Multimeter recommendations on a budget

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Can anyone recommend a good reliable multimeters without breaking the bank. 

I have a couple of cheap plastic ones which are very temperamental, I only looking to check pickup outputs and pots. 
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Comments

  • KalimnaKalimna Frets: 1534
    Depending on your definition of 'breaking the bank', this is what I have : 

    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264443990272?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=Mem80J-0Q-2&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=RNwCEBy0SdC&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

    Ive used it to check about 25 homemade fx pedals (hundreds of resistors, capacitors and transistors), a few pickup circuits in guitars and 3 valve amp kits from Modulus. It also comes with a thermocouple for temp measurement (which has actually been used). For £35 notes (about 8 more than when I bought it), it is invaluable.

    Adam
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  • BillDLBillDL Frets: 7042
    I have one I bought from Aldi for about £15 (or maybe a bit less).  It's quite solid yellow plastic with a rubber "case" around it and uses a standard 9v battery that lasts for ages.  The display is nice and large. It has the plug-in leads and pointed probes, but that means you can buy other plug-in leads with clips or other fittings if you want.  The supplied leads are long enough to be useful.  I am at work at the moment and certain sites are restricted, but from the thumbnail image in a google search mine looks like the Workzone one and this should be the URL:
    https://www.aldi.co.uk/workzone-multimeter/p/012320273025300
    I am not sure if you can actually order online from Aldi or if that is just an old Google listing for when they had them in stock.
    It looks as though they also sell a brand named Ferrex, which is probably an own-brand made for them by an OEM company that makes the same multimeter for other companies under different brand names.

    LAP is the own-brand made for B&Q and Screwfix (part of the same group).  I'm seeing one that looks OK coming up in my Google search for 9 quid.
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  • Thanks for the comments , will pickup a LAP branded one from screwfix and see how I get on with it .  
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10357
    I would recommend this one, I have one. it's not as good as a Fluke but it's not £240 either. For £40 it's more than you would need but the extra features are useful 

    https://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/72-7780/digital-multimeter-handheld-3/dp/IN07413?st=dvm
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27590
    I have a Fluke and a cheapo green one from Rapid. Both good enough, but the cheapo measures capacitance which is very handy - some pedals are surprisingly sensitive to in-tolerance differences. 
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
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  • Dave_McDave_Mc Frets: 2328
    Danny1969 said:
    I would recommend this one, I have one. it's not as good as a Fluke but it's not £240 either. For £40 it's more than you would need but the extra features are useful 

    https://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/72-7780/digital-multimeter-handheld-3/dp/IN07413?st=dvm
    I've got a cheaper Tenma which was around £20 IIRC (also from CPC)- it measures capacitance too, which is pretty useful, as @Sporky says. I haven't messed with pedals, but caps can be 20% off (plus I think they can drift over time) so knowing you can measure them just to see how close they are to the rated tolerance is pretty handy (that's mainly why I got it, my old one would probably have been fine apart from that). I don't have that much experience with these things, but it does seem quite nice to use, and feels a bit fancier than my older cheapo one.
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