On 2012-01-10, gregz wrote:

I did one of those things once where you go to a place to have a discussion
group, and you get paid for participating. Easy money. It was all about
discussing multimeters. Big table in room with chairs around, some
moderator, and a glass window with secret people behind. I was not suppose
to tell, but it's been some time, it was fluke behind the window. I think I
was the only electronic technician. They were wanting to know what
technicians wanted and how they used the meters. I think the biggest point
was meters and leads. Wanted more automatic setups.

Not surprising. Flukes are pretty much bullet proof.

The first company I worked for, a small one, had about a dozen
multimeters, all different brands. They were used by everyone from
assemblers to engineers, from a big double tool box. They were
heavily used/abused. B*Ks, Simpsons, etc. Most of the meters were
iffy with bad connectors. Workbench drawers were littered with dead
meters of many brands, from expensive to cheap. None were Flukes.

The next company was a major Silicon Valley player. Our division
alone musta had about 70 meters, all Flukes, which I eventually became
responsible for, making sure everyone had a good one with good leads
and they were all current in their calibration. Out of all those
Flukes, also heavily used/abused, only one failed in the 4 yrs I was
there. I had one manual button Fluke that was so old, the frosting on
the display had wore out and you could see all the traces in the LC
display, which was still working and perfectly readable. Never once
encountered iffy connector sockets on a Fluke.

My own meter is a Fluke 8020B, no longer made, which I picked up used
at a pawn shop. Works perfectly.

http://www.teknetelectronics.com/Sea...262&pDo=DETAIL

No doubt, I'll pass it on to my grandkids.

BTW, Fluke did go pretty much all auto-ranging. I don't think they
even make a manual button model, anymore. I know Fluke is pretty
expensive, most of their stuff outta my price range, but you can get a
used one on ebay fer under $100 and you'll have a meter for life.

nb

--
vi --the root of evil