I trying to become a better tech. I'm a pretty bad tech right now. I'm thinking of buying a new DMM. Can anybody suggest a good one for a chimp like me? And what about cap testers? Do I want one that has this feature?

I don't want to spend a huge amount of dough. And I don't even know where to begin.

Thanks

go here:
http://www.tubesandmore.com/

part number S-Z3220

I've been using this one for a while.

I have two Fluke DMMs. Highly recommended. I bought the second one because it has a capacitance metering capability. While it's good for measuring capacitance, one thing to keep in mind is that some caps (like filter caps) might not exhibit weirdness without high voltage applied to them.

But yeah, Fluke. I have a 25 and a 189. Never had a problem with either.

I had a greenlee and the suck balls. I just threw one away at work and pulled out the fluke bench DMM (which is a pain, but highly accurate)

I have used the ones from circuitspecialists.com and the are pretty good and reasonably priced. In fact, I'm about to buy the 55 dollar True RMS one, which is a great deal.

http://circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/4633

If I had more money to burn and wanted something easier to use, I would get:

http://circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/8165

But it seems like a lot of autoranging meters that aren't fluke tend to kind of suck.

Buying a fluke used is a great idea too

edit --- wow that was the completely wrong thread. ha.

Fluke 8060A is the classic audio tech's field meter. No longer produced, I found a new in box one on eBay two years ago for about $100 ($400 new?). They pop up on eBay, grab one cheap and then have it factory calibrated.



Pretty much all meters under $100 are the same. One mark of a more upscale unit is dB measurements, which the 8060A does. Very handy for audio applications.

Overall Fluke is the recognized leader.

This looks like the new version: http://www.fluke.fr/comx/actions.aspx?l ... action=18x

I actually don't work for Fluke.