dirocyn
Most Honored Senior Member
I've owned a LOT of cheap multimeters. They break. I drop 'em, or catch the leads in a fan belt, or knock 'em off the shelf. The $7 Harbor Freight kind have extremely flimsy leads, I broke one of those without it being any kind of abuse. The $20 kind rarely last more than 3-4 years, the $7 kind rarely last more than 2 years.
For the price of a $400 Fluke, I can replace the $7 multimeter 57 times. If I can average one multimeter a year, I can just keep buying the cheap ones until I'm 104 for the same money. Cheapies make more sense.
But--the $7 Harbor Freight multimeter does not come with the features I'd want inside a tube amp. Alligator clips, beep continuity testing, and capacitance testing. Spring for a $20-30 meter that has those features.
For the price of a $400 Fluke, I can replace the $7 multimeter 57 times. If I can average one multimeter a year, I can just keep buying the cheap ones until I'm 104 for the same money. Cheapies make more sense.
But--the $7 Harbor Freight multimeter does not come with the features I'd want inside a tube amp. Alligator clips, beep continuity testing, and capacitance testing. Spring for a $20-30 meter that has those features.