1. Home
  2. Electronics Repair
  3. AVOmeter compared to cheap modern digital meter

AVOmeter compared to cheap modern digital meter

How do bargain basement modern digital meters perform compared to the old analogue meters from 30 years ago like the AVOmeter?

-----------

Thirty-odd years ago my friends had AVOmeters. I would look on with some envy. Remember AVOs? I think they were mainly a UK thing. 10 by 8 inches and about 4 inches thick. See this:-

formatting link

Today I can buy a regularly stocked item like the super-cheapo single-chip digital multimeter from a UK shop like Maplins for £8 ($8) and that includes the battery. Although Maplins call it a "domestic tester" it is more than just that:

600V-200V-20V-2000mV-200mV plus 600VAC-200VAC 10A-200mA-20mA-2000uA-200uA 2000kO-200kO-20kO-2000O-200O transistor and functions overall accuracy approx +/-0.5% to +/-1.0%

How does something as ridiculously cheap as this meter compare, in terms of measurement accuracy, to an old stye AVOmeter?

Reply to
Zak
Loading thread data ...

AVO is still producing meters and test equipment. Their meggar and ground tester are some of my favorites.

Accuracy and speed is the only differences that I know of. I still have an old Sperry analog meggar. Works fine for the purpose, I have no reason to upgrade it.

Reply to
SQLit

I wouldn't sell my Salford Selectest Super 50 - but I don't use it! You can often buy those on eBay for a modest price, whereas the Avometers were going for a lot more.

Why do you ask?

N
Reply to
NSM

about 30kg lighter!!

David - who > How do bargain basement modern digital meters perform compared to

Reply to
quietguy

I'm a bit of a Luddite but not on DVMs. The only facility I miss is for observing fluctuating DC levels where my Fluke nominal LCD analogue scale is useless. I certainly don't miss those high V batteries for high ohms, the few K loading on circuits rather than Megs and the infuriating mechanical cut-outs that you only had to drop something on the bench and that damned button would jump out.

Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on

formatting link

Reply to
N Cook

At least as well (within their more limited ranges), plus being quicker/easier to read, or listen-to for continuity-checks: perfectly adequate for most purposes.

I've three of these (I couldn't resist the last two - 'buy one, get one free' for, at the time, £4.99 IIRC), and use them far more than either my 'upmarket' digital meter or venerable Avo 8, still needed for measuring DC kilovolts, AC

Reply to
Peter Duck

Sometimes useful to ignore leakage currents on AC circuits!

N
Reply to
NSM

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.