a better meter to use on audio equipment.
 
"Dave, I'm just wondering what the tascam (or any other) tech's used in the day."

There was loadsastuff! Very good value was the Levell series of oscillators and AC voltmeters. I have the TG 200DM osc' and a TM3B microvoltmeter*.#

Just done a rough'ass test on two,"rms" meters. First a quite old but trusted Fluke 83..

Osc at -10dBu.
100Hz= 0.320V
1000Hz= 0.319
10,000Hz= 0.312
30,000Hz= 0.307

Next UNI-T 0T60E (Maplin, about 50quid and actually quite good for general work)

100Hz= 0.321
1000Hz= 0.317
10,000Hz= 0.169!
30,000Hz= 0.007!!!

The -6dB point for the Maplin meter is about 11.1kHz...You has been warned!

You can still pick up the old analogue Levell gear on the Bay but it will need calibrating. Fortunately with a computer, as outlined previously, this can be done quite easily.....Or!

Buy a decent VU meter movement and build an aperiodic meter around that and a TL072.

*I am STILL desperate for any information anyone might have on the Wayne Kerr Radford noise meter mod# AN3?

Dave.
 
Very informative guys thanks. I have my eye on getting a meter from my kids for Xmas so this helps.
 
The OP says he has both an Oscope and freq counter as well, so I wouldn't get overly hung up on DVOM performance there.

I personally use an old $70-surplus-from-eBay Tektronix scope for things that the DVOM won't or shouldn't do. If I'm checking diodes/caps/resistors etc or taking basic voltage measurements I use my meter. If I'm checking the bias electronics or PLL duty cycle on my tape machines I use the scope. I'm glad to have a new meter that can do pet tricks a scope can't--its ability to remember and average various measurements and express them in a couple different ways is already proving quite handy for testing gear and sniffing out problems.
 
Thanks for the responses.
briank, I looked at that Amprobe 270 looks pretty good.

fgonza, I have the Leader 181 Just gotta figure out how to read the scales!:facepalm:

Thanks Dave, for posting your test results.
 
ron-e-g said:
Thanks for the responses.
briank, I looked at that Amprobe 270 looks pretty good.

fgonza, I have the Leader 181 Just gotta figure out how to read the scales!:facepalm:

Thanks Dave, for posting your test results.
Click to expand...

You are very welcome!
I used both a Leader 192A, combined twin mV meter and osc' and the dual mV 186 at work. (but my favourite bit of kit was a Neutrik A1 !)

Like the 181 these have both dBu and dBV scales. Grannies and eggs notwithstanding, a brief resume?

dBu is referenced to an "u"nloaded 0.775 volts rms and harks back to the arcane dBm ie. milliwatt where 1mW is given where 0.775 is across 600Ohms. Deserves to die IMHO but is unfortunately pretty well dug into "pro" studio and broadcast thinking. The kit makers like it too because it makes their headroom specs 2.2 dB bigger!

dBV is much more sensibly reff'ed to One Volt rms (no load) and seems to be the lingua franca of the guitar amp industry.

Just to add to the noobs confusion, the two common operating levels, +4 and neg 10 mix the two reference voltages and thus the difference between +4dBu and -10dBV is nearer 12dB and not 14 as you might at first guess!

Dave (PM me if you are really struggling)
 
I use Fluke 26III. True RMS and VERY rugged. It's a dandy for sure.
 
I hate digital meters. I bought a really expensive Fluke and within three years the display turned black. On the other hand I have an old Simpson analog meter that has served me faithfully for over 30 years without fail.
 
David40 said:
I hate digital meters. I bought a really expensive Fluke and within three years the display turned black. On the other hand I have an old Simpson analog meter that has served me faithfully for over 30 years without fail.
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And yet! I have a Fluke 83 that is at least been in my possession for 5 years. I have a very old BBC dmm that still works.
I destroyed my Avo 9 because I forgot that they changed the High V sensitivity from the old #8 and bent the needle on a microwave PSU!

I do agree tho' that MC meters are much better for quick readings of audio and anything that needs peaking or nulling. (how many here can realign a superhet radio?!!)

Dave.
 
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