Advice on choosing a multimeter

[johnrairchild42]

Hello Everyone

I am considering a new multimeter purchase, my last one was a cheap $25 meter purchased from eBay and honestly it has served me well.  I have a higher budget now so I have been looking at the range made by Fluke, as I have heard they are a reputable brand.  This one in particular interests me.

http://www.newark.com/fluke/fluke-117/multimeter-digital-handheld/dp/83K1721

I think it does everything I need, but just wanted to check there’s no point looking further up the range?  I’m primarily going to be using it for tinkering with Arduino kits, audio amps etc.

It has a lot of functions, some I would use immediately and some might be useful to have.  I am trying to stick to a $200 budget… Is there any point spending more of the higher end models just in case I need one down line?

Fancier alternatives include:

Fluke 177
Fluke 87-5

Thanks
Edward

[ElectroNick]

Edward, you can't go wrong with Fluke. Unfortunately, I'm not at the point where I would spring for a Fluke DMM - my trusty old Mastech MAS-345 is still alive and absolutely adequate - but if you really want something that will last, do what's asked of and look cool doing it, Fluke is the way to go. I've dealt a lot with their other test tools in my telecom career and I would say if you can afford it, Fluke is an absolutely safe bet.

I would just add a suggestion that perhaps throwing in another $100 and getting an oscilloscope, albeit a lower end one, might actually yield a more useful tool for the money. Dealing with MCUs like Arduino, you would need to be looking at signals and timing more often than levels and a scope is a wonderful tool for that.

Don't let me dissuade you from buying a great DMM though - you still need a DMM on your bench anyway.