[AT] Multimeters--recommendation?

[Mike Sloane]

I do find an "analog" meter useful when checking out points on a 
distributor; you can watch the needle swing as you turn the shaft and 
also set the timing for the precise moment when the needle starts to 
move. And I do have a couple of them that I sometimes use for that purpose.

But that is about it. For reading very low voltages or resistance, 
generator frequency, adjusting voltage regulators, checking batteries, 
etc., a "digital" meter has it all over the old analog types. And you 
can use the "continuity/diode" audible "beep" setting to perform the 
same function as the needle swing to set points, and you don't even have 
to see the meter.

I like the old "tried and true" stuff as much as the next guy, but 
sometimes that newfangled stuff works pretty well too. :-) And, dollar 
for dollar, it is hard to beat the new meters for our kind of use. Those 
  old Simpsons in good working order are hard to find used, and I don't 
even know if you can still buy them new (and if you can, they would be 
well over $200). That Harbor Freight DVM costs $20 and has a 3/4" 
display, which is very easy to read, uses hardly any battery power, and 
has all the "bells and whistles" (and more) that are on my $200+ Fluke. 
Surely, it won't take the abuse and may not last as long as the Fluke or 
Simpson, but I am not climbing communications towers, servicing radar 
relay huts in Manitoba, or tuning up medical diagnostic instruments - my 
point being that John asked about an instrument that would work for 
dealing with old tractors, and I feel that in terms of price/performance 
the HF unit will meet his requirements.

Mike

Cecil E Monson wrote:

>> Can someone recommend a multimeter (mine is kaput) that is very good but
>>
>> the price of those solid gold Fluke meters?   John
> 
> 
> 
>     I've had a Simpson 260 for 35 or 40 years and still use
> it almost every week. It is in the golf cart right now to help
> me with an ignition problem on my JD 420 crawler. It's just an
> analog meter but just seems to last and last. I also have a
> Beckman Tech 310 digital VOM that I bought in 1981 that is a
> pretty good reliable instrument. Don't use it as much as the old
> Simpson. Guess I just like to see that needle swing when I find
> voltage.
> 
> Cecil

-- 
Mike Sloane
Allamuchy NJ
Email: (mikesloane at verizon.net)
Website: <http://www.geocities.com/mikesloane>
Blog: <www.mikesloane.blogspot.com
Tractor images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>
Work: none - retired

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and the government 
when it deserves it. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)