Multimeters for Electronics Work

So you need a multimeter. Maybe your old one died, maybe you're just getting into electronics repair, or maybe you're tired of borrowing your coworker's Fluke every time you need to check voltage. Whatever the reason, picking the right meter isn't as straightforward as YouTube makes it look.

I've been fixing electronics for about 8 years now, mostly consumer stuff and some industrial equipment, and I've gone through probably 6 or 7 different meters. Some were garbage, some were fine, and one was genuinely great until I dropped it off a ladder (my fault, not the meter's).

Most beginners think they need to spend $400 on a Fluke 87V right away. That's just not true for most people. Don't get me wrong-Fluke makes excellent meters, and if you're doing professional HVAC work or industrial maintenance where a wrong reading could cost thousands in downtime, yeah, get the Fluke. But for electronics hobbyists or even light professional work? There's a massive middle ground.

I currently use a Brymen BM869s as my main meter. Costs around $180-200 depending where you buy it. It's got 60,000 count resolution which sounds like marketing nonsense but actually makes a difference when you're trying to see small changes in voltage or current. The reading updates fast-about 50 times per second according to their specs-which matters way more than I thought it would before I had a meter with fast sampling. When you're probing around a circuit board trying to find a problem, that quick response helps you spot issues faster.

Before the Brymen, I had a UNI-T UT61E for about 3 years. Paid maybe $65 for it on Amazon back in 2019 (prices have gone up since then, more like $80-90 now). That meter was completely adequate for 90% of what I did. The only reason I upgraded was because I started doing more automotive diagnostic work and needed the faster sampling rate and better AC measurement capabilities.

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Everyone talks about "accuracy" but most people don't even know what the accuracy spec means. When a meter says "±0.5% + 3 digits" that's not just one number-it's two different error sources combined. The percentage part is based on the reading value, and the digits part is a fixed offset. So if you're measuring 10.00V with that spec, your actual voltage could be anywhere from 9.92V to 10.08V. For most electronics troubleshooting, this doesn't matter at all. You're looking for 5V rails that have dropped to 4.3V because of a bad capacitor, not trying to calibrate precision instruments.

Where accuracy does matter: if you're doing precision analog work, sensor calibration, or testing power supplies for ripple specs. Then yeah, you want something with better than ±0.5% basic DC accuracy. My Brymen is ±0.03% which is overkill for my needs, but it came with the package.

Current measurement is where cheap meters really show their limitations. The burden voltage-that's the voltage drop across the meter's internal shunt resistor-can be high enough on cheap meters that it actually affects the circuit you're measuring. I tested my old $20 meter (can't even remember the brand) and it had about 0.8V burden voltage on the 10A range. That's terrible. The UNI-T was around 0.3V. The Brymen is under 0.1V. When you're measuring current in a 5V circuit, that difference matters.

Unpopular opinion maybe, but I actually prefer manual ranging for a lot of tasks. Autoranging meters are convenient when you have no idea what voltage you're looking at, but when I'm working on a board where I know all the rails (3.3V, 5V, 12V, whatever), I just set the range once and leave it there. Switching between auto and manual should be easy though-some meters make you dig through menus which is annoying.

The Fluke 115 (around $200-220) is probably the most popular "prosumer" meter out there and for good reason. It's basically indestructible, has great build quality, and the whole interface is just... sensible. Everything's where you expect it to be. I borrowed one for a few months and honestly the only reason I didn't buy one was because I wanted the extra features the Brymen had. If you just need voltage, current, resistance, continuity, and diode test, the 115 does all of that perfectly well. Their warranty support is also legitimately good-I've heard multiple stories from electricians who had Fluke replace meters that failed after years of abuse.

This is where I'm going to sound preachy but whatever. The CAT rating on your meter isn't just marketing. CAT II is fine for electronics and low voltage work. CAT III is for distribution panels and fixed installations. CAT IV is for utility level stuff. The voltage rating (like 600V or 1000V) is combined with the CAT rating to tell you what the meter can safely handle in terms of transients and fault conditions.

A lot of cheap meters have fake or misleading safety ratings. There was a whole controversy about this a few years ago-EEVblog did a teardown of some cheap Amazon meters that claimed CAT III 1000V but had clearances that wouldn't even qualify for CAT II. The specific video was about a meter from a company called "AstroAI" I think, and Dave Jones measured the PCB clearances at like 2mm when they needed to be 8mm or something for the rating they claimed. (Source: eevblog.com).

If you're only working with low voltage DC stuff (under 48V), this doesn't really matter. But if you're doing any mains voltage work, buy a meter from a known brand with legitimate safety certifications. This means Fluke, Brymen, Keysight, Klein, Amprobe, or similar. Not random Amazon brands with 5-star reviews that are definitely not suspicious at all.

The continuity beeper is probably the most-used function on any multimeter if you're doing repair work. Testing for shorts, checking connections, tracing PCB traces-you use it constantly. Some meters have a delay before the beep triggers which makes the feature almost useless. The delay should be under 50ms. Anything longer and you're moving the probes around wondering if there's continuity or if the meter just hasn't beeped yet.

