Hioki 3246-60 HiTester Pen-Sized Digital Multimeter with Flashlight, 42 Megaohms, 600V

Nice and compact seems to be spot on accurate. It’s what all the guys at my work use for a small meter definitely would buy again and recommend.

I have a PhD in electrical engineering, and while that doesn't really mean much, I hope I can at least be trusted to review a multimeter. I guess we'