[AT] Multimeters--recommendation?

[Robinson]

At 12:02 AM 9/26/04, you wrote:
>I've been buying the ones from Harbor Freight.  They probably aren't the
>most precise instruments on earth, but they do what I need.  They have
>four or five priced under $10, and the yellow beast they often sell for
>around $3.  That one's so cheap that when the battery goes dead in it
>you have to think twice before you bother to replace it.  I really like
>the little shirt pocket model that is dark gray, but it's up closer to
>the $10 price.
>
>Larry


         I believe my last one (digital) came from Wally World. It is a 
pocket type. I don't do anything that requires stupendous accuracy. At the 
service bench at the store we used a big older large dial model. For most 
of what we were doing a simple test light continuity tester would have 
sufficed but the big complex looking dial was more showy for the 
customers.      :-)   One thing I like about the cheapies is that I can 
toss one in the truck, one in the van and another can end up in the combine 
and still no big expense. I do BTW like the dial type better for checking a 
capacitor for a "kick" reading.
         The showy for the customers thought always makes me think of an 
article I once read in a magazine where the author was talking about what 
he liked to see in a proper service station. Speaking of it as a "proper 
service station" gives you an idea of how long ago I read 
that...   :-)    He was saying that he wanted to see a lot of belts and 
radiator hoses hanging up in the garage. He wanted to see a lot of tires. 
He wanted to see some boxes with new parts in them and he wanted to see 
jobs in process. Most of all he wanted to see tools... Lots of tools. He 
did not want to be shamed by thinking that the garage man could fix his car 
using only the basic tool kit that the author had at home in his own 
garage. We always displayed a lot of special tools at the service bench in 
the store. Some I might have only used twice in over 20 years, but they 
looked nice...  :-)


"farmer"

Francis Robinson
Central Indiana, USA
robinson at svs.net