New dmv advice?

[davepedals]

Okay, so I blew my meter out a while back I need another one fast, problem is as usual I'm broke, I need one within a week , so I have been looking at this one on Amazon.com. does anyone have experience with this meter? Or any other advice for a meter decent meter 20 bucks are under? Yeah I know... That's pretty cheap, however 20 bucks or less is honestly all I can spend right now and I do need it fast. Thank you for any replies .
https://www.amazon.com/Multimeter-Crenova-MS8233D-Auto-Ranging-Multimeters/dp/B00KXX2OYY/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1485766455&sr=8-5&keywords=multimeter
Dave

[EBK]

I'd guess that all sub-$20 meters are more or less interchangeable.  Pay attention to the available measurement ranges, and as long as your application is within those ranges, you're good.  You said you need one quickly and you don't have a lot of money.  I'd say go for it. That one you linked to actually looks pretty nice for $20.  You could also check your local hardware store for a cheap meter.

I have one good DMM and one dirt cheap pocket-sized DMM.  Both are extremely useful.

[GibsonGM]

You can 'take chances' with a cheapo meter; stick it in places where you're not sure what will happen (thinking tube stuff here mostly)...always good to have something you can jumper into a circuit and leave in place if needed, while the good meter measures something more important...

[blackieNYC]

Check out the Tenma products at MCM electronics. They seem pretty solid at half the price of a Fluke.
i think you'll want auto ranging ohm and uf measurement, instead of switching ranges around to measure that resistor you can't read.
I don't have a money tree out back, but I would encourage you to spend 50$ at least. 

[GibsonGM]

I use an Extech "Minitech 26" and have no issues with it.  Pretty cheap, too ($40-$50)

[ElectricDruid]

I've been using a meter that cost me £15 for years. It's recently finally passed away, but it was over 30 years old, so it's done pretty well. I must have spent more on batteries for it over the years than the meter cost me. So don't believe that something cheap can't do the job. There are lots of perfectly decent cheap meters out there. The fact is the technology to do this job well doesn't cost *anything* these days.
There are some very expensive multimeters in the world, and personally I'd never spend £200+ on a Fluke meter - I don't see the point. What does it do that justifies that kind of price differential? A meter costing £20 does the same job - is it really ten times better? Perhaps (if you're lucky) it's twice as good/accuracy/convenient or something, but frankly I doubt it. It's a lot of extra cash for not a lot of extra benefit. As long as you stay away from the super-cheap, all-corners-cut toy meters, you'll be fine.

Tom

[anotherjim]

There seems to be a few designs of cheap DMM that turn up under hundreds of different brand names. I've found the ones that look like this are ok.

Colours vary but most I've seen are yellow. Some variants don't have continuity beep or transistor test.
It basically does 90% of what you need.
The bad?
Diode range not high enough for LED's, though it does light them up (dimly).
Not standard 4mm probe jacks and they soon develop some resistance that mangles low resistance reading.
Highest resistance 2Meg -  you have to trust the colour bands on high value resistors.
It needs a blob of paint on the select dial so it's easy to see if you've switched it off - which you should get in the habit of doing after completing a measurement to save the battery although the 9v battery will last a good while.

But they're dirt cheap & don't use weird batteries.

I've had the use of some high end test gear in day jobs, but I've never felt the need for anything "pro" like a Fluke or whatever for my own "knockabout" use.

[blackieNYC]

I got accustomed to a Fluke at work, so the RS meter I got myself has dBs on it. Really like that, but quite unnecessary. Expensive feature.

[amptramp]

I have a number of meters and one thing to check is the highest ohms range.  If you have an LFO, you will likely have resistors that are larger than 2 megohms and this is something the meter in the picture above will not measure.

[anotherjim]

True Ron, but if I need to check a really high value resistor, there are other ways.
Tack a 1M or 2M2 across it and calculate from the new reading...
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-paralresist.htm
That way read any up to 20M. Not rocket science accurate I know, especially at higher end - expected reading will be similar for, say, 15M or 18M, but would give me enough confidence.

A very real reason for getting the recognised pro-brands is Confidence/assurance. If you do it for a living, a customer may visit who knows about such things - they may look for recognised brands on your bench (and maybe even in-date calibration labels!).
Another reason -  it may be you have money to spend or the taxman gets it. Considered as "tools of the trade", non of the name brand prices are actually exorbitant.

[boppy100]

Harbor Freight has one similar to the yellow photo, but red.  $5.00 to buy or free with a coupon and other purchase.
I have used a Mastech MS868 Autoranging for about three years and does everything I have ever needed including hFE and resistance to
40Mohm.  Amazon prime has for $22.99

[davepedals]

....

[davepedals]

Well skip that last post, just checked out the Mastech MS8268 Digital, thanks boppy100!  This looks more up my alley, 24.99 and free 3 day shipping.
[/size]Ordering tonight!