“The 15B DMM is specially designed for Indian technicians keeping in mind their requirements for quick and easy troubleshooting”
Fluke-15B
I have a UNI-T UT61D is that considered as crap/not safe to use?
If I would need to buy another DMM I would probably not go with a Fluke but with a more budget brand where I can be sure that part of my money not goes for the name. There should be alternatives with more bang for the buck, e.g. I’ve read good things about Uni-T. There are models like UT61C or UT61E offering high accuracy at DC voltage and even True-RMS (61E) while the price is still way below $100…
http://www.reichelt.de/Multimeter-digital/UT-61C/3/index.html?;ACTION=3;LA=2;ARTICLE=97148;GROUPID=4058;artnr=UT+61C;SID=11T9DXKn8AAAIAAGWjjd0a9188188162cd5bbadf6a530ac0240c3
http://www.reichelt.de/Multimeter-digital/UT-61E/3/index.html?&ACTION=3&LA=2&ARTICLE=97151&GROUPID=4058&artnr=UT+61E
http://www.reichelt.de/Multimeter-digital/2/index.html?&ACTION=2&LA=3&GROUPID=4058;SID=12ULD2sn8AAAIAACnHDVg2945903a608791b7826cccda24571f2d
Thanks Antenne!
(The 61D has True-RMS too)
Thanks Sirius9, you perfectly described the item as fake, and not worth my time, may as well buy any old DMM. What Id want to hear is is this a clone or a fake. ie: is it close to the quality and reliability at a fraction of the cost. Or is it cosmetically very similar, but otherwise no better than a $2 flea market unit?
I mean If Im buying a Fluke, I want Fluke. I want Fluke reliability, Fluke accuracy, Fluke quality, Fluke everything. If Im buying a clone, I expect all the aforementioned attributes or within insanely tight tolerances of Flukes standards, without the price tag.
These just appear to be copies of Fluke, without any relevance to Flukes quality.
I believe HKJ has made some recommendations in the past re: alternatives to Fluke at reasonable prices. Hopefully he reads this and gives us some input re those alternatives.
I just love general-purpose DMM threads, because there are rarely any invalid opinions — and for as long as I’ve been using multimeters (and other gadgetry) — 45 years or so— I’m still learning.
I also love my little Innova; it’s the only meter I own that I can strap to my wrist and work two-handed. I have a number of Flukes and I love them all; when I spend time comparing them, what I find remarkable is the repeatability of measurement across all ranges. Truly high quality instruments.
I’d have to say that IF (big IF here) you don’t mind a large, heavy DMM, it would be nearly impossible to go wrong with a GOOD used Fluke 27/FM, still available in good numbers on eBay for roughly $50. It’s dated, but it’s still really high-end for low dollar, and odds are you’ll never own another meter that’s built as solidly, or with as much protection. Roughly half the cost of the Chinese Flukes mentioned here. Feel free to look up the specs. Here’s a write-up.
Also, I’ll toss in that I have a new 117, which is another entry-level Fluke made in China. I’ve seen Youtube reviews of this meter (who’s the guy who always takes them apart? The high-energy dude?), and they seem to match US-made meters as far as build quality inside & out. So, the Chinese origin of these meters probably isn’t by itself a cause for worry.
Meter shoppers in 2015 are spoiled rotten, any way you look at it, compared to what was available in the late 1960’s and 70’s for anything resembling a sane price.
Actually I never did say or assumed that this product is fake, otherwise I would not consider buying it, obviously.
Facts that I described can be applied for any product coming from (but not necessarily) China like Nitecore chargers, their quality is highly questionable but people are still buying them in tons. So even if I had this DMM in my hands which I don’t I wouldn’t be able to say about originality of this multimeters because I have no reference to compare them with but I would still sleep better knowing my measurements are significantly more precise than they are now. 
Not sure how you came to that conclusion but if you can prove it that would be interesting to hear/read…
Btw. Fenix, Olight, Thrunite, Supbeam, Eagletac even Armytek and many more they all came from China and you still buy them, and I do not believe that any of our regularly “go to” suppliers are authorised dealers for i.e. Olight so how do you know it is not a fake before you buy?…
‘Coming’ from China was not my issue. However a GM or Mercedes from China would be. So those lights/chargers/batteries you mention, if they all come from China generally, then Id have no issue with them unless fakes. A US maker making some items in China might give me reason to be more aware and await reviews like the one above that suggests Chinese Flukes are as good, or close enough to the US variants. Some things from China are fine, others not so much.
However, you did say assume no warranty. Assume plenty of negatives, which sounds like a fake to me. Fluke might make items in China, but I doubt they have forgone all their integrity in the market place. They might however make a price point item, with bugger all support or warranty to compete with Chinese products at under $10 too, but it would be very unlikely to get the name Fluke.
An item legitimately named Fluke, will have warranty. It might be a Chinese Fluke, might even be not intended for western markets, but it should still represent what makes Fluke Fluke. If not, then whats the benefit over a $10 DMM? The word Fluke?
In my case warranty means returning the product back to China (pay for shipping), wait month or two for results, then wait about a month to get it back, pay taxes and customs fees again (can’t be avoided) so, when I include all that it’s not worth pursuing warranty so if your customs is not hassling you for each shipment and you have other gear to use in the meantime then you are good to go.
I might consider a low-end Fluke sometime; would be nice to have something I can use basically forever. But for now I’m a little spoiled by the 8846A I’m borrowing from work. I’ll just use that until they need me to give it back. (it was the cheapest DMM we could find which supported ethernet-based logging; I’ll have it until I finish automating our performance and power tests)
My Fluke 73III is long in the tooth but is still working fine.
I got a Fluke 8062 back in 1990 and it’s still working great. They may be expensive but well worth the money.
There is a very large (maybe the largest) Chinese multimeter manufacturer that has established a warehouse in the Los Angeles area known in China as Sinometer established in 1989 and owns 8 factories. The Los Angeles warehouse stocks many DMMs that they make in China. They call it "Direct from factory" since the warehouse is owned by the manufacturer. It is found here:
A very good and reasonably priced DMM that also have a direct computer port (RS232C) is the TekPower TP4000ZC. It is only $39.95.
Have a look at the specs and features and see if they are not impressive for the price. It works well on our bench.
Regarding unknowns or cheapies - unless a DMM is taken apart and looked at by someone who knows to look at certain things and evaluate it a cheapie might at the least blow your hand off. What was said earlier about fuses that cover certain circuits and how close are some high current posts to other posts (poor isolation) inside is a definite cause for buying one that is known safe. On youtube Dave of EEVBlog has tested and looked at many and if you watch his videos at the very least you will learn a lot about what makes a cheapie DMM and how to avoid the kinds of poorly made DMMs you would like to avoid.
Best wishes.
P.S. Here is a good Fluke 17B teardown.
P.P.S. Disclaimer - We represent no manufacturer or distributor.
Owned by Kaito. They also make good radios, I have a couple.
Disclaimer:I never bought direct always thru a 3rd party.(amazon etc.)
If you want to play with ethernet commands on 8846A you may try this piece of software: Elso Measurus - komunikačný software pre Fluke 8846A a 8845A It has great panel to see configuration which is send to DMM.
Oh, um, the 8846A has been logging data over ethernet nonstop for several months. Now I have gigabytes of logs to analyse.
It’s running a fully-automated phone power test suite I made, with the help of a net-attached relay to control wired connections and button presses. Another script then checks the results, alerts me about anomalies in the data, and then I take a closer look to figure out what happened and whether there are any phone bugs to fix. The Fluke net interface is pretty straightforward, and barely took any time to get working.