Product Feature packed, accurate and safe DMM

[slow-poke]

I just received a new DMM as an upgrade to my old Fluke87.

If anyone is looking for a quality, feature packed DMM this one might be the one for you.

Brymen BM789

This is a UL certified CAT IV rated meter that passed the really abusive battery of tests that Joe Smith throws at DMM;s to see where they fail...

I just tested against my lab standards, it's very accurate.

Very reasonably priced compared to say a similar/inferior featured Fluke.

First impressions are I REALLY LIKE IT!

 

[David]

Nice, who did you buy it through?

 

[slow-poke]

TME

https://www.tme.com/ca/en/katalog/digital-multimeters_112609/?queryPhrase=Bm789

 

[Elektrishun]

I checked the specs. Looks like it has basically everything a person would need for a lot of typical applications. The "contactless voltage detector" seems to have become a standard feature on DMMs.

@slow-poke
The test leads in your photo don't look like the ones that came with the DMM. Did it come with leads? If it did are they good quality or will you be upgrading?

 

[jcdammeyer]

TME

https://www.tme.com/ca/en/katalog/digital-multimeters_112609/?queryPhrase=Bm789

They seem to be a reliable supplier. I just received 20 Italtronics boxes shipped from Poland FedEx.

 

[slow-poke]

I checked the specs. Looks like it has basically everything a person would need for a lot of typical applications. The "contactless voltage detector" seems to have become a standard feature on DMMs.

@slow-poke
The test leads in your photo don't look like the ones that came with the DMM. Did it come with leads? If it did are they good quality or will you be upgrading?

For day to day general use the supplied leads are fine. They are silicone have gold tips and a threaded portion that allows you to thread on the supplied gold banana tips to give you banana to banana nice touch.

They also provide a K type thermocouple also a nice touch. I can see myself using the dual temperature measurement capabilities provided a fair fit.

Back to the probes for electronic circuit probing (once you've used them you never want to use anything else), love them every time I use them probes are the Fluke TL40/TL910 but they cost half as much as the meter above unless you snag a set on eBay;-)

There are inexpensive clones on Ali that are okayish but definitely not quite the same.

 

[slow-poke]

They seem to be a reliable supplier. I just received 20 Italtronics boxes shipped from Poland FedEx.

Yes for electronics from Europe TME is reliable, low cost fast shipping usually two days if you can live with FedEx.

I have read Welectron is another viable option.

I have been avoiding eBay US like the plague since they stopped their hassle free global shipping (I'm assuming because of the tariffs). However eBay UK has hassle free Royal Post to Canada so sometimes that can be a great option and often affordable.

 

[Elektrishun]

@slow-poke
You ever buy any of your electronic test equipment from Transcat.ca?

I purchased my Siglent oscilloscope and function/AWG generator through them. Very competitive pricing. Shipping speed wasn't great but items always arrived without issue.

 

[slow-poke]

@slow-poke
You ever buy any of your electronic test equipment from Transcat.ca?

I purchased my Siglent oscilloscope and function/AWG generator through them. Very competitive pricing. Shipping speed wasn't great but items always arrived without issue.

Not recently but IIRC we used them at one of my previous companies for a really fancy oscilloscope.

 

[slow-poke]

Siglent is an interesting company. I have one of their spectrum analyzers.

When HP->Agilent->Keysight decided to no longer sell or support their products to individuals they really opened the door for Siglent.

Keysight is unrecognizable from the the old HP, and clearly they are outsourcing many of the new designs and then releasing them without proper or possibly no testing. They released a basic lab power supply a while back, selling for IIRC $1500 that would briefly overshoot the set voltage by 3x when enabled. This is one of the very first tests you do on a power supply and many of the $50 cheapest crap power supplies do that, but you sure wouldn't expect it from a $1500 Keysight. I'm pretty sure they had a recall.

Love their old stuff, would not touch their new equipment.

One of their popular new DMMs failed miserably the Joe Smith tests

 

[Mike R]

For day to day general use the supplied leads are fine. They are silicone have gold tips and a threaded portion that allows you to thread on the supplied gold banana tips to give you banana to banana nice touch.

They also provide a K type thermocouple also a nice touch. I can see myself using the dual temperature measurement capabilities provided a fair fit.

Back to the probes for electronic circuit probing (once you've used them you never want to use anything else), love them every time I use them probes are the Fluke TL40/TL910 but they cost half as much as the meter above unless you snag a set on eBay;-)

There are inexpensive clones on Ali that are okayish but definitely not quite the same.

Got any recommendations for probes for automotive work? Like back probing connectors etc.? I have a need for some unfortunately...

 

[slow-poke]

Got any recommendations for probes for automotive work? Like back probing connectors etc.? I have a need for some unfortunately...

Not really, however these guys have a good reputation.

Oscilloscope Probes | DMM Test Leads | Differential Probes - Probe Master

Probe Master offers and manufacturers Oscilloscope Probes, Differential Probes, DMM Test Leads and much more with Free Shipping and proudly made in the USA!

probemaster.com

 

[Susquatch]

Got any recommendations for probes for automotive work? Like back probing connectors etc.? I have a need for some unfortunately...

Ditto on the Probe Masters that @slow-poke recommends. I believe they sell an automotive back probe kit.

As long as you don't need too many different ones, you can also make your own Weatherpac probe connectors. I used to have 2,3,4,6,8 wire adapters. But I have not seen them for a long time though so maybe somebody borrowed them.....

 

[BaitMaster]

I’ve been recommending Brymen multimeters to anyone that would listen for a couple years.

Somewhere there is a thread on here that is “Brymen meters” that I started for that purpose.

I have two Brymen clamp meters (BM079 600v cat 3 w/ phase rotation and fine res amp clamp (this is now my daily driver meter as a pro electrician/instrument tech/automation guy) + BM197 which is a dual display (can see hertz and volts or amps at the SAME TIME on the same screen! So handy for VFD work) CAT IV 600v clamp meter) , and an “insulation testing multimeter” (BM878) which goes up to 1000v and also is a general purpose multimeter as well.

I have found them to be very very good bang for the buck, have similar input protection to fluke, and have ample functionality that is superior to fluke in some ways.

As a pro electrical and automation guy, I obviously own fluke as well, I have an 87V with an external amp clamp, a 323, and a 772 process meter.

The only thing Brymen doesn’t manufacture as far as I know is a process type meter. No one except fluke offers a comparable product to the 772…. Shame.

Flukes are good meters don’t get me wrong, but Brymen are pretty darn great too. For less money as well.

 

[BaitMaster]

Also: a bunch of guys at my company have bought these as well. Zero problems with them over I think 2 or 3 years now? And by guys I mean professional industrial/agricultural service electricians that beat them up and use them every day. On 480v gear / VFD’s / agricultural + irrigation + industrial machinery.