$14.95 DMM at Sears this Sat.

For those interested, Sears is having it's Super Saturday sale 7/21/01 and has advertised a DMM w/mA capability for $14.95 (1/2 price). I don't know if this applies to all Sears or not, the flyer was in this morning's newspaper.

(EDIT: Removed the dead link. See the posts below to find the meter on the website - this link has expired)

I think this is a good deal. Yes? No? Comments appreciated!

DP

The two $5.25 CEN-TECH's I got from Gadget measure just as good as $60 DMM I have.

My problem with regards to accuracy of a DMM even if its the most expensive in the market is where can I compare measurement for accuracy? Manufacturer can state in their specs that their $700 DMM measures to the 0.00125 +/- % accuracy, but then how do I prove that?

With clocks and watches I can check my time and compare it to radio or tv which check their time accuracy from a lab, forgot the name of that place that shows time where every time zone is compared, which in turn tells me if my digital watch is on the dot or X min/sec fast or slow.

That in mind who/where/how can I verify that a $400 Fluke measures with X +/- % more accurate than my $5.25 CEN-TECH DMM?

Btw, that Sears DMM with all its features is a good buy for the price.

- verge -

Originally by 2d_edge

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
That in mind who/where/how can I verify that a $400 Fluke measures with X +/- % more accurate than my $5.25 CEN-TECH DMM?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Well, there are calibration services for industry etc but what I have done is gone to my nearby university, and compared some of my equiptment to theirs. The equiptment at at the U is calibrated several times a year (i was told) and assume that their 100's of thousand of dollars of equiptment in the
physics lab to be right on the money!!

Being an alumni has it's privaledges, like making $$$ donations every year

I can't find this meter anywhere on the Sears.com website, except for the lonely .JPG of it that was given here, and of course, straight images don't link back to another page or a shooping cart.

(EDIT: I finally found it on the website for $30, and it's totally out of stock.
I'll try the Sears on 1st and S. Lander tomorrow.

Last time I checked, these guys were $45 for a one-year sticker on Fluke handhelds.
http://www.remetrology.com

There's got to be others. AIUI, higher-quality DMMs have very little problem with drift. Checking one DMM against a higher-quality 'lab' unit is a simple way to verify confidence in 'field' units.

That is totally sweet!
Thanks for the info.

Autoranging, Temp, Caps, Frequency, ....

It has all the features of my $80 Craftsman meter w/out the PC interface!

Better get one. Heck, buy all they have and sell them like I did the $5 DMMs.

If my Sears doesn't have them, I'll be upset!

BTW, I came back later and the link you gave has a "session cookie", which is expired now.
You can view the pic of the meter here: http://www.sears.com/data/product_images/tools/large/03482139000-dlv.jpg
I think this is a permanent link and shouldn't go bad after time.

I would go for the Sears DMM over the Centech any day. I got several of those cheap units and while they seem to work OK at first, I had a repeating problem with them reading several volts off when checking automotive charging systems. This happened with 3 different units, so I think there is some kind of problem there. Plus, when measuring milliamps, I could not get any two to agree within 15-20 percent. This could be due to low quality "precision" resistors. But the gross inaccuracy when measuring DC volts was seriously causing me headaches. This happened a year ago so maybe there was a bad batch.
Chet

Sleepless morning again...

If anyone still can't find it, the product code is 82139 - just do a product search. I'm going to check into them today.

Sears stores have an "in-stock guarantee" and will give rainchecks or equal or better value at same price.

DP

Got it! Very nice. Reads 59.8 mA draw for my 3 LED PR Base conversion on 4 AA cells (ArcWhite) with 100 ohm resistors. Only catch is that the temp probe is extra and costs nearly as much as the meter (12.99)! Other than that it works quite well.

Reads AC/DC Amps, Ohms, Volts, Frequency Hz, Temp (F&C), Capacitance, Diodes, Continuity, and has auto shut-off. 500V 10A max.

DP

Doug,

I went and checked them out too and eyeballed the temp. probes cause I need one anyway.

I didn't see a temp. probe that would work for only $12.99. Do you happen to remember what it looked like?

P.S. to anyone who went to the website yesterday:
The meter on Sears.com is now $14.99. Like Doug said initially, this is for their Super Saturday Sale. Web price is for TODAY ONLY.

The temp probe looked pretty plain - yellow plug, brown fabric coated wire with a silver thermistor on the end. They had more expensive ones with a "real" probe (with a handle - almost like a soldering iron) on the end of the wire and they were $24 or so. Sorry, I didn't get the product code. They may be NOS or something.

DP

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gadget:
P.S. to anyone who went to the website yesterday:
The meter on Sears.com is now $14.99. Like Doug said initially, this is for their Super Saturday Sale. Web price is for TODAY ONLY.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was on their website yesterday (Saturday) twice during the day, and it was listed as $29.99.
Checked again a few minutes ago, and it's the same $29.99. And it's still out of stock.
Model # 82139.

Damn.

OK, cool.
Those are the ones I saw too. The only cheap ones they had were equipped with standard banana plugs.

I think Harbor Freight has an "add-on temp probe". Don't know if it would work for these meters or not. It's like $5 or something, but S&H is nuts from the website ($9 or so).