PSA: I chose the cheap multimeter over Fluke and it bit me hard

Last month on a job at Signature Flight in Dallas, I had to pick between my old Fluke 87V and a cheap $40 meter from Amazon for a quick resistance check on a 737 NG fuel probe. I grabbed the cheap one to save time, but it read 2 ohms when the probe was actually open. That mistake cost me 3 hours of troubleshooting before I grabbed the Fluke. Has anyone else had a cheap tool lead you down the wrong path like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

paulw6310d ago

Agree to disagree here. I've seen guys spend a fortune on Fluke meters and still make bonehead mistakes because they trusted the tool too much. A cheap meter won't lie if you know how to test it properly first... I always do a quick check on a known good resistor or short the leads together to see the baseline. Your fuel probe issue sounds more like a bad connection at the test leads or a dead battery in the cheap meter than the meter itself being wrong. Maybe the real lesson is to always verify your gear works before trusting it on a critical reading.

mason_foster689d ago

I once trusted a cheap meter so blindly I lit a test lead on fire checking a live wire. Learned real quick that verifying your gear matters more than the price tag.