Fluke 87V - any reason not to buy?

No major issues. It isn't the worlds most popular mulitmeter for no reason. Couple of annoying features - it defaults to AC for the curent ranges, the backlight comes on briefly when changing into 4.5 digit mode, and the tilting bail it pretty ordinary. But apart from that, a top meter.

Dave.

Fluke is a good company. But last time I opted for a Chinese meter which turned out to be rather precise. Of course, if you need 4-1/2 digits or the ATEX rating you almost have to buy the Fluke.

There are other top-shelf choices. Gossen Metrawatt and Agilent come to mind. My blog review of a Gossen meter should be up within a few hours.

Dave.

:Joerg wrote: :> ehsjr wrote: :>> My old Fluke has a bleeding LCD, so time to buy a :>> replacement. :>>

:>> Any reason(s) not to buy the 87V ? :>>

:>

:> Fluke is a good company. But last time I opted for a Chinese meter :> which turned out to be rather precise. Of course, if you need 4-1/2 :> digits or the ATEX rating you almost have to buy the Fluke. : :There are other top-shelf choices. :Gossen Metrawatt and Agilent come to mind. :My blog review of a Gossen meter should be up within a few hours. : :Dave.

I would thoroughly recommend the Gossen Metrawatt Metrahit range.

Thanks, Dave. It's on order. :-)

Ed

Yes, I'll second that, Gossen is pretty much the Daimler-Benz in the meter industry. You almost can't go wrong but it ain't cheap.

Hi Joerg, I'd have to say it's rare that I _need_ 4 1/2 digits in a handheld DMM. Nice to have, of course. :-)

Thanks, Ed

It did for me. Gossen sent me two meters for use on my blog, the Metrahit Xtra and the Metrahit World. The Metrahit World FAILED within a few hours of using it, I was not a happy little camper. Gossen are looking into the problem...

Very nicely made meters though.

My MetraHit review is up:

Dave.

I love your repeated riff on Metrawatt as "tight asses" for the $500 IR to USB converter. Made me laugh out loud several times... :-)

Yeah, it's like those 200+ horses under the hood of a car :-)

I drove my 340-horsepower V8 at 90MPH when I went to lunch today ;-) ...Jim Thompson

You should have seen my first car. 16 horsies:

Fred Flintstone had more power.

I was always more into higher horsepower cars... '61 Renault Dauphine ;-) ...Jim Thompson

Fast food restaurant? :-)

Ed

And better brakes! :)

Nope. "Freeways" are for "free spirits" ;-)

(I rarely spend less than two/two-and-a-half hours at lunch. I could take longer, except I have to be back by 3:30PM to meet a grandson's school bus.) ...Jim Thompson

:-)

The brakes of this Citroen were amazing. Huge drums and you could adjust them for hard of soft grip. Once a guy ran a red light, I hit the brakes hard and the guy in an Audi behind me watched with wide open eyes how his car crunched into the back of my Citroen. "How on earth could you stop that fast?"

The really nice thing was: 50mpg, regular unleaded. Andre Citroen's guys could do in the late 30's what took "modern" automotive engineers decades.