I once bought a Fluke and returned it. It wasn't a cheap one. Try the continuity test with a 10-20 ohm resistor, it will beep. Also the auto ranging takes forever. The one I am *bragging* about wasn't cheap, it cost $328. The auto ranging is so much faster than a Fluke, it's like night and day. Fluke makes some good stuff, but very slow. As for testing switches with the continuity function, what good is a switch that has over 20 ohms yet the meter still beeps. On this new Hioki, the continuity test sucks like the Flukes. I haven't yet tried manual ranging it, then testing a switch. I hope it's as fast as my 46+ year old Beckman 310. That meter wasn't cheap either, it was over $100 back in 1979. A good friend of mine bought a hi-end Fluke many years ago. I always teased him saying that "it's just a fluke that it works at all". ;)
On 12/31/2025 7:51 PM, joeymcd via Jukebox-list wrote:
I have extensive experience with Fluke DMM meters. They are a premium meter but with meters you get what you pay for. They also have a live meter range on the display in real time. Peak min max feature to capture high and low on test readings. The continuity beep function I think beeps through the complete range. It is useful for testing intermittent micro switches for opens. Have the meter beep on and slowly move the micro switch and listen for the beep to interupt. The beep is ultra fast and great for testing intermittents. Fuke meters are a professional meter but even there more entry meters like a Fluke 117 is all you would need for juke and pinball repair. large display, backlit, amp testing up to 10 amps, fast, everything you would need. I have a few models and my main one is a 189 but my travel tool kit I have a 117 as well. Hope this helps.
Joey McDonald
-----Original Message----- From: Tony jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com To: Jukebox jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com Cc: Tony tonysjukeboxrepair@gmail.com Date: Wednesday, 31 December 2025 5:52 AM CST Subject: [Jukebox-list] Re: Fast Autoranging DMM
On 12/20/2025 12:48 PM, Tony Miklos wrote:
Does anyone know/use a really fast autoranging meter? I'm looking at this one to try. (I didn't see a price yet) I think it takes .8 seconds to read but I got that spec somewhere else.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/fastest-dmm-ohm-autoranging- suggestion-fluke-177-hioki-dt4261-keysight-u1233a/
I'm so used to my ancient Beckman 310 being so quick, but it isn't auto- ranging, so that of course makes it slow if I have to turn the dial.
A follow up even though no one was interested :) I bought that meter and yes it auto ranges in .8 seconds for resistance, diode test, and voltage. Finally a fast autoranging DMM! I tried resistance on a dirty volume control and the bar graph looks like it's darn near instant. I bought it from Amazon so after I'm done scrutinizing it, if I don't like it I can return it.
One thing I didn't check out before buying it is the continuity test. Unfortunately, like every other meter I've used or asked about, they all show continuity and beep at up to 25 ohms (some even more). To me, that is a useless test. I think they should go down to at least 2 or 3 ohms before it senses continuity.