My old no-name meter had maybe a 200-300ms delay. Absolute garbage for quick continuity checks. The UNI-T was much better, probably around 30-40ms. The Brymen is basically instant. Same with the Flukes I've used-their continuity response is excellent.

Some meters also beep at too high a threshold. Continuity isn't the same as low resistance-ideally you want the beep to trigger at something like 20-50Ω or less. I've used meters that beep up to 200Ω which defeats the purpose when you're trying to distinguish between a good connection and a marginal one.

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Everyone focuses on the measurement specs and ignores the fact that you have to actually use the thing. Screen quality matters. Backlight matters. Button layout matters. Whether the leads stay in the jacks properly matters (I'm looking at you, Mastech MS8268-those jacks were terrible).

The Brymen has a really good display-white digits on dark background, easy to read in any lighting. The backlight is bright enough to use in dim conditions but not so bright that it destroys your night vision if you're working in a dark area. Small detail, but appreciated.

Lead storage is another thing nobody talks about. Where do you put the leads when you're done? Some meters have holders built in, some don't. I use magnetic lead holders stuck to my toolbox which works fine, but it's one more thing to think about.

Oh and here's something that annoys me: meters that don't have a separate fuse for the mA range and the 10A range. If you blow the main fuse, you lose both ranges. Better meters have two separate fuses so you can still measure higher currents if the mA fuse blows. The Brymen has this, most cheap meters don't.

Lots of meters advertise temperature measurement as a feature. With the Brymen you get a K-type thermocouple included. I've used it maybe... five times? In three years? It's not that it doesn't work, it's just that for most temperature measurement tasks, an infrared thermometer or a dedicated thermocouple meter is better. The accuracy on the multimeter temperature function is usually something like ±1-2°C which is fine for rough checks but not great if you actually need accurate temperature data.

Where it is useful: checking component temperatures on a board when you suspect something's overheating. You can probe a chip or regulator and get a reading. But for ambient temperature or anything else, I'd use a different tool.

They're fine for very basic stuff. I keep one in my car toolkit for checking battery voltage and not much else. The accuracy is questionable, the build quality is questionable, and the safety is definitely questionable. But for simple DC voltage measurements in low-risk situations, they work. Just don't trust them for anything important and definitely don't use them on mains voltage.

I tested a random $18 meter from Harbor Freight once (the model was something like 37772, they've probably changed it by now) and compared readings to my Brymen. For DC voltage it was usually within 0.1-0.2V which is acceptable for checking batteries. For AC voltage it was all over the place-measured 127V on an outlet that was actually 121V according to my good meter. That's not just inaccurate, that's potentially dangerous if you're making decisions based on those readings.

According to some testing done by engineers at Keysight (keysight.com/blogs), the failure mode on cheap meters is often catastrophic when they fail-no arc protection, minimal fusing, and PCB traces that just vaporize instead of failing safely. Their teardown analysis showed internal construction quality that wouldn't pass any legitimate safety certification.

Some meters now have Bluetooth or USB connectivity for data logging. I haven't found this useful for my work, but I can see applications where it would be valuable-long-term monitoring, automated testing, that sort of thing. The Brymen BM869s has optical USB (not the same model I have but they make one) which is actually useful because optical isolation means no ground loops or noise issues when connecting to a computer.

If you need logging, there are dedicated logging multimeters designed specifically for that purpose. The Fluke 289 for example can store thousands of readings with timestamps. Costs like $500+ though so it's not an impulse purchase.

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For someone just getting into electronics: UNI-T UT61E or similar ~$70-80 range meter. Gets you good enough accuracy for learning and won't die if you accidentally probe something wrong (has reasonable safety features). Save the money for better tools like a good soldering iron or scope.

For professional electronics repair work: Brymen BM869s or Fluke 115/117. Both around $180-220. The Brymen has more features, the Fluke is more rugged and has better warranty support. Can't really go wrong with either.

For industrial/electrical work: Fluke 87V or equivalent. $400-450 but worth it for the safety ratings and durability. I wouldn't cheap out here because the consequences of a meter failure are much more serious.

For automotive: Need good AC voltage accuracy (for sensors), fast sampling, and Hz/duty cycle measurement. The Fluke 88V is popular but expensive. There are automotive-specific meters from companies like Snap-on but they're even more expensive and probably not worth it unless you're a full-time auto tech.

Nobody needs a Keysight 34461A benchtop meter unless you're doing metrology or precision calibration work. Those start at $900+ and yeah they're incredibly accurate (±0.004% DC V) but completely impractical for normal repair and troubleshooting. I mention this because I've seen people on forums recommend them to beginners which is just silly.

That's most of what I think matters when picking a multimeter. Didn't cover oscilloscope integration features or some of the really specialized measurement types (inductance, capacitance above basic testing) because frankly I don't use those enough to have strong opinions. Buy something from a legitimate brand with real safety certifications, make sure the continuity beeper is fast, and you'll probably be fine.

Oh and one last thing-keep spare batteries around. Most meters use 9V but some models (certain Flukes, for example) need lithium CR1/3N battery which aren't as common. Having your meter die halfway through a repair job is annoying, so just grab a couple spares when you order the meter.