EEVblog 1447 - EXPENSIVE Fluke vs CHEAPER Brymen - Teardown
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ค. 2024
- Why are Fluke multimeters so expensive? PART 2
A teardown of the Fluke 70/170 series vs the Brymen BM786. Is there any design and construction difference that justifies 2-3 times the price?
00:00 - Fluke vs Brymen
01:07 - The Yellow Peer Pressure
01:57 - Fluke 77/177 vs Brymen BM786
04:01 - Ruggedness
05:05 - Plastics
06:11 - Teardown & A Tip to screw your meter
11:09 - Input protection
14:36 - LCD Connection
16:45 - Input Protection
19:20 - Hybrid resistor divider
20:47 - Processor and Chipset
22:27 - Arguably a tighter and more expensive BOM
23:39 - Range Switch
26:53 - Buzzer & Shielding
27:46 - Conclusion
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@6:45 - Thank you for pointing this out. It’s easier to reinsert the screws, and you won’t end up with stripped out bosses that are doing nothing to hold the case together. The number of expensive Flukes (and other brands) that we get into the lab with battery compartments barely held by one screw is terrible.
Insert the screws loosely, put a little pressure on them and turn CCW until you feel they screw drop into the existing thread, then tighten. Easier that trying to cut a new thread that will only weaken the boss.
For the cracked ones a piece of heatshrink tubing over the outside of the pillar helps hold it together, and then once shrunk you can use a drop of superglue to fill the gap where the crack is, adding extra support. Internal threads I just place a piece of PVC insulation down the hole, and use a soldering gun to lightly fuse the top to the existing plastic. Just has to provide a small amount of holding for the first insertion of the screw, which will spread the soft PVC, to make a filler in the inside of the hole. Of course brass inserts are better, but often there is not enough pillar to hold them, so you can cut the pillar down, and use adhesive lined heatshrink to stick the brass on top of the shorter pillar, and find a matching machine screw then.
@@SeanBZA
Good tip if that happens. You can also fill stripped-out bosses with a decent glue, then drill out the centre to suit. It can eat up a lot of time, so not terribly good for commercial work (if the boss insists you charge for it).
The Fluke bosses don’t tend to crack. They strip out, due to ‘user error’. Cheap brands tend to use cheaper, brittle, plastics that crack or even snap off. I haven’t enough experience with newer Brymen models for comparison - but the plastics in the older ones were brittle.
Fluke are most prone to having the elastomeric strip partially fail, then you get faint of missing LCD segments. If that happens, you can just disassemble and use IPA to clean all surfaces then reassemble. This happens with the old 20 and 70 series all the way to the newest models - it’s like a ‘signature failure’. The custom jack set for the 28x series and other pricey DMMs are also pretty fragile, and are painful to replace. We also had a bad run of failed IR sensor components on the 789 (seems likely to have been a bad production batch, but coincidences happen).
Parts are available for Fluke. The cost is a bit eye-watering, but it does mean if you break something you can get parts - good luck with cheaper brands.
Just melt a nut into the stripped out thread or if you want a proper job use a insert thread, throw the self tapper away and just use a proper machine screw. Shame a supposed quality meter can't do this from the factory seeing as you pay so much.
@@SlyerFox666 Yep, seems crazy that simple brass threaded inserts aren't used for the case screws. Acceptable on a $10 Chinese cheapy, not on a premium $300-$400 multimeter.
superglue in stripped screw holes does a good job!...just to give it a bit of somethin to grip onto... i wouldnt suggest putting it back together until the glue has dried tho..you dont want the superglue bonding the case together!
Yes , on the factory floor with all the engineers grouped around a 50,000 dollar per hour downtime machine, get the Fluke stuff out. 😎
However, after everyone goes home. That's when I would use the Brymen BM786 and fix the machine. 🤣 Great video. Thanks Dave.
I'm actually excited to read the comments, as I know that many of the fans of this channel are highly educated and experienced with manufacturing of electrical devices.
THEN THERE IS ME
@@jesseparrish1993 You're not alone lol
And me..!
PC is polycarbonate. The injection mould quality actually looks better in the 786, the ejector pins are blended in a lot better on the 786 which shows a more expensive mould, but as you mentioned the curved design of the Fluke can also add to the cost... BUT it could have been done to make mould construction easier by hand blending the mating surfaces. The white surround in the Fluke is a pretty simple mould in reality, no undercuts etc. just a simple 2 half mould. the surface finish is a minor difference, Fluke is polished, 786 is sandblasted, which I prefer as it adds to the ability to not drop it when its wet/oily.
The ceramic resistor array in the Fluke is probably a Caddock made unit.
Yes, but I will bet the plastic bases used come from the same suppliers, the differences between them all coming down to the added ingredients and fillers used. Both likely have gone with some calcium carbonate as filler, to give more rigidity, along with likely some fumed silica to reduce mass. Same for the PCB material, likely only different resins used to bond them, and the weave of the fibre.
Yes Fluke is using a much thicker gold plating on the board, so have to do a selective plating on it, while Brymen likely is just doing the nickel and gold plate on the entire board, so it is cheaper to produce. But they also plate the moving contacts, likely a heavy coating, so overall the same wear, plus the contact coating can also include a Rhodium coat before the gold, which is a lot harder wearing. Oberall both likely have almost the same BOM cost, at least only likely to be 20% difference between them, the difference being that Brymen likely has lower overheads than Fluke, coming from an area where shipping, living and overheads are a lot cheaper.
It's worth saying that both are polycarbonate. The surface texture can trick us into thinking there is a difference. As far as the molds go, there shouldn't be a meaningful difference in tooling cost between the two shells when you are making 1 million of them. (But the Fluke is a more legant design.)
I disagree on the moulding. Whoever made the Fluke mould clearly cared more about surface finish on the core side even though that was not an exterior surface. The tooling marks are a lot more visible on the Brymen than the Fluke, especially around the selector knob: see 8:05 for a good side-by-side comparison. The Fluke mould would have taken _much_ longer to machine as well due to the curved surfaces.
@@purerhodium Yes took a lot longer to make, and definitely more expensive diamond polishing both halves of the mould to the same finish, but overall cost is not going to be that much more overall for the mouldings, though I would bet Brymen has a lower unit cost, simply because they produce more meters per mould, amortising that cost of the mould over more units.
Having dealt with moulding before, the first batch is very expensive, as your tooling cost is built into it, but every other batch is a lot cheaper, till you run into tool wear needing a rebuild. That first 20k unit order was expensive for both manufacturers, but the next 20k units were likely less than a third the cost.
@@SeanBZA It's funny; I make a low cost product and rather leave the tooling marks visible and ask my machinist to run an interesting toolpath on his finish run rather than polish them out. I remember being a kid and looking at those marks and thinking about how the product I saw was made. Fortunately due to the cost, no-one cares much about the finish.
