went to the store today and got stuffs that i barely need but bought it anyway because it’s cheap and it might come in handy someday.
i was waiting on the line at the register when a customer in front of me handed me a coupon for 20% off of a single item and a coupon for a free DMM with any purchase.
well… he certainly made my day, God Bless him 
That was certainly very nice of him! 
I have one of those meters stashed in my toolbox. I've never opened it, just keep it in case myother meter dies on me.
I have 3 of those meters. Perfectly fine for battery voltage measurements. They can also be calibrated if out a little.
Here’s a forum that has a thread dedicated to harbor freight coupons and deals. My local HF does take printed coupons.
Have been very happy with my Harbor Freight digital meter for the price paid (free with purchase). I use it frequently to test my Duraloops to determine the need for a re-charge, or just because I am curious as to the current voltage.
But recently got a zero reading for no reason, and I finally noticed the wire into the probe had disconnected.
I stripped some wire back, and reconnected and secured with some tape, and is now working perfectly again.
But it may be soon time to go shopping again at HF for some great bargains, and get another free DMM!
I loves me some harbor freight. 
Over the years I have accumulated quite a few of the HF meters. I have them spread out all over the place, shed, garage, kitchen drawer, shop, van, well you get the idea. No matter where I am, I have a meter within arms reach, very handy and good enough for most tasks. Not only do I make it a point to get them when they are free, I also once bought 20 at a new store grand opening for 99 cents each. The weakest part of these meters, by far, is the test leads. The wire connecting the banana jack and the probe is just way too thin, to the point it can make the meter unreliable.
Do they measure current?
They do measure current, but my two read way too low even with homemade thick leads. These meters are good enough for voltage & resistance, but I wouldn't trust them for current without verifying with a good known meter.
-Garry
Whew, I know all about that!
The free dmm coupon must be old by now…drats.
We have a dozen of the free 9 LED lights, gloves, scissors, screwdriver sets, tape measures, and I keep a pile of flyers in the pocket of the car door, usually going in HF with several in my pocket so I get some free item even if they are out of the preferred item. There are 25% single item coupons too.
While ALL of the free items are “ok”, I don’t want anymore cheap lights etc. and generally only get the gloves since they eventually wear out, and how can you have too many cheap work gloves around (pair in every car etc.).
I have one of the meters, maybe two, but weak point are the probes which are junk. Bad probes mean you can’t trust the measurements, so probes go straight into my why do I keep it, but I still do, junk box and I use high quality $3 probes off ebay. (that is sarcasm, good probes start around $6 a pair for no name Chinese, and cost easily $20 for actual quality pair).
Just picked up a free meter at HF, and also got 20% off on a pair of helping hands. Couldn’t find the coupon anywhere, so I asked the nice cashier lady and she pulled the free DMM and the 20% coupon right outta the trash!
So…would a better set of leads result in accurate enough readings for…say…tailcap readings?
I'd say no - see post #8 above. Yours may differ from mine though.
-Garry
I have a bunch of banana plugs coming from FastTech. I am going to use them so that I can hook up 10 or so meters that I have in series, different brands, and measure some current at different levels. What goes in one meter and comes out, will go to the next and so on. They should all read the same…….we shall see. I will use 14 gauge wire. This is something that I have been curious about for some time. My premise has been that these cheap meters are built around “a DMM on a chip” integrated circuit much the same way calculators are. Everyone realizes that all calculators, cheap and expensive give the same results. The difference is the quality of construction and feel of the keys. I’m thinking that the biggest difference will be the leads, switch contacts and perhaps the quality of the banana jack in the meters. Of course the calibration is important too, but how hard could that be at the factory? I will post the results.
Now that I have typed my thoughts and proof read it, I realize that this test will not show problems with connections. A bad connection at any point will equally affect all meters, but ha!, it will still show whether each meter is calibrated the same. No matter what, the same number of electrons will flow through each one.
I missed something, I thought you showed that the meter you just got from TMart did better with the good leads. Maybe these cheap meters have a lot of poor connections in the switches and jacks.
Oh, my T-Mart meter does read good with decent thick leads. My cheap HF meters (I have 2) read way low even with thick leads. I posted a test way back when in the KD C8 thread - post #522 (back when my Elenco was still giving good readings).
-Garry
Thanks for the info. Looks like I’ll have to budget for a nicer meter.
Sorry these meters are pure crap . they aren't worth the effort it takes to beat them to death with a hammer .
Come on guys it's a tool....Get a real meter ....I have probes that retailed for over 50$ do you really think you can use these to check amperage ? Why not at least buy a used Fluke ..These meters are horrible.
Boaz killin’ it up in hurr!
High accuracy in cheap meters is common, durability and freedom from flakiness are not.
The probes are awful, open circuit, very low current capacity, but the internals of the meter are also cheap, low quality sockets, no QC, more.
Are they still useful tools, of course as long as you keep in mind there weak points.
Are they suitable for any sort of professional use, not really, wasting two minutes would pay for a better quality meter.