I'm looking for the most economical means to monitor mains voltage for spikes
and other such disturbances over an unattended period of time.

I see that there are 2 categories of monitoring and logging equipment: event
loggers and samplers. The former requires the setting of thresholds and will
record any event that exceeds these; the latter simply samples the input at a
set interval.

I am looking for a device that records events.

I'd rather avoid the very expensive power quality monitors ($2000-plus
category). This reduces the list to DMMs with logging capability, which
includes the Fluke 189. (I'll add that if a data-download option exists, I
would prefer the ability to review data on the device rather than *require*
that it be downloaded -- I want to be able to, at a glance, confirm that a
power problem exists, and have the *option* to download the data for detailed
examination if I wish.)

Any other suggestions to achieve my means would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
--
John English