Top tip on backing out the screw out before screwing them back in again.
I do it for all screws not just self taps in plastic. I cant recal striping any threads since I started doing it.
@@The6677yu I learned that trick long, long ago and it has served me well over the years.
I always do, it is so obvious, no one told me that. Let me add, that alternatively, it is possible to turn the screw clockwise with very light action, applying no pressure, and the screw will catch up the old thread.
I always do this... It's funny when someone's watching and think you don't know righty tighty lefty loosey.
i dont do this anymore. instead i screw in with feather force first and then go full bore if theres no stoppage. works 90% of the time. the real trick is in being able to apply a very small amount of force when youre full of red bull.
I'm living and working in Russia as a field service engineer: everything electronic here must work at -40C. And guess what? Only Flukes are so reliable.
how do you work in -40C ? how is that possible
@@6Diego1Diego9 a nice coat and mittens?
Brrrrrrr...
@@6Diego1Diego9 Nobody knows, but they have to anyway....
But does it give you the warm and fuzzies?
I bought an 878 to replace my beloved 1587 because of your videos. I just got it today and it is amazing, I've never had a meter with this quick of a response time. It is faster in Auto range than the Fluke when I select the proper range. You saved me $500, thank you!!!!!!! (3-days shipping to Texas!)
I wonder how a similar specced Keysight or Hioki DMM would compare.
I mean Brymen is probably the most bang for buck competitor, but they don't deliver "corporate style services" like Fluke does (calibration packages, longevity services etc), so Brymen is definately more focussed to the private end user.
But brands like Hioki, Keysight, Kyoritsu, Gossen and Chauvin Arnoux (Metrix) have a more corporate focussed assortment (and sometimes pricing), so a comparison between such multimeters is also interesting.
Yes. The 786 though is a direct competitor in look'n'feel. If it comes down to all the other stuff then that needs a detailed shootout.
Yeah, I'd like to see them cracked open as well.
@@EEVblog I wonder what the future of industrial /commercial/professional handheld multimeters are? A lot of these fluke & brymen models are quite old. Keysight has been doing a lot of innovation & releasing new bench top products including DMMs, but in the hand held space I only see the chinese making these autoranging "smart DMMs" with touch screen & more. What I'd personally like to see are more meters supporting datalogging (scope meter integration may be?), remote control & cross platform integration (PC & Mobile OSs) & even make them programmable for automated testing.
I have the Keysight U1252B and while the build quality is good, it’s not on par with Fluke.
@@therealb888 Logging is probably most thought after function, though good multimeter without logging is sufficient in 99.99% of all cases?
I worked in plastic injection molding for years and the Fluke is indeed top quality, but to me the Brymen example actually also looks pretty good ive seen worse, no nasty mold repairs showing up on the backside and it looks like the molds were well aligned with no off center screw holes etc. Also no off color material mixed in as if they didnt clean the injection barrel of a previous color well enough - unless its a dedicated color for that barrel.which is ideal for any colored molding. I do agree about the thin posts, not the best engineering strength wise - though they shouldnt be a problem -unless- the screws are severely over tightened or more importantly if the meter gets dropped will they break at the base or where the screws are threaded in. Of course this Brymen mold probably doesnt have many years on it so it should appear pretty good still. I have a Brymen/Greenlee meter and very pleased with its build quality and operation.
Fluke I think has a good arrangement and it probably more robust when dropped etc Less parts. Less contacts. Less something to go wrong. Yet Brymen is not far away in that regard and measurements are spot on
I love my UT181A. It is Uni-T, but it seems to be their flagship product. This thing is built like a tank, and is packed full of brand name chips. 72MHz ARM Cortex M3 (STM32), 64MB ST NAND, 16Mb ISSI RAM, ES51997A DMM, RA8875 TFT driver. Looks like a great protection system as well. I’d be happy to tweet pics for your viewing pleasure if anyone is curious.
The service screws are all captive, all metal threaded inserts. There is also a backup clock battery so you can unplug the lithium pack to make servicing easier. It is the only cable you need to disconnect to separate both halves. There is a thick blast slot going around the whole thing. The battery and both fuses are serviceable without taking the whole thing apart. They really gilded the lily on this one.
Oh, it’s also got direct UART access through the IR PC interface. It literally goes straight in to that STM chip.
Say what you will about uni-t, but I think this particular product is awesome.
I've had a brymen at home for 20 years. Its accurate, bombproof and a very good meter. Its only weakness is its heavy on batteries.
For work I have a fluke because the company paid for it and yes - brand snobbery is real. People really do look at what you pull out of the bag. That said my personal opinion is that half the people I come across packing fluke wouldn't know how to use them in a real shootout. I also have several other no-names floating around as backups because you can never have too many second meters.
Hi ! Out of curiosity, what brymen model do you own for 20 years?
You make some good points, but the Fluke and a backup Fluke, and a extra Fluke backup are hard to argue with if you know how to use them. If you don't know how to use them, then within minutes you will be escorted off the job site, the hall will be called and the B.A. will get an ass chewing for sending skanks.
Buy a fluke and quit lying to yourself
very nice, love to see you talk about handheld meters again like before, lovely.
i got a Brymen BM867s. like hell i am going to spend the money for the competitive yellow one. i'll put some yellow tape on it if people really care. and i do have a yellow 87 in the van. and its a lot worse for wear despite the red one getting most of the work. the window on the brymen is miles ahead of the fluke. the fluke plastic is too thin for my liking. the split jack is mandatory for me. it saved me a LOT of potential fuse replacements.
"like hell i am going to spend the money for the competitive yellow one." - Apparently you've never worked with power electronics then. That's where these "minor differences" matter the most.
@@CoolKoon i work with high power compressors (think 150kW), pumps and fans. i use and trust the red one over the yellow one. also because it has the features i actually need and use. my apprentice gets the yellow one. makes them feel more serious and confident. and i need that confidence. that way they are busy with the job and not trying to impress me.
@@SupremeRuleroftheWorld Wow, you're brave....that Fluke multimeter has those big beefy fuses for a VERY good reason. For instance to prevent it from blowing up in your hand when you poke the probe at the wrong place in a high power compressor or pump system...
@@CoolKoon the brymen i use has the same fuses and CAT rating that every other meter (including the fluke i have) , so what what your problem again?
@@SupremeRuleroftheWorld Haven't you watched the video? No, it doesn't. But I agree that using the Brymen for power electronics installations would probably be a lot safer than using the UNI-T that I have...
i got the eevblog branded meter because it was a good price, and i liked being able to see the board in the amazon photos. it's a solid meter that i trust not to blow up my hand, and it's still holding up very well.
Looks to be unavailable on amazon now :(
Do you still like it?
