Are Fluke DMM’s really worth the $?

Electronics
#1

I found an old FLUKE 175 DMM in a box that hasn’t been unpacked for about 5 moves (OH-TX-CO-TX-Australia-TX) and it wasn’t working when it went into the box, and 10 years later, letting it think about its sins hasn’t improved the situation.

I just called FLUKE, and it’s going to cost me $220 to fix it, which seems excessive as I can buy 20+ multimeters at harbor freight for that.

So my question to the electronics gurus is, is it really worth it to have them fix it?

It also seems that I can get a new one on Amazon for 270, but again, that’s a LOT of $ for a multimeter.

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#2

Why have one good _______ when you can have 20+ shitty ones instead. I can’t think of anything where that’s favorable. Third parties repair Fluke gear. You might shop around.

If you decide to change up then someone will likely buy it in a broken state on a site like eBay.

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#3

In my opinion they are worth it. I truly trust my life to my Fluke. That’s a literal fact, not a figure of speech.

I have messed around with other meters in my career, I’m not impressed with them.

I have had problems with my 189 before but that was mostly due to my way of putting it away. Fluke repaired it for me, under warranty no less.

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#4

It depends. I have a fluke and some cheap ones. If you’re measuring continuity on your boat the cheap ones are fine. The splash is less painful.

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#5

Depends on what you’re using it for.

Basic DC functions like voltage, continuity, resistance for automotive type usage? Cen-Tech or the like is probably OK.

More advanced DC, AC, or precision work with expensive things? I’d be more inclined to spend the money on Fluke.

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#6

Yes, worth it. Over the long haul - view as an investment. Well designed, easy to use, consistent, well protected. Some long while back ELab had a drawer full of those HF centek . No 2 read the same, some had some kind of reading when not connected to anything, etc. They got tossed. If one shows up in the toolbox, it will probably be tossed.

For less than $200 you can purchase a 115 -


Fluke 175 - $280 -
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#7

Makes perfect sense that the e-lab doesn’t suffer the likes of Cen-tech.

Automotive - or similar rough-use, low-precision tasks - often you need to know if a wire has continuity, a contact is putting out ~12V or significantly less than 12V, you’ve got 5ohm resistance or 500ohm resistance, etc. When they get dropped the ninth time into a five-drop warranty, covered in oil/road grime, you short positive bus in current mode faster than the fuse can react, or it otherwise follows the last 10mm socket in the set into the aether the loss is less painful.

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#8

Yeah, I have the $5 HF multimeter in my automotive bag for that reason. Can it tell you if the alternator is working, or if the pins you’re looking at are actually getting current? Yes. Do I worry about it when I drop a breaker bar on it? No.

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#9

before family members moved outof state, I left centechs at all of their houses so I wouldnt have to wonder if they had one. they are fine for confirming if a breaker is off, etc.

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#10

the flipside is, when working on a switch card that costs a quarter million dollars, no i only used certified calibrated high dollar meters, test sets, etc.

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#11

The right tool for the job.

#12

The cheap DVMs are OK for a quick look.

Things they won’t do:

  1. Run 10 years on a single 9V battery.
  2. Meaure AC volts accurately outside of 60 Hz, or True RMS.
  3. Take a lot of abuse.
  4. The leads scare me, I won’t go near 380 or 480 with them.

People mention using a cheap meter in Auto apps, that’s where I’ve found you really need a good one. A lead acid battery is 100% charged at 12.67Vdc. A charging system is working properly at 13.80Vdc with appr. 130-150 mV of AC riding the DC. Chinese meters can’t measure this accurately.

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#13

I just bought a 115 for about $180, I think it is worth it because I hope to keep it for life. But you can also get a pretty decent DMM from Uni-T that’s probably pretty similar.

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#14

What was your way of putting it away so we don’t do that? :wink:

OP: David Jones at EEVblog collaborated with a high-quality manufacturer to produce a decent multimeter for electronics projects (as opposed to home electrical work). I don’t own one but he has some videos that can fill you in.

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#15

I wrapped the leads around the meter with the plugs still attached. By doing so it messed up the banana socket. The plastic insert ended up coming out of the meter, so it eventually got worse. So now on all my meters, I unplug them then roll the leads up. I also keep at least 1 spare set of leads at all times.

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#16

Wow, I haven’t seen that hurt a meter before, but I’ve seen a lot of leads broken when wrapped the wrong way around the meter (with a sharp bend in the lead at the jack end).

I switched over to some probe master leads when my last fluke pair broke and I’ve been pretty happy with them. The new style fluke leads seemed much lower quality than the old ones.

#17

I bought replacement jacks and plastics for one of my Fluke’s off eBay… and bought a replacement fuse off Amazon.

What’s wrong with yours? They have replaceable protection devices inside them - like high speed fuses or chemical fuses that you can replace.

#18

I don’t even like using other people’s meter’s because I don’t know if they are accurate. So, when I break out my $400 meter, I feel safe telling you what is wrong with your vehicle.

A scope has become an important tool on vehicles now.

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#19

Thanks all for the replies. Good info. Don’t have a need for one right now but have a big project coming up I think would benefit. Added to my budget.

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#20

If you search on Craigslist for one put in -cisco and -gas in the search terms to avoid the “I buy xxx” spammers.

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