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flashback2199

Counterpoint: The IC at the heart of basically every cheap meter is a clone of the IC in an old Fluke DMM

https://www.pa3fwm.nl/technotes/tn27a-voltmeter.html

Honestly I would say cheap out on the DMM and splurge for a good oscilloscope, you get much farther with that.

But, I'm someone who doesn't do high voltage much, or really at all.

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It's also possible to cheap out on the meter while still getting a quality product. I like to look here for good reviews/tests of multimeters: https://lygte-info.dk/info/DMMReviews.html

Something I've learned by looking at "clones" of my own products is that it's not a copy unless it copies my component sources, manufacturing, and quality standards.

so much this. Also, (1) if you are laying with 500V you should be careful. (2) cheap DMM will typically also survive (ask me how I know) (3) You can destroy 10 cheap DMM before is more rentable a durable Fluke

I am a fan of the grey market Fluke 17B+. You get many of the features of the high end Flukes like the 87V without the high cost. They are my go to for non critical lab measurements.

I would suspect the clamp diodes / protections would be external to the IC?

Right, I agree that if you're doing HV or need high accuracy, don't cheap on the DMM, otherwise I do think cheap DMMs are good enough for a lot of things and that being able to see the waveform is often more useful than a perfect static measurement

90% of the time when I'm using a multimeter, I'm just doing continuity checks anyway.

Yes, and while we're talking about probing, my favorite DMMs by far are the pen shaped DMMs because one hand holds both the DMM and the positive probe; small, no flat surface needed and always easy to read the screen. No more putting the DMM down on something and holding the probes on while craning my neck to read the DMM, pick up the DMM to move to another location, repeat, so tiring - I tried a pen DMM a few years ago on a whim and I'm always going to use a pen DMM now on.

I never tried the pen version. I actually have a very nice bench DMM that I picked up used for a good price. It's a bit of a "pearls before swine" piece of equipment in my hands, though. I've literally never needed the precision it has, or have done 4 wire measurements, or recorded a series of measurement over time, etc. But I enjoy knowing that I can if I ever need to.

That DMM gives me a similar convenience to what you describe, but I am almost never using a multimeter anywhere but on my bench -- that probably matters a lot.

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