@@nickgames1892 yeah it’s great. no complaints
I think his comment about showing up to the jobsite with "the yellow" hit the nail on the head. Regardless of how good the other meters may be, Fluke is just "known" for being THE meter to have.
Same applies to construction trades.
Ryobi/Rigid/Etc. users are stereotyped as "hack scumbag contractors" while Milwaukee/DeWalt on the site can make a first-year apprentice look like a seasoned pro.
Had a land owner raise concerns over our guys using a dirty (but very capable) bobcat to clear his lot, citing "the last guys had a caterpillar...why are your rates higher??"
But that's reality. Much like how lawyers gain clients' initial trust with neat offices and nice suits, tradies do so with universally-recognized equipment.
Hell I'm guilty of it too; if I hired a logger and he shows up with a Poulan saw, I'm chasing him off my property before I end up liable for his equipment killing him.
As an on-site IT tech, I carried a meter only incase I might need it. The only folks that ever gave me any grief for not having a Fluke were the electrians. That's when I would ask if they can set up a router with their meter. I wasn't there for meter measuring contest. Lol.
Would be funny for an electrical engineer to show up with the biggest piece of crap $10 meter from ebay on a job site just to see reactions.
@@davcar72 Oddly enough, I have a Fluke LRAT-2000 Network Monitor (before they sold to NetAlly), so my Fluke CAN actually help set up a router so to speak lol
@@MrV1NC3N7V3G4 lol
Nevermind what the board looks like or how many digits are on the display - the digits only matter if you can trust them, and nobody is trusting that last digit on the Brymen meter. It's there to make you feel better about not getting a Fluke. Flukes are spec'd over a wider range of operating temperature and humidity. Brymens are also known to become inaccurate when the battery gets low - that's just unacceptable when you need to rely on it as a professional tool.
Ultimately, you're paying for quality, and you can't always touch and feel quality in the final product. You could have two manufacturers building the same product with the same board and the same BOM. If one of the manufacturers puts twice as many resources into quality control, process control, inspection, testing, etc, then the final products will not be the same. The cost for that QC is real but the value isn't something you'll find until you realize that one of the two can be relied upon and the other cannot.
Really, though - DMMs are used by lots of people and a lot of those people do not need a Fluke. I use them at work and the cost there is worth it, but I use a cheap meter at home for hobby work because it does that job well enough. The question you really need to ask yourself when buying a meter is "*What is the cost of it NOT working?*".
I work in advanced manufacturing. My meter not working means longer downtime. Downtime is time that a working machine is not making product - not making money. If a Fluke saves me from 10 minutes of downtime - because I didn't need to double-check a sketchy reading, because I didn't need to change the batteries...again, because any other reason - then it has already paid for itself
I'd love to see you try and back up a single one of those claims with real data (that the Brymen's last digit is wrong, that Brymens give wrong readings when battery is low, etc)
As an eevBlog BM786 early adopter, this teardown/comparison made me feel pretty smug about getting good value for money! Well done, Dave!
Yellow Vs blue? As a Swede, I go both ways.
why bring sex into this?
@@RobertoCarlos-tn1iq He means different thing. The first McDonald's Drive Thru was installed in a restaurant based in Sierra Vista, Arizona, located near the Fort Huachuca military installation.
@@RobertoCarlos-tn1iq look at the flag of sweden
But my Brymen is red. That would make me a ... Norwegian...? Nej tack lillebror 😁
Seems like all the "warm fuzzies" would add up to
For many years, Fluke has been manufactured in China. Although under American supervision but with Chinese materials. And housing, and controllers and boards. So the 3-4 times the price you pay is now just for the Fluke name. And Fluke quality has nothing to do with American Made anymore.
Greetings from Bulgaria
My Brymen made in Taiwan.
"The fluke has a higher sexiness factor"
Freaking sold.
Thanks, Dave! Very interesting technical comparison video! I would have never guessed that the black plastic over the resistor network is actually conductive and not for mechanical protection, but it is for emi/rfi shielding! Overall the Fluke looks more realiable because of the simpler pcb that denotes a certain design maturity. I also not like the battery connector and the lcd protection which are rather weak.
Brought my fluke 77 second hand in 1996 apart from a battery change or two it's still as good as the day I got it.. I was 16 then km 42 now.. Best 60 quid I ever saved and spent.. Excellent videos always enjoy my watching..
I really liked the mechanical aspects of this comparison and they matter of course, but for me the real difference comes down to electrical performance. In my professional career, I worked in high power electronics and therefore switching power. Most low-cost meters really fail when measuring signals with switching noise either on the signal under test, or in the environment. I found the Fluke meters superior in this regard even to meters like (Keysight/Agilent/HP). Not sure a good way to quantify this for your blog videos, but from years of experience this matters a great deal. That EMI shielding you found could very well be the difference between a reading of 5.00 V and ?.*&^ V.
Very interesting and informative video Dave! We love watching your videos! 🥰
are you really JLPCB? if so that's crazy, I just placed my first order through you
You got me at the double A batteries vs the 9 volt battery. I’ve never had a 9 volt battery leak by AA and AAA leak all the time. I’m going with the 9 volt battery.
Use lithium or Nimih cells to avoid that issue
@@WildcatsandBourbon Or the old school "heavy duty" instead of alkalines.
I _think_ the secret of o 9v's durability is because inside it actually contains some smaller "battery elements", so you practically have double casing.
That is absolutely it. If you take apart a 9V it has 6 smaller alkaline batteries in it. For things I don't want to leak, I always buy the Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries. They are a gouging you in terms of price, but I've never had one leak.
Great video as always 👍😊
Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us 👍😀
@ 6:35 I always do that with any type of threads. Especially on softer materials.
I still use the Fluke 77 my dad bought me in high school in the early 80s. Still going strong.
At work we use a mix of meters, but go to the flukes for anything certified or anything with low voltage tolerance. You don't want to be probing around a super expensive low voltage board with a meter that puts out 9+ volts for a resistance measurement. Those 77s are nice and gentle.
Same here, daily driving my mid 80's Fluke 77 given to me during my apprenticeship. Still as good as new. Amazing battery life too.
I bought one second hand a few years ago. Works a treat! I also have my original AVO80 which was issued to me back in the 80s. Still use it where analogue makes sense
Love my 77 also the 80s version still my favourite
I got my first Fluke in high school too. I knew they were the one to have, and my parents got me a 179. It's still working as well as when I got it, and surprisingly it's still being made. That means parts are available. That's probably longer than most of the companies making cheap meters will be in business. Since then I've bought a bunch more Fluke products and they've never let me down.
I got tired of cheap, newer meters breaking, and actually went and bought a mint condition Fluke 29 Mk2 (Which is a slightly updated version of the 77, I believe). It has not failed me yet, despite being close to 30 years old. I also love the rubber 'bumper' with integrated kickstand, and the fact the function dial slightly sticks off the side, and has a knurled edge, which means it can be operated with one hand. Just a great meter all around.
