The Multimeter & Clamp Meter Thread

[Jamesmarq]

Hello everyone. I thought I would start a thread on meters. Mainly for anyone thinking of purchasing a new one. Kind of a pros/cons kind of thing.
For instance, I have been an Ideal Clamp Meter user for 7 years in commercial, residential, and industrial settings. Now, I need to replace it and was thinking about switching models/brand
It is an Ideal 61-736.

What I like:
It has a DC voltage function
Battery life
On the smaller side in regards to sticking in panels and having on my tool belt
Familiarity
Clamp shape (not as fat as some brands)

What I don't like:
Leads wear fast
Non Contact Voltage button gets stuck causing a non operable condition only fixed by smacking the button back out
Been through 2 meters in 7 years (maybe I'm expecting too much?)

Overall, it is a great meter for the $50-75 price range.

 

[GoldDigger]

If you are likely to get involved with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems or other DC systems, you will want to get a clamp meter which can read DC amps too.
If not, then it is a not particularly useful feature which you can trade off for other capabilities.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[dereckbc]

There is one company I know that makes a pretty good line up of meters other than Fluke. The brand name is Extech. They started out making FLIR for Police and Military. A lot of the Solar guys use them because they make a few Clamp-On meters with DC in various current ranges. The prices are very reasonable, about 1/2 to 1/3 of Fluke meters.

Here is a Link to their main page.. From there just select which product line you want over on the left side of the page. They make a lot of meters and test equipment for a lot of different technologies. You can get a really good Clamp-On 4.5 Digit readout with AC/DC current for around $100 and up.

 

[ptonsparky]

There is one company I know that makes a pretty good line up of meters other than Fluke. The brand name is Extech. They started out making FLIR for Police and Military. A lot of the Solar guys use them because they make a few Clamp-On meters with DC in various current ranges. The prices are very reasonable, about 1/2 to 1/3 of Fluke meters.

Here is a Link to their main page.. From there just select which product line you want over on the left side of the page. They make a lot of meters and test equipment for a lot of different technologies. You can get a really good Clamp-On 4.5 Digit readout with AC/DC current for around $100 and up.

First Power Analyzer on that page is within my budget. My fingers are itching.

 

[PetrosA]

I'd stay away from Extech for clamp meters, unless you really need a budget tool in which case I'd rather see you get another Ideal or Greenlee, which both have pretty high quality standards and get involved a little more in the production than others seem to. Extech source from a few Asian manufacturers and the QC hasn't always been great. I've owned a few and moved on...

If I were looking at clamp meters for general use, I would consider the following brands (in alphabetical order):

AEMC
Agilent
Amprobe
Fluke
Hioki
Yokogawa

The brands on this list are test equipment companies, IOW, they design and (mostly) manufacture their own products. They all make rugged tools that should last a good while but they'll cost a little more than companies like Extech, Milwaukee, Klein, Uei and Fieldpiece who all pretty much buy stuff off the shelf and just have it rebranded.

 

[jumper]

There is one company I know that makes a pretty good line up of meters other than Fluke. The brand name is Extech. They started out making FLIR for Police and Military. A lot of the Solar guys use them because they make a few Clamp-On meters with DC in various current ranges. The prices are very reasonable, about 1/2 to 1/3 of Fluke meters.

Here is a Link to their main page.. From there just select which product line you want over on the left side of the page. They make a lot of meters and test equipment for a lot of different technologies. You can get a really good Clamp-On 4.5 Digit readout with AC/DC current for around $100 and up.

I have some Extech stuff, works well for what I paid for it.