Fair comment. As you may notice I am happy myself relying on "2nd tier" meters for day to day use, like Micronta, Mastercraft etc. but favor older models. Though I'll put up with low end stuff for more bells and whistles like Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

edit: also have a "Fluke before Fluke" AVO moving coil meter somewhere I am meaning to restore and use.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2024-04-22, 11:34:

Nowadays you can get as good multimeters as Fluke for a fraction of the price. The reasons behind Fluke's high costs are almost […]
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momaka wrote on 2024-04-10, 13:54:

midicollector wrote on 2024-04-09, 00:21:

Fluke is my recommendation.

Fluke's are nice, indeed.
However, I don't know if their price tag can be justified if one is going to use it only occasionally for a hobby. If anyone finds a used one for a decent/low price though, definitely grab it.

Nowadays you can get as good multimeters as Fluke for a fraction of the price. The reasons behind Fluke's high costs are almost completely irreleveant for hobbyists and even for many professional users too, but there are reasons why many organizations stick with Flukes and why they make lots of sense for many professional users.

First thing that cheaper alternatives lack is equivalency and long shelf life. Some organizations need acceptance procedures and qualifications for testing and measurement devices. Fluke can provide electronically and mechanically same product for these users for decades, so such users don't need to go make new qualification testing every time they need new multimeters. Fluke can deliver you exactly same multimeter that they delivered 10 or 20 years ago.

Another factor is all the calibration services and traceable certificates Fluke can deliver for customers who need to periodically make sure that their devices are working within the spec.

EEVBlog had a good video about this subject some years back.

Maybe most important, professionally used multimeters are (almost) never paid for from own pocket.

That being said, the multimeter I mostly use at home is a Fluke, model no. 115 IIRC. Also have an old Tillquist (which probably is a quite obscure brand outside Sweden) that has some additional useful functions for electronics troubleshooting. At work I mostly use the smallest Cat IV multimeter I could find, a Chauvin Arnoux CA 703. It's basically a toy compared to a Fluke, but I'm a marine engineer, always having it handy in a pocket saves me plenty of pickup runs to the electrical workshop 😀