I’m really enjoying these videos. I have a Fluke 77 that I’ve had since the 90s (I think) before they went yellow so it’s all grey with the removable rubber outer protective covering. I haven’t used it as much since I got my 233 but I WILL break it out in more harsh environments because it’s been such a workhorse for me and for some reason I’m a bit more protective of the 233.
Hi Dave.
Great didactic video.
Juicy as usual.
A clear lesson for the ones who now want to choose a DMM.
Cheers mate.
great honest review dave. im gonna buy one of your meters for sure. thanks for your efforts as always. yiew.
thanks for the review Dave! I own a Brymen 869s and I am very happy with it!
I have both the Fluke 177 and the Brymen 867. Generally I like the Brymen better and it's the one I use on the bench. The 177 travels with me in the field though. The one annoying thing on the Brymen is how short the backlight stays on (16s or 32s) whereas the Fluke 177 backlight stays on a full two minutes (or indefinitely per start-up config).
25 years ago, the guy who taught me locksmithing told me about the backing out the screw thing. It was a tip that stuck with me always. It's very satisfying to get that nice click when it finds the thread. Some of them have 2 clicks, one being more pronounced than the other even.
So much of us are just starting out even after years of listening, it’s a seed that grows. When you show us insight such as market knowledge of what’s best we will love it fr
I've been using fluke meters for over two decades now and in my experience, the number one failure mode is always the 9-volt wire connection. I wish they would copy the 9V drawer connections that a lot of smoke detectors have or go to AA's.
Had that often enough, and the solution is to grab a dead 9V battery and use the snap off it, soldered to the wires, and a drop of hot glue to hold them fast. Others I pull the plastic off, and use the 2 holes or slots provided, but not used, as strain relief, again with a drop of glue on the soldered joint for protection.
I have a couple fluke 289s and they use a AA carriage; not the 9v clip. I don't get why folks don't like the 9v clip. What's the big deal? IMHO it seems to have a better more secure connection? Less chance of loose connection like the spring loaded carriage type. All honestly, I've never had a problem with it.
@@revealingfacts4all "I don't get why folks don't like the 9v clip. What's the big deal?" - The fact that its leads are crappy and paper thin 99% of the time and they snap off. Doesn't EVER happen with AA or AAA battery holders...
The fluke 110 series have a nice 9v connector soldered on the pcb, not only the smoke detectors
My 287 uses 6xAA and they just slot in, but they use a really thin metal that slides out of the molding easily, I guess they just struggle with battery terminals.
Great video as usual. I just had a look though and the Brymen BM786 is A$215, while the Fluke 177 $349, so not quite 2-3 times more expensive nowadays.
here in australia they are, BM786 is around $240 and fluke 177 are $550 to $650, fluke 179's start at $650
I bought a blue straight from EVblog for $170 shipped this week. Yellow can suck it.
I have so many tabs open right now and your previous video about this subject stayed open for weeks and I finally got around to watching it and now you release this one lol.
Just wait a bit, my next one is already uploaded, it involves the Fluke 77
I've said this before and I'll probably say it sometime in the future, you sir are my all-time favorite TH-cam personality/creator/educator. Viewing from Southern California. I would follow you anywhere sir!
One thing that caught my eye that I didn't see mentioned in other recent comments-- @8:56 it looks like the Fluke has a much more complex system of offset ridges and channels around the exterior of the case to help keep water out than the Brymen's relatively flat outer profile with one 'step'. Having used my Fluke 77 in the rain more than a few times I can attest to it's quite good water ingress protection... even if it isn't rated for such!
in my experience if a product is not claimed to be waterproof I always find water or condensation in there. all it takes is a tiny gap and a few large humidity/temperature variations and the thing has drops of water inside.
i wonder how a fluke 77 would survive in the tropical climate.......
@@echelonrank3927 Yeah, I've forgotten my 77 outside in the rain overnight after checking a truck battery-- that was enough to get the inside of the screen area foggy with condensation. (In fairness, it had a pool of water over the dial when I found it!) A couple days indoors with it sitting on an HVAC vent dried it out and it's been fine ever since...
I loved using flukes when I was in the Marines. No way I'm going to pay for it though on my bench. I have a Brymen and a UniT. Good enough for me. Loved the video
Nice to see someone else using UT. I think they're kinda underappreciated, and I see Fluke all over TH-cam. Personally I use UT890D+ and an old analog Meratronik V640 that stayed with me for over 15 years.
Truth be told, I'd love to lay my hands on any higher end meter, and consider getting myself the EEVBlog Brymen when I get some budget to do so. Being broke sucks.
Did not have fluke, but did have AVO, except on the test bench where it was Racal Dana all the way, complete with loud autoranging relays. Easy to probe the voltage, looking where you were on the test point, and wait for the clicking to stop, and look up to the display to see the voltage, and a lost power rail you knew immediately by the incorrect number of clicks, before even looking up.
@@SeanBZA slow autoranging sucks, I'd rather do without than lose time over and over, each time I try to measure something.
Of course it depends a lot on the range selection algorithm: rather than starting from the highest range and moving down to one that is closest to the value measured, a good meter would recall the previous range, measure the value, decide if the range is best fit, then display the value - or go up or down if needed, measure again and store the range. It's about reducing the computational complexity :)
It also helps to have the value already displayed while the meter is closing in on the range. Sometimes we don't even need such a precise measurement - we just need to know that VCC is there, rather than how far it differs from the expected value.
Sure, changing ranges manually with a dial also takes time, unless you can do that with one press of a button - e.g. on benchtop (lab) meters.
"Good enough for me." - Did you ever spend hours with troubleshooting only to realize that the battery of the multimeter is dying and thus you're getting bad readings? Well guess which multimeter brand doesn't have this problem...
@@CoolKoon not once, no. An additional few hundred dollars is worth more to me than being told I have a flat battery. When I say good enough, l really mean it. At least for my applications. I do have more than one meter on the bench, too. You can cross check results when things get odd
What made the Flukes stand above all the others in the beginning were their leads…they were indestructible compared to the cheaper meters and this is still the case for the most part. You could take your Fluke to a job site or throw it in your van without worrying that the leads were going to break. The leads on the cheaper meters always broke over time.
As far as the specs, I’m not familiar with the Bryman but anything can be put down on paper 😉
Remember the craze over the “Nano VNA”? Yeah, put to the test our 30-year-old HP VNA blows it away.
Also, the Fluke can be professionally calibrated and tagged whereas other cannot. (again, not familiar with the Bryman)
Thanks for the video! I recently ordered the BM786 from you and received it last week, I am so absolutely pleased with it, I love it and in my opinion it is the fastest continuity beep I have ever seen/heard.... that device is really awsome and accurate!!!! I am glad to own it now :-) Greetings from Germany, Michael...
