Any particular reason you can't wait a month and make it $400? That's where things get really solid in electronics DMMs, IMHO.
Well I can spend $400, it's just coming out of my tax return money, sort of a pool of cash for tools and other bits for work. If it's worth it I'll stretch that far. The only issue is that even with the mighty Aussie dollar, everything here is much more expensive, you can get around it by buying online from overseas and it's usually worth it, but often you shoot yourself in the foot with regard to support and not all places ship direct to Australia.
I know next to nothing about Hioki. I happened to be shopping for a DC current clamp a few weeks ago, and came away with the impression that they're a Japanese Amprobe wannabe, but that's nothing but a superficial impression.
My old man's a sparky and has some Hioki gear, meggers I think. Said they were pretty good but bloody expensive.
Amprobe was bought by Fluke's parent company several years ago. The two product lines are fairly well differentiated. By that I mean, I haven't yet found instances where you have two directly competing products, even in Amprobe's core business, current clamps. Generally, everything Fluke has that competes with something Amprobe also offers, it's only by being in the same general market segment, rather than being a 1:1 match, differing only in price. So, you select which one to go with based on the features you need and whether you can get it for the price you're willing to spend.
Fair enough, Amprobe also merged/took over Meterman I noticed. So I guess Fluke is the premium meter, Amprobe is the cheaper, value for money line.
As for Agilent, you kind of have to be careful there. In recent years, they've been filling in the low end of their product line with made-in-China rebadges. I'd therefore put their portable DMMs roughly on par with other up-front made-in-China brands like Protek. The main difference is going to be in support, rather than product quality. (Their bench meters are an entirely different deal. They're the true Agilents.)
Not that I'm trying to talk you out of buying an Agilent. They've been on this path for 5 years or so now, and you aren't hearing horror stories about them, so these new portable DMMs must be decent, at least.
Well, my dead meter is Protek. Really annoying fault and only got about 4 years out of it, with no abuse at all, I babied it if anything. Also had a few datalogging bugs that I never had any joy in getting resolved, couldn't even find any support for it at all.
I get what you're saying but from tear downs I've seen on line of a few Agilent DMMs, the quality does seem to be pretty good at least even if they are made in China or similar.
Agilent 1241/1242
Of the choices you give, I like this best. 10,000 count, capacitance...this is a good meter for electronics. The differences in the -42 model seem aimed at the industrial market.
That's based purely on a datasheet read, however. I'd give a stronger recommendation if I'd actually used an Agilent handheld DMM.
Hioki 3275-50
That's a high-frequency DC current clamp for an oscilloscope.
You must have transposed the digits, and meant the 32
57-50.
I don't like it. It's only a 4,200 count machine and has no cap meter. You can do good work with it, but unless it's a lot cheaper than the other meters you're looking at and you really do have to save that money, I'd avoid this one.
Yes, my fingers have a mind of their own, 3257 it is. Well I got prices on one, the 3256-50, which isn't True RMS and it was up about $350AU. So yes, not too keen on this one.
On top of that,
hioki.com's DMM page says it's current as of "November 1, 2002". You want to trust a company who's paying that little attention to its web site? Maybe they've got their poop in a group in other areas, but they clearly don't care much about their DMM line.
I agree, their site is very outdated, although it may be they have some up to date Japanese site, I know a few Japanese brands are pretty slack in offering English pages or maintaining them.
Fluke 115/116/117
I'm a big Fluke fan, but I don't like this series for DIY electronics. The series is targeted at industrial applications, with each model designed for a particular subset of those applications. This is why you can only get temperature measurement in one model in the series (the 116) but to get that you have to give up on a milliamp DC range. I've found both useful in my DIY work, but you can't get them together in this series. And why have they done this? Because the 116 is the HVAC tech meter, where they need temperature measurement for obvious reasons, and only need a microamps DC range for testing flame sensors.
If you want a Fluke, go for the 170 series at least.
Or as I say above, save your shekels for another month and get the one you
actually want, a 280 series machine. Yes, a top-of-the-line 289 is pricey, but you aren't likely to break it or outgrow it.
Yes, you can kill a Fluke, but it generally takes malice aforethought.
Yes, you might, maybe, someday want a 4-wire bench meter, but even then, having a portable as well is a fine thing. (It's often very helpful to have two or more meters taking simultaneous measurements, in fact.) Meanwhile, a 289 isn't "too much meter." Every feature it has can be used productively in DIY audio electronics.
If you can't quite talk yourself into a 287 or 289, at least take a look at the 89-V. I'm not wild about it. It's not just a throwback in the sense of being from Fluke's earlier design school with the separate rubber bumpers (good) but it also has old-school misfeatures like running in 6,000 count mode by default, requiring you to hold down the backlight (!) button for a second to shift it into 20,000 count precision mode so you can get the resolution you paid for. It seems Mickey Mouse to me. Nevertheless, it's still very good for DIY electronics.
Well, Fluke 289 locally is $655+GST so just over $700+ AU.
Looks like a very nice meter though.
Will keep the 170 series in mind, any thoughts on the 77/87 as well ?
Amprobe 34XR-A/37XR-A
Meh. It's a 4,000 count meter, but at least it's got a cap meter built in.
Between the cap meter and the fact that it comes from the Fluke (actually Danaher) Empire, It's a better choice than the Hioki.
Nevertheless, I think you should aim higher.
I agree 100%.
Fluke is...overpriced
Only if you're comparing its made-in-USA meters to made-in-China meters, and looking at features only.
Durability, support, and geopolitics are good reasons to tolerate the higher price.
Yes but I live in the land of, "let's take everyone for a ride just because we can." Plus personally, made in the USA doesn't hold as much sway as obviously it would in the US where patriotism and national pride surely play a part. It is only my perception but Made in Europe/Japan is as equally if not more prized over here. Depends who you talk to though. Although durability and support are excellent points, depends if it's worth paying for them though.
never really been a fan despite the glowing recommendations
How do you suppose Fluke has maintained that reputation in the Internet age? flukesucks.com is a GoDaddy domain parking page. Why? Because there's nothing to put there.
Yes, I'm exaggerating. Certainly someone could say something bad about Fluke besides "they're expensive."
Gimme a month or three to think about it.
Hmmm....
All good points, I guess though I've always had a thing about wanting better value or undervalued products over what's hyped as the best of the best and costs an arm, leg and a kidney, to the point though where I may overlook what is actually a very good product. Problem is that price is not so in proportion over here, for anything that is perceived high end the price starts going up exponentially, double and even triple the US price isn't unheard of for some gear.
Agilent's prices do seem much more in line and proportionate to overseas prices.
