Extech MN36 Digital Mini MultiMeter

I am not an electrical engineer, just a handy guy doing stuff around the house and car. But since I'd never owned one of these before, I did a lot of research before buying one. I am one of those people that when it comes to tools, I believe in buying a good quality thing once and never replacing it. I don't mind paying a bit more for something that will give good service and last a long time.This is a situation where you don't need to spend a lot to get a lot. Yes, there are some really cheap, badly made MultiMeters out there. This isn't one of them - it is cheap, but pretty well made and perfect for basic needs like mine. It seems pretty sturdy, the dial has a nice positive click to it that seems well made, and I have dropped it several times with no ill-effects. I like the little pop-out stand and the probes work just fine for my simple needs. I have even used the temperature probe a few times, which I thought I would never use at all when I bought this.It gets to a stable reading pretty fast, and the numbers are big and easy to see even if you are working somewhere awkward with it.I am sure somebody doing far more complex work might want something fancier than this, but for contractor/automotive/handyman use, this is just perfect. It seems quite well-made and should last a long time. There is nothing crummy about this despite the low price. Probably the only thing I would change is to have a place to store all the probes integrated into the case. I just wind them around the meter and that is ok, but integrated storage would be nice.One other tip to pass along: When I was shopping for one of these things, I was trying to figure out whether I should get a fancier MultiMeter with a built-in voltage proximity detector or get one of those stand-alone Fluke pen-shaped detectors instead. I ultimately decided to buy that little Fluke pen to test for the presence of a hot wire and get a cheaper MultiMeter, and I am glad I made that decision. The Fluke pen comes with a little blade shaped probe tip that inserts into any socket. Unlike a detector attached to the top of a MultiMeter body, the little blade will hold the pen in the socket and play a loud tone continuously while that plug has power. That makes finding the breaker easier in many cases. I also think that a voltage detector is really about keeping me safe, so I am ok paying extra for Fluke-level quality on that. But for a MultiMeter, somebody like me doesn't really need anything more than this - the extra quality and precision would be wasted on me. So if your needs are like mine, my recommendation is to get a basic MultiMeter like this rather than spending more just to get the voltage detector integrated into the MultiMeter.

In this price range, I think this is the best multimeter you can get. When I ordered it, Extech was offering a discount and I ended up getting a few dollars off the Prime price. This put it only $3-$6 dollars more than cheapest no name models. Many cheaper multimeters have soldered fuses, this one has a fuse holder so if it blows it is easy to replace. So far, I've only used it for an automotive application and it has helped me a great deal. I was testing my battery with the car off as well as the voltage drop when the car was started. By doing this, I was able to tell my battery was going bad. After I replaced my battery, I went to a friend's house that is an Master Electrican. He has a high end Fluke meter his company paid for. We tested mine against his on the new battery and readings were almost the exact same. Differing less than .01%. Testing a car battery is a pretty basic application, but it is good to know it is accurate. It doesn't have automatic range detection, but for my purposes I don't need it. It also has a battery tester for household 1.5v and 9v batteries like a AAs. It is a pretty handy extra little feature to tell if a battery is good or not. Another extra, is that it not only can sense temperature, it includes the cable in order to do so. I am not sure if you can actually touch the temperature probe to a hot surface or not. I have only used it to take the ambient temperature and it is very accurate. I have a indoor temperature/humidity sensor as well as a professional grade anemometer with a sensitive temperature sensor that I use for work. This multimeter's readings matched both and were exact to the decimal of the anemometer's. If you are looking for an accurate basic multimeter with good build quilty that performs well, I would recommend this one. If you are tempted to save $5 on a generic one, I would pay the small difference and get this model. The one thing I would have liked it to come with is a case, but for the price and functions I'm ok with that. I have been keeping it in a ziplock bag for now. It does come with a removable orange plastic mold that protects the body. Another plus is that it comes with a 9v battery and flip out stand already installed, so basically you plug in the probes and you are good to go.

This is a basic unit that performs reliably, and quite a long time on its 9v battery. I really appreciate the fact the voltage can be observed in the hundredths.