Great video!
If the company is buying I would go for the Fluke, if I'm buying, the Brymen would be just fine! :)
Exactly. You could buy 3 blues for the price of one yellow.
I love how for the Brymen board near the barrel jacks that they used a small blob of solder to indicate that it's a 786 model.
I have a Fluke and like your example above the front panel is so much cleaner. If nothing else the Brymen should get this in order.
I really appreciate the honesty here. The fact that you are willing call out all the ways a fluke may be built better, and it’s inherent benefits of just being a fluke (as you pointed out in a previous video), is very commendable.
I’ve been a fluke fanboy for so many years, but when I needed another meter without the budget for a fluke I came across this video. If I’m honest, I didn’t even know there were comparable products on the market.
Accuracy and functionality are the only two things I need out of a meter, so I’ll be going to flukes competitor from now on.
Seems kinda weird to want to watch a meter comparison video on the big screen TV....but I'm going downstairs to do just that.
The "yellow peer pressure" is a very real thing and is present in a number of trades for a number of tools. Funnily enough for working in residential homes the preferred colour is also yellow - as in DeWalt... although Milwaukee is also "street cred" and I've had friends who don't get repeat work or don't get to work on larger sites because of the brands they use.
I can attest that when contracters are hired on a large commercial building... like the "yellow peer pressure" for Fluke in the electrical world there's an unwritten expectation that a "good" contractor uses Hilti for example. Other trades credibility is judged on brands too - for example if you are not using "Sika" as a brand you are somehow less...
Brand snobbery and peer pressure on expectations of what makes a "good" worker in many fields is unfortunately very real for those jobs where you provide/buy your own equipment and that, for better or worse, represents your "quality".
It reminds me of apple in video, audio, music and video editing fields. There is still some snobbery there as well where you won’t be taken as seriously showing up with a PC laptop versus showing up with your apple MacBook Pro where you will be taken more seriously.
Over here people like to see green & black - Festool - at the job site. As a hobbyist I've treated myself to a few Festool and DeWalt tools; they're spendy, but as the drug dealer in Pulp Fiction said, you will know where that extra money went. With the Fluke, I wasn't feeling it though, vs. the Brymen.
A few years ago I had to replace my MM; I use them rather a lot for electronics as well as electrical work, mostly for hobby rather than professionally, but even so I failed to see what extras the Fluke brings to the table. This review kind of confirms that belief. I went with the Brymen 869s in the end, the price sealed the deal for me, and I'm very pleased with it. Even if people have asked me a few times why I don't have a Fluke.
Yes, the peer pressure towards certain tool makers is at times quite obvious and toxic.
I personally like to see it as a sign of incompetence in the the other person if they only consider one brand as "professional" for a certain market. (unless there literally only is one brand in the market, but even then it is incompetent to consider that no one else could make something of similar or better quality or performance.)
It is much more important to have tools that are having the necessary features for the jobs one works with. And generally speaking, when taking on a new meter, one should always have another "trusted" one at hand. This is regardless of what brand one buys, any individual unit can just decide to not work one day. (Either due to a defect, a metal burr having found its way inside, a dead battery or fuse, or that one just dropped it 4 floors on accident.)
Though, personally I have worked with enough electricians that don't know basic electronics theory that I have started seeing electricians that don't use Fluke as more professional (unless it is a meter I know is cheap). Since seeing an electrician that has made a decision to go with a Gossen Metrawatt, Keysigt, Brymen or similar brand tends to also hold a candle in terms of electronics knowledge, after all they haven't just bought a Fluke since "that is what one is supposed to do", but rather bought a tool fit for their specific job. It is somehow giving an ensuring feeling when one works with electricians that don't believe that "no current flows through neutral, it only flows through the active" or other major misunderstandings.
Outside of the electricians trade I haven't seen similar excessive peer pressure towards a specific brand.
In the audio/video world Apple is the de facto standard, but bringing in a Windows PC is still "fine" one isn't considered "dangerous" like an electrician with a Keysight meter at times is labeled as.
In the machining world one can use a caliper from almost anyone without most people giving one a second look. (as long as it is made of metal, unless one works around strong magnets.)
In the PC world there is some peer pressure, but it is split in the middle between AMD and Intel as far as CPUs go and AMD and nVidia for GPUs.
For a while EVs were almost just "I am going to buy a Tesla". (Similar to how a lot of electricians uses "fluke" as shorthand for multimeter.)
The worst part is when that peer pressure to go for a Fluke is from the electrical safety authorities themselves.
I like the Makita
@@ollieb9875 they are hands down best for cordless, i own only Makita
The “wind back first” tip is applicable for EVERYTHING
Dave, I appreciate your sincere honesty regarding these two builds. I wish that everyone who has a hand in selling a product is so brutally honest! I recently purchased a BM786 to support the channel! I must admit that I was a Fluke “fanboy” for a very long time, but I returned the last one that I received as the calibration was shamefully off right out of the box (enough to make me wonder if it was a counterfeit unit)! I literally just received my BM786 and haven’t yet had much time with it, but so far I really like what I see (and feel as it feels very nice in the hand), and I certainly DON’T have any buyer’s remorse! 😂 Keep up the awesome work! 👍
Use my EEVBlog Brymen BM235 on site jobs as a tradie with no questions asked however Dave might have a heart attack if he saw the physical state of my meter. Definitely not a bright blue anymore but still working well. ;P
Had my Brymen BM202 for a long time, still going strong with no issues. One of the screw studs has broken off though and the screen cover has yellowed a little. Sure it will last for many years more..
So, by "no issues", you mean "has developed problems already"?
Got it.
@@digitalradiohacker No, I just don't see them as issues. They have no impact on the operation, and are acceptable wear and tear for a hard working 24 year old meter.
Great video Dave! You make it entertaining to watch. I have been an electronics hobbyist since 1970. My first meters were an Amprobe RS 3 and a UEI M110. I love your humor and enthusiasm. Please keep doing what you do!
Thanks. Great tear down and very interesting. Watched it to the end. I would have liked to see a speed test of the auto ranging of each meter on each setting. The real cheap multimeters were very slow. Thanks again. Ron
Every time I find “$50-$100” fluke in a pawnshop I usually scoop them up cheap. My wife is like “why are you getting another one, don’t you have like two or three of those already?”
Sell me one?
Every time I buy a multimeter...
My wife: How many more meters do you need?
Me: ...one more.
@@chevylization exactly my case, My wife is like “why are you getting another one, don’t you have like six or seven of those already?”
Should have asked her how many pairs of shoes does she have.
A great video Dave. I can see that the Fluke would be easily twice the price but more than that is difficult to see. I suppose building products that can withstand the scrutiny of a safety audit, traceable certification and industry expectation is where the extra cost comes in to play rather than value on the bench. One thing that I notice on a Fluke is that they can get very grubby and difficult to clean compared to cheaper plastics on other DMMs.
