Looking for a new DMM, being wooed by Fluke
Sep 11, 2011 at 7:58 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 24

elliot42

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I've been looking at multimeters as all I have now is a $30 one from Jaycar. The biggest thing I don't like about it is how long it takes to get a final reading after it overshoots and wobbles around before settling on a value; it can take a few seconds which I find annoying. I really want something that's fast and solid and will last years and years and years.

I have been watching eBay for second hand Flukes and reading whatever I can about them. The 87V is obviously the most recommended meter and does look nice but a 177 is probably all I really need right now.
Acucal on eBay have a used but calibrated 177 for $170 (plus lots of shipping to AUS :frowning2: maybe 10% less with the 'make offer' option).
They also have a 87-IV for about $100 more, which does look veeeerry nice.

The 87-IV is waaay overkill for what I would use a multimeter for now but I don't know if I might need extra features or the extra accuracy / 50,000 counts if I'm doing something like matching components to tiny tolerances some time down the track.

Am I silly in even thinking about the 87-IV? Should I just get the 177 and upgrade later if I really do need better specs?


Listings I'm referring to:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Fluke-177-Digital-Multimeter-Calibrated-and-Certified-/110724813559
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Fluke-87-IV-4-Multimeter-Calibrated-and-Certified-/120703696669
 
Sep 12, 2011 at 4:52 AM Post #4 of 24
Whatever you get make sure it has temperature reading. I use an 87V and absolutely love it. From here other higher priced meters offer slightly higher count and logging etc, some of them are rather large in size for hand helds, personally if I was going higher spec than the 87V I'd probably get a bench unit.
 
Sep 12, 2011 at 5:10 AM Post #5 of 24
Take a look at used bench meters, too.  I have an older Fluke bench that works fine and cost about $10 at a swapmeet.  I do prefer the 187 since it has more functions.
 
Sep 12, 2011 at 5:15 AM Post #6 of 24
I don't really have room for a bench meter. And I don't really need the extra counts the 87-IV has over the 87-V but thought it wouldn't be a bad thing if it doesn't cost much more.
I have watched some videos about the 189/289 and those do look too big for a handheld, but the 87-IV looks like it has similar dimensions to the 87-V according to the Fluke site.
 
Sep 12, 2011 at 8:47 PM Post #8 of 24
The 179 is also available and is basically a 177 with a temperature probe. 
 
I like it very much.  
biggrin.gif

 
Sep 12, 2011 at 11:56 PM Post #9 of 24
Well, I've made an offer on a 187, kind of accidentally, I wanted to see if I could get a bigger discount and thought it would be automatically rejected, but it wasn't and has gone to the seller. So I guess I'll find out if I've bought a 187 soon :p Oops...
 
Sep 13, 2011 at 12:57 AM Post #12 of 24
Good to hear from an 87-IV owner, thanks.
If the offer on the 187 is accepted and I've won the item then so be it, I'll just have a meter that I'll never use to its full capability. But it should last me for a looong time (I'm 24).
If that falls through then I think I should keep my sights set on no higher than an 87-V, considering the comments about overkill.
 
Sep 14, 2011 at 1:55 AM Post #13 of 24
This is what we use at work..... Agilent 3458A
 
(You could slum it and get a 34401A........)

 
Sep 14, 2011 at 3:29 AM Post #15 of 24
It's a neat option to have but my Fluke 62 gets used a lot more frequently then temperature feature on my Fluke 179 does.
 If I had it all to do over I would have bought one of the Agilent hand helds with data logging instead.
 

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