Multimeter Vote. Analog or Digital?

[fidowanttobe]

What's your preference?
I/we at work have several of several brands and value and I far prefer the analogs.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

An electronic technician (me) says have both.
Digital if you need an accurate measurement, analog to see "trends". In other words suppose you want to check a variable resistor like a fuel gauge float. Analog is better watching how the needle moves throughout the range. Digital you'd just be watching numbers flash.
Both have their merits.

 

[caver]

Trained in the Navy on a Simpson 260. Both skills are good to have.

 

[Phil Timmons]

An electronic technician (me) says have both.
Digital if you need an accurate measurement, analog to see "trends". In other words suppose you want to check a variable resistor like a fuel gauge float. Analog is better watching how the needle moves throughout the range. Digital you'd just be watching numbers flash.
Both have their merits.

Yeah BOTH.

Always fun to show the kids (school) a Capacitor Charging up on Analog Sweep Meter.

Now we do HMI (Human Machine Interface) screens to operate on top of the PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) with Analog Inputs. We tend to show both on the same screen -- has a good look.

 

[Roadworthy]

I have both though mostly rely on my Fluke digital.

 

[RjCorazza]

I generally use digital meters, and gravitate to a data logging capable Radio Shack meter. I occasionally use an analog meter for the nostalgia. One is a Heath Kit meter my Dad got me for Christmas when I was 9 or 10. I learned to solder to assemble that kit. The other analog meter was a kit my Dad assembled, and I enjoy using that because that's the meter he taught me how to use and read the measurements. It was made by Knight.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Here's are a few, I'm sure I have 20+ meters.
Anything Heathkit either I or my wife made.
The Simpson 230 was Dad's. The NLS digital I got from a friend in California, he got it in late 60s from an inventor who said it was "the world's first digital meter"(?). It's from late 60s, vacuum tube and glass etched numbers flip down by relays. Heavy as lead.

 

[Oaktree]

Does anyone still make the small, relatively inexpensive "pocket" analog VOMs anymore? Had one years ago back in the day when digital ones were pricey. Don't know what happened to it.
Agree that both have their uses.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Does anyone still make the small, relatively inexpensive "pocket" analog VOMs anymore? Had one years ago back in the day when digital ones were pricey. Don't know what happened to it.
Agree that both have their uses.

Of course. Here's two on Home Depot site, on sale, $14 to $18.

 

[anomad]

I have a story... My Dad bought me a voltmeter when I was a young boy, probably from Radio Shack, and taught me to use it. He would also buy cheap electronic junk at the flea market and challenge me to fix it or if it worked take it apart and put it back together again. So it was practically the only one I had ever used for decades. It died in the hands of someone who "borrowed" it.

I bought 3 different ones from Harbor Freight to replace it. Since I had practically only ever used my old one I had a huge learning curve with all the fancy features of digital units.

 

[dstig1]

As noted, they have overlap but different strengths. Watching the analog needle move around can tell you a lot about transient events, even if it doesn't fully capture the readings. It takes very expensive digital units to capture that same sort of info... or an oscilloscope.

 

[garry1p]

Once I started using my Fluke I lost the Simpson 260 from lack of use, it may be in the shed buried under other valuable stuff.

 

[gsganzer]

Here's are a few, I'm sure I have 20+ meters.
Anything Heathkit either I or my wife made.
The Simpson 230 was Dad's. The NLS digital I got from a friend in California, he got it in late 60s from an inventor who said it was "the world's first digital meter"(?). It's from late 60s, vacuum tube and glass etched numbers flip down by relays. Heavy as lead.View attachment 5764866View attachment 5764867View attachment 5764868View attachment 5764869View attachment 5764870View attachment 5764871View attachment 5764872

Dang! Those should be in a museum! Pretty cool.

I use meters fairly often in my work. The one I use the most is a Fluke 374FC. It does AC/DC volts and AC/DC current, plus continuity and connects to my phone.

With today's arc flash requirements, I'm able to de-energize a panel, set my meter on some leads to read current, then close the panel, energize it and start a motor to read the amps and watch it on my phone. Avoiding suiting up in arc flash gear.

 

[gsganzer]

Here's are a few, I'm sure I have 20+ meters.
Anything Heathkit either I or my wife made.
The Simpson 230 was Dad's. The NLS digital I got from a friend in California, he got it in late 60s from an inventor who said it was "the world's first digital meter"(?). It's from late 60s, vacuum tube and glass etched numbers flip down by relays. Heavy as lead.View attachment 5764866View attachment 5764867View attachment 5764868View attachment 5764869View attachment 5764870View attachment 5764871View attachment 5764872

I can almost smell some of those Bakelite casings, just looking at the photo's.

 

[dodge man]

I have one of each. I was doing search for a parasitic draw on a vehicle. I learned when you shut a vehicle off it will be drawing quite a bit of power and then taper off. I blew the fuses on my analog meter but the digital one just gave a screwy reading. I prefer the analog one.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Here's a helpful tidbit: input impedance (Z).
Something most don't think about. It means the "load" the meter puts on a circuit when measuring voltage. Most meters it's quite high, like 10Meg ohms which means you can measure, say, a 12V battery by neg. black lead grounded, hold red meter lead and touch battery +positive other hand and it will read voltage just by skin resistance.
It's great for sensitive circuits but can be deceiving. If a wire has a break in it and internal corrosion you can't see, high impedance can show voltage at either end!
Some more expensive meters has a low Z range, but easy to do that with any meter. All you need is a resistor (1K to 4.7K, 1/2 W) to put across leads when measuring 12V circuits.
Meters that have a 1.5V and 9V battery test it has a built in resistor to load test it.
For 120VAC it would be better/easier to just use a 60W lamp as a load.

 

[Oaktree]

As noted, they have overlap but different strengths. Watching the analog needle move around can tell you a lot about transient events, even if it doesn't fully capture the readings. It takes very expensive digital units to capture that same sort of info... or an oscilloscope.

I used to work with pro audio (radio stations mostly), and the "output" function on a Simpson 260 came in very handy normalizing levels within a facility. I think the old Eico that I got when I was in high school had that feature too. No idea what happened to that, I think someone might have borrowed it & never returned.

 

[rontaki]

Just don't loan your analog meter to Peggy...