In my maintenance area there's over 70 Fluke meters distributed. Not a single problem have been given by fellow employees in my 19 years in the department. I've had several probes replaced from getting snagged and three battery replacements. Made me a hero a few dozen times when troubleshooting with the Fluke. Accurate and reliable.
One thing not mentioned in the video is the design age, that Fluke board said 2002 if I caught it correctly, which could be correct for the 17X series, which would explain the old school techniques used. The 77 IV is also something of a heritage model, it’s a rebranded 17X that basically mimics the pervious generations of 77s for reasons mentioned in the previous video, which also might explain its somewhat old design, I wager Fluke drags their feet as much as possible before updating the 77 series.
Where is AVE when we need that molding/plastic analysis of a manufactured part?
I've had a Bryman BM896s for a number of years now and it has been a workhorse for accurate measurements and versatility. My everyday multimeter is one I bought from Circuit Specialists too many years ago and it has the yellow jacket that Fluke made Circuit Specialists change to another color. It also has been a workhorse and been used and abused and still works well for first order of magnitude measurements. Never had a Fluke so I don't know what I might be missing but as they say ignorance is bliss.
Got the same CS meter as my everyday unit. Big numbers with backlight.
My issue with most DMMs is the wiping contact switch, particularly on the low-ohms range. Does anyone used sealed reed switches for this sort of thing?
i still have an original Fluke 75 which I bought in the 80's. mine was the upscale package with a rubber holster to protect from ham fisted techs - that would be me. I keep it on a kitchen counter and it works as good as the day I got it on sale from the sears catalog ($65?) in the early 80's. I'd say i hot my moneys worth.
My bench has 3ea Fluke 8060's that were the premier hand held DMM's of their ime. I ran the company calibration department and remember buying these for the company for $429, at that time we were more than happy to pay the price, these were just a great meter back then. i strted out using Fkuke 801 differential volt meters so I did it for a while. My personal meters were bought second hand from people who didn't know what they had. All 3 still work fine so somebody knew what they sere doing.
Get back to me when your Brimars are all 40 years old and we'll talk more.
So funny I'm a recent industrial electrician retiree, So true about the "yellow envy". My last fluke meter acquisition before retiring was the 289. A very sweet meter. Almost need finger extenders to hold it!!! And you do look down on others jokingly with a lesser meter.
The Fluke range switch mechanism is superior to the Brymens because the Brymen uses 4 contact points to counter the forces from the click mechanism (when rotating the wheel) which causes more stress on those points. I am confident that those contact points are sufficient for a long time of usage, but certain plastics can become brittle over time.
i see this all the time. the plasticizer has left the building and ultraviolet damage finished the job
Disagree with your opinion respectfully. Rather opposite..Brymen switch can be replaced as a whole module and on Fluke the "crab" if it wears down the casing socket in which it rotates inside you need ..a new front case cover?
@@stanleywhiteman6450 never thought about it from a repairability point of view, but you have a point. Although it is only valid, in my opinion, if you can get the spare parts separately.
@@MoreCharactersThanNeeded On the Brymen you could maybe 3d print it, at least theres a better chance than with the Fluke
@@timcordes4762 The housing on the fluke is really not likely to break, and if it does then you have certainly abused it beyond repair for more components than just the housing part of the rotary switch. The fluke is a superior design with fewer parts and less stress points. Furthermore, the fluke mechanism also contributes to the rigidity of the housing. I have the BM786 and its awesome bang for the buck, but it really is a clever design in the Fluke, and I tip my hat to their engineers.
Joe Smith Channel is huge on multimeter reviews and he dissects every single possible thing on those multimeters. But this is a very good comparison also. And the conclusion is simple ... if the customer pays a good amount buy a fluke ..else buy a less expensive multimeter.
Makes sense to me...Although, I've only ever owned Flukes...Something about their being made in America!
Is he the same guy who bad mouthed Dave's multimeter?
@@bobweiram6321 :) ... _I don't know if he "bad mouth" Dave's dmm ... from the reviews he makes he is imho quite neutral and objective regarding comparisons. Of course if I compare my car to a Ferrari I can not say anything good about my car ...
@@MrDoneboy Flukes are no doubt Top of the Line dmm's. Superb quality and metrology confidence. That is indisputable. But like anything one only needs to access wether they make sense on our particular price range or not. It's that simple. I would Love to buy a Fluke just like anyone else in electronics in the entire World. They are indeed top dmm's. But with that comes a price tag, it's as simple as that, same as a Ferrari in the car world ... you want a Top Car ... well there's a price tag to pay for that ...
@@John_Smith__ True. For 90% of our needs, Fluke is overkill. But for that 10% -- which bring$ in monie$ in the thousand$ -- a Fluke would be a worthy buy. But if one does not regularly have those 10% jobs, go with something Good Enough that fits the budget.
I’ve had an 87 for over 20 years - casual use- still works fine- love it. Just bought a lightly used 87v for the next 20 / as back up…. I guess that’s the problem with watching 1 hour multimeter videos - you start thinking you might need another one when in reality you only use it for continuity and ensuring that the home outlets are still running 60hz.
Crazy to think I have been watching for 9 years on and off 🤯
I would be interested to know the power consumption for each unit. Both mA and battery life would be a useful addition. Replacing batteries is a PITA with multiple battery powered devices, so the less hungry the better 🙂
Was anyone able to obtain any information or first hand experience regarding the battery life ot these two DMMs? My colegue owns a Fluke 179 for 15 years already (moderate user) and had to replace a battery only twice during that time.
I have a love/hate relationship with those fuses in Fluke meters. I have a 6-7 years old 87V, which still has the factory fuses in, but a couple of years ago I bought a set of original spares (set = one of each) and man, they were expensive! I could have bought a decent enough Chinese DMM, like an Aneng for the price I paid for 2 fuses.
That's what I like about the gossen you can't accidently turn it to volts with your lead in one of the amp jacks. Every meter should do that.
They are very high rupture current if they blow, they don't take your hand off.
The cost is not the first consideration here.
Keep up the good stuff Dave.
Hi, I like your videos very much. You are The Aussie that rips everything apart 😊😊
I love my eevblog Brymen. In the 12v automotive industry, the Brymen has some features that puts it above my coworkers Fluke, namely how it beeps when it detects a voltage which is very useful when I am crammed into a vehicle dashboard testing wires. My only complaint is that the backlight only stays on for maybe 3 seconds instead of 30 seconds or more like my previous meter.
Conductance on BM786 can be used to test car coils for leakage and shortcuts between windings
The BM786 is the clear winner here IMO
The 9V battery snap is replaceable - when I got my Fluke 25 (used, 30 years ago) the battery hadn't been changed for too long and had leaked and destroyed the battery snap. I stopped at Radio Shack, bought a replacement and soldered it in and Bob's your uncle. The Fluke worked flawlessly until the display failed a couple years ago and I replaced it with a 28II.
