Went with the cheap multimeter over the Fluke, now I'm second guessing everything

Had to pick between a $45 Amazon special and a $280 Fluke for my home bench last month, figured I'd save cash since I mostly do bench work now instead of line stuff. It reads fine for voltage and continuity, but the capacitance mode drifts like crazy and I caught it showing 0.5 ohms on a shorted wire. Anyone else regret going budget on a meter, or am I just being paranoid about tolerances on older airframes?

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mitchell.lee10d ago

Check the input impedance on that cheap meter. Most budget ones sit at 1 Mohm, but Flukes on autorange will switch to 10 Mohm for low voltage stuff. I had a $30 unit read 2.1V on a reference line that turned out to be 3.3V because the meter itself was loading down the circuit. That 0.5 ohm reading on a shorted wire is the real red flag though, that's not drift, that's a bad ADC or compensation circuit. If you're only touching battery and continuity stuff, you're probably fine. But before you trust any reading on a sensor loop or an old airframe ground, grab a known resistor and verify the scale. One bad reading can cost you way more than the $235 you saved.