DMM Suggestions

[Rygot]

What DMMs does everyone use, what do you suggest? I'm not looking to spend a fortune but would like a fairly reliable one...not too sure what I will use it on outside of pedals and basic electronics.

[nbabmf]

I have four multimeters... two from Radio Shack, one from Sears, and one from Harbor Freight.

The Radio Shack meters were $5 and $10 respectively, and are small enough that I can throw one in my pocket for "house calls" and gigs. They're also small enough that I could lose one and have to buy another. The one from Sears was $20 and is pretty well made. I buy all my hand tools there, so I figured why not buy this too. It works well and seems to be pretty accurate right up until the battery is dead. My Harbor Freight meter was $3.99 and the only reason I have it is to check the gain and pin-out of transistors.

One of these days, I'll buy a really nice one that measures everything under the sun and has the clip-on leads as well as the needle leads. I doubt I'll ever get rid of the other ones. It's really handy to have one in every room of the house.

[culturejam]

I'm not partial to a particular brand, but here's the functionality you should look for (aside from resistance and voltage, of course):

• Audible Continuity
• Capacitance
• Transistor Gain (hFE)
• Diode forward voltage


With those test abilities, you can troubleshoot damn near anything. Add an audio probe to your bench alongside the DMM, and the only thing you won't be able to precisely troubleshoot is biasing BBDs in delays (you'd need an o-scope for that).

I have a cheapish one that does all of the above. Here's the model I have:
http://www.multimeterwarehouse.com/DT9205f.htm

It's friggin HUGE, but it does everything and it's dirt cheap.

[culturejam]

and has the clip-on leads as well as the needle leads.

Radio Shack actually sells the clip-on leads that slip over standard needle leads. They lock into place and convert the needle probe into an alligator clip. It's a nice solution if you can't change the leads or you're a cheap bastard (like me).

[McSpunckle]

Audible continuity is, IMO, the most important thing to look for. With stompboxes, basically anything will measure close enough. Capacitance is also a nice touch.

A lot of meters will measure transistor HFE (gain). I never use it, though.

I use a Fluke 177, which is way overkill for stompboxes, but it does everything I'd need and does it well. I have one of those $5 ones from Harbor Freight too, that I bought just for fun. I wouldn't recommend it. It's OK for measuring a stray resistor or checking voltage, but continuity tests are awful, and it doesn't give consistent results on the same component (but they're close enough-- except diodes), I think these are the same ones sold by a lot of stores...

I have a couple of Simpson 260s laying around here... I've been meaning to try them out. Old people swear by analogue stuff.


Anywho, your selection isn't too critical. Just get one that's good enough. I'd imagine the $50 ones at Smallbear are great, and the more expensive ones from Harbor Freight are probably great as well (and likely cheaper). I'd say make sure it has audible continuity, capacitance, and diode forward voltage. Every meter is going to have the other important stuff.

[Rygot]

Thanks to everyone for the help, I'll continue looking around for a good deal.

[KK25]

If you do get one with hfe testing, just remember that it doesn't work properly with germanium transistors. You really need to build a little test circuit for that, otherwise you'll be ignoring leakage and assuming a higher gain.