The first portable DMM i bought was the famous Fluke 8020 with the nanoSiemens conductance ranges (1/R). i got grief for getting the most useless range anyone had ever heard of.
Not long after it arrived, we were running 20ma current loop tty lines between two buildings through the campus steam tunnels. At state surplus we scored two
big 1500 foot rolls of 12 twisted pair stranded in an oil-rated burly shielded jacket. But they had been sitting outside in the wx for who knows how long and with no specs, we were wary of its condition. FLUKE to the rescue! That conductance scale i took the grief for, let us test every pair for shorts, and with a stopwatch, you could get a ballpark estimate of the capacitance of a pair! Cable checked out and the project was saved many dollars.
I would add a dab of grease on the dial on the inside to make it smoother and easier to turn. Great review! The Fluke seems a tad heftier with more metal; however, the Brymen might be far more power efficient than the Fluke. Overall, the Fluke is using more expensive yesterday's technology, whereas Brymen uses more modern components which has it's advantages.
Make sure to use grease that is did plastics, for example silicone grease.
Petroleum bases greases might work well in the beginning, but will absorb into the plastic and make it fragile and soft over time!
@@Richard.Andersson Yup.
I talked to Brymen tech support, they told me not to use any grease at all. It is not recommended officially.
@@atexnik Of course not, but it helps make for a smoother feel. It can hurt it either.
@@Richard.Andersson Super Lube synthetic
Great job! Agree can't see 3-4x cost. Durability is a big consideration - I sure like the look of that white shield on Fluke - I wonder how each would hold up if some cola got spilled on them?
It also would be interesting to see how each hold up to things like ESD, humidity, ocean air, and drop testing onto concrete from 3m. Add me to list of folks who'd like to see the range rotary switch robustness tested!
Thanks for all the awesome videos and knowledge you share. I have several Fluke DMMs, ammeters, network qual tester, and MDA-550 Motor Drive Analyzer/Scopemeter. What are your thoughts on the MDA-550 compared to bench scopes and other fluke scope meters?
I have a classic original Fluke 77. It's very old, but it works fine. It lacks some features of the 77 IV, but none (that I'm aware of) are that important for me except for the sadly-missing backlight. What my multimeter does have, though, is a spare 630 mA (250 V) fuse in a holder that is molded into the inside of the top of the case. It uses a 9-volt battery, but it rests on the PCB, with contacts that are soldered into the PCB (i.e., no clip with wires).
Also, the screw that holds down the PCB, at the center-bottom of the board, directly under the 15 A fuse, goes through a spring, so when you loosen the spring, the board rises from the back of the case. it's near the probe jacks, so I assume the spring affords physical shock protection for the board.
What you pointed out as “better plastics” is actually the quality of the mold (the two steel parts that molten plastic is injected into). On the fluke you immediately see the absolutely top notch mold quality. On the brymen the mold is not that great, someone needed to hack at it with a dremel and its pretty worn out already. Thats where your money goes I guess, the fluke molds probably get replaced way more often and molds for that stuff cost about a couple tens of thousands. And thats a difference everybody sees even if you dont know why.
Function over Form any day if its about significant money (as long as it is safe and accurate and the electronics are durable. I don't think the mould would justify the cost
@@tarunarya1780 Its the little details that people are willing to pay for. And its also a matter of that the people at this company take pride in their work and make the best product they can.
@@Narwaro Its good to take pride in your work. The issue is not that.
It is about how much people are willing to pay and what they are willing to sacrifice for that saving especially if they don't need it, or it is an occasional use item. Life is often about acceptable compromise.
I think that when you do something as a profession it may be that you are willing to overspend just to feel that you have the best equipment, but it should always be the case that the function trumps form. Even in terms of function, in reality many of us do not need hugely accurate equipment, but it feels nice to have that equipment and makes us feel good which is fine. Brands to show off to your friends/colleagues etc. if so inclined is also part of human nature to indicate success.
The issue is price point and what you are willing to spend. You can argue that we are in a global economy that is a race to the bottom in terms of pricing especially with online prince comparisons such as ebay, alibaba etc. The Chinese/3rd world production has allowed us to have electronics/hardware at prices we could not have dreamed off and don't even need or can consider buying to develop our potential interest. It is no longer the case that most things cannot be made well in China, it is all about how much people are willing to pay.
We are also in an era of increasingly specialised chips which allow simpler circuitry, and cheap pcb manufacture where you can make your own. Every year cheaper IT equipment comes out. I used to buy the best computers to prevent obsolescence. Everything becomes obsolete, buy what you need today with some reserve and reliability and buy again in a few years if /when needed.(Some basic things do not really need changing unless we just feel like a change.)
Any information on calibration stability Fluke vs. Brymen? I have used "Flukemeters" as long as they were available, both in aerospace and medical instrumentation where calibration stability is rather important. No experience with Brymen
as far as i can remember we never had a Fluke which was out of call in the last 28 Years (dozens of Flukes from the 77 to 289) they are in call or simple damaged ;)
I have a Fluke T6-1000 that I found stuck to the back of the water heater at my dad's house when he sold it. Use it for quick measurements. Have an ET828 cheap scope meter from at least 3 years ago that is probably my most used meter. Readings match the Fluke and the ability to see the waveform is incredible. I do pretty much only building wiring with occasional automotive so it's accurate enough. I even have an older one with just a waveform display and even that was a game changer when I got it just from being able to see the shape of the waveform. Next purchase will be a FNIRSI 2C23T for the 2 channels. When they come out with a 3 or 4 channel one I will buy it too.
I have had a Fluke 8000A on my bench for more years than I would care to admit and thankfully have never smoked it, I also have an assortment modern DVM's and in most cases either are sufficient for the bench work I do. The thing I like about the Fluke 8000 is the form factor, how it sits on the bench, so much more stable than any handheld, no matter how much you move the leads around the Fluke never tips over, spins or slides.
Wow! We they used those in Unit Test for the Panavia Tornado nose RADAR production at Texas Instruments in Texas back when ... all the unit test test-benches had at least one Fluke model 8000 on hand!
As much as I respect you and appreciate your knowledge, the whole "feels better" argument of the plastics is something I just don't subscribe to. It sounds like an effect of cognitive dissonance. The smoothness of surface finish is just a difference of manufacturing process. But always appreciate your circuit & PCB analysis.
One part I didn't get was about the linear tech ASIC that fluke uses. What's the role of it?
About the MOVs, any developments in material science that can finally shrink their size while still maintaining the same performance characteristics (including power dissipation)? GaN tech has helped PS's to reduce in size, wonder if there's anything similar for fuses & MOVs?
