Recommend me a multimeter

[FridgeFreezer]

Fluke if you care about the answer (speed, accuracy, reliability), but for throwing in the toolbox to get beaten around & rained on why spend £30 at maplins when you can get the same "quality" for £3 from CPC or the 'bay:

For basic diagnostics, as someone else said, as long as you can tell the difference between 10v, 12v and 14v and detect an open or short circuit you're pretty much sorted. I find the continuity beep function is the thing I use most.

The stuff Maplins, MachineMart, Sealey, Draper, Gunsons, Laser, and Halfords turn out for £30+ is the same junk that's on ebay for £5 but with a different name stuck on and maybe a nice soft case.

For ECU/ABS... diagnostics some sort of oscilloscope (even a really old slow one for £10) is likely a more useful bet than spending loads on a meter as you can see waveforms from sensors. There's some barely adequate miniature (as in pocket) DSO's on ebay for under £50 these days.

[Cynic-al]

I think suggesting a power probe to someone who who is asking advice on what type of multimeter to buy is folly. Unless you understand the circuit you are testing and the implication of pressing the button,you could end up with more and possibly expensive problems than you started with.

A multimeter on volts or ohms scale is unlikely to get anyone into trouble.

This book would be a better suggestion than a powerprobe;

https://haynes.co.uk/catalog/car-manuals/car-techbooks/automotive-electrical-haynes-techbook

I understand what your saying in that it's easy to accidentally press the button and fry something but the fact that they're connected to the battery so can tell you live / neutral quickly without having to find something nearby to get a live / neutral is really useful. You don't have to use the power connection side of it for it to be a great tool.

Before I had one I used to run a set of jump leads from the battery to use with a multimeter... which could be fun

[AMB]

I'd agree with the recommendation for Fluke if a longer term buy that will get used a lot. Fluke was the standard at work, though we used to buy cheaper ones for trials when they were likely to get lost/trashed. We also used to use a lot of cling film to temporarily weatherproof instruments.

I have a couple of Fluke meters and an AVO at home and expect them to outlast me. I would recommend that, whatever you decide, you consider one with a "lock" function. The ability to take a reading whilst lying on your back and then look at it later can be invaluable. Screwfix used to do a suitable cheap meter <£10 that did everything we'd ever need on site.

[Cynic-al]

Fluke if you care about the answer (speed, accuracy, reliability), but for throwing in the toolbox to get beaten around & rained on why spend £30 at maplins when you can get the same "quality" for £3 from CPC or the 'bay:

Pffft. Mine were two for a fiver

[reb78]

I bought a new set of cables for £1 in the end. I can't really justify spending too much on it. I had no idea a good one would be so expensive until I started this thread!

[HoSS]

the Maplin one the D-9 (post 2) recommended is excellent value. Even has a torch and non-contact mains checker built it. I have 2