Kicked myself for buying a cheap multimeter off Amazon for $18

Grabbed this little no-name multimeter two months ago because I needed something quick for a side job. Had a weird voltage reading on a Cessna 172's nav light circuit and trusted it. Turns out it was off by almost 2 volts DC compared to my buddy's Fluke. That led me down a rabbit hole of swapping perfectly good parts before I figured it out. Anyone else get burned by cheap test gear that seemed close enough?

2 comments

2 Comments

jessicamiller21h ago

@willow732 that cheap meter was powered by hope and bad calibration apparently. Two volts off is wild - my Fluke and that thing are basically in different zip codes. I was just too stubborn to admit spending $18 was a mistake, so I kept using it like a fool. Now it lives in my junk drawer as a reminder that sometimes you get exactly what you pay for.

willow73223h ago

Why'd you stick with the cheap one after the first weird reading? I do a quick cross-check with a known working meter before I trust any of my cheap gear on something important.