For me it's actually a good thing that the Fluke has not as many features as many other meters. I'm a big fan of one-tool-one-job and the KISS philosophy. I have an affordable meter with all the bells and whistles that you can think of and it works great. But for 98% of all use cases I reach out to my old Fluke 177. It's very simple to use and it does the job just fine. For everything else I use specialized devices like a scope or a thermometer anyway.
There are three shaded not two. 1) a tool that only do one job good, 2) a tool that do many jobs bad and 3) a tool that do many jobs good. And the third one is ALWAYS better than the first one. Especially if it is also 2 times cheaper like in this case.
My Fluke meter got soaking wet. I took the back off, left it on a radiator to dry, popped in a new battery and it's still going strong 10 years later 💪
I've also got a Megger multimeter made here in the UK which is nice 😊
im also using BM's in my company, we have about 20 of them. And there is only one issue - split jacks - it's doing its job fine, until it got some dirt or even humidity, when meter is in A/C cooled dry room, and you go outside to warm/hot with high RH% engine room on ship its start beeping and showing input error on display - because it senses probe in current jack inserted and i cannot use meter. We are all use meters with current jacks taped with insulation tape. Optional deactivation of this feature in menu or additional plugs to cover current jacks will solve this problem. Once a i had to open meter and cut those probe sensing traces to be able to finish urgent job.
I wouldn't be completely surprised if it turned out everything about the Fluke was cheaper to manufacture. I suspect most of that purchase price goes toward their R&D or their legacy hardware support (to say nothing of the warranty).
They have the volume and component reduction advantage, so possiible.
@@EEVblog the serial number on the back of the fluke means the number of units made of that particular model?
@@EEVblog I don't think Fluke pushed enough meters to majorly score on the volume-manufacturing / mass-product economy of scale. So the savings might just even out with buying things sourced elsewhere. But as you said, by producing components in-house, Fluke can impose higher precision and tighter tolerances.
The machines to produce higher precision and tighter tolerances components ar much more expensive, of course. And likely covered with their own expensive "maintenance plan".
A word about Fluke meters. I own a Fluke 8050A bench meter. I bought it used in 1985, and it had a few years on it then. Two years ago, I had to clean the switches. That's all that's been done to it. It still works perfectly, and it's still very close to perfect in its measurements. How well do 37+ year-old Brymans work? Who knows? There aren't any.
Ok but how well will the moden Flukes hold up. Fluke isn't making meters like they used to. Especially since they were bought out, who knows what cost cutting has taken place.
@@Eggsr2bcrushed You may be right. But there are lots of 10, 20, and 30-year-old Flukes out there. You could buy one of those.
That means nothing. The people who designed the 1985 version might not even be alive anymore.
@@Eggsr2bcrushed i tell yeah, i started buying Flukes in 2009... i'll never own another one... these new ones are horrible
@@WhenDoesTheVideoActuallyStart But the meters they designed still are. That's my point.
Thank you thumbs up . Only really important thing for me would be the sensitivity of the continuity beep test. Is that okay for the brymen?
I've never been satisfied with the Flukes, says a man wearing a $10 Kmart watch.
Have a good one Dave..!
Ciao..!
Fluke 77-4 is $325 on Amazon, whereas BM786 is $185. So the price difference is not so dramatic. About 75% more expensive, but not double or triple.
But that wouldn't be as click-baitey. GOTTA GET DEM VIEWWWSSSS
9V vs AAA...I've never seen a 9V battery leak all over a battery compartment.
Hi Dave, Happy New Year. I'd like to see a teardown of an Induction Hob if you ever find one in the dumpster.
about 10-12 years ago I was searching for a multimeter to perform a specific test and could not find one in the under $100 that was as accurate as the fluke, I lucked out and found a fluke 77-iv like the one you have for $70 on craigslist open box. I know there are newer meters now that have more features, but at the time I could not get a meter that could test capacitors accurately for that price. I still have the same exact meter, works perfectly and still looks like new.
Dave, I have a disagreement with your statement about a bad layout engineer...I believe, on your comment about the fluke board at 13:37, that the PCB trace across the bottom of the fluke board below the battery on only the inside layer(s) acts as a "dumbass fuse" for people that drop a dead shunt like a bolt or copper wire into the fuse holder.
Good point, I never thought about that!
You might be right about the "dumpass fuse" but in the other hand this thin layer of cooper has a smaller diameter than the shunt resistor, which doesn´t appear to be a clever solution.
@@andreasl4320 Thats the point, to make it the ultimate failure mode that will render the meter inoperable. If I was a meter designer/manufacturer and somebody tried to warranty a meter out that had this failure (burnt out trace) I would immediately reject the warranty because that is a great way to know that the fuse has been cheated. So if I was a manufacturer that wanted to improve my product while keeping it safe, I would remove all possibilities for warranty claim where the customer was at fault. Imagine if a company hard soldered a fuse into their multimeter and honored the warranty on every burnt out fuse by replacing the entire meter. Now imagine if we had a multimeter that was basically bulletproof, like the fluke, and someone had defeated a safety mechanism (the fuse) to get their job done. If the meter caused harm to someone because of the defeated fuse, the manufacturer could be to blame regardless of actual fault. This is a way for fluke to Cover their Ass as well as know, definitively, what caused the fault. I think this is why people that are in the industry that need to rely on their tools to perform in all conditions choose name brands like fluke and hilti and whatever: the company has a demonstrated history of understanding and preventing common (and sometimes uncommon) failure modes.
@@ChachiOhm I got your point, but you just didn´t get my point. Even if the thin layer trace is what you call it to be, it has a higher resistance than the shunt resistor in this line making readings across the shunt resistor more inaccurate. Therefore it looks to me more a design issue than a safety feature.
How about Amazon industrial meters, for us on a budget, be nice to have a video made on the pros and cons, worth it?
Interesting. A couple of very nice meters indeed. I was exposed to Fluke very early on because of my dad and I’ve been on team Fluke ever since. But that’s because I grew up watching my dad do high voltage electrical work, cable tv work, testing for concrete and asphalt and it was always Fluke. The state, the testing companies, all Fluke because they were rock solid. My dad still has his 20 some odd years later and I trust that thing to its last decimal point. I used Klein for a while in my job (datacom) and it worked well but now that we are getting new equipment, I’m putting in for Fluke. VLANS are no longer safe from me.
Besides measuring accuracy, I can tell you that I have worked with all kinds of meters. Cheap meters are ok for bench and workshop purposes. But some of them tend to go crazy over time and display weird stuff. We´d had Flukes falling off stairs, fallen from the van, getting beaten in every way, getting soaked and still reliable. I still keep a pair of those ones today.
Basically, Fluke meters are much more expensive, but hell almost everyone has no disappointment. It's made to work _for_ you. You'd probably will retire before a brand new Fluke gives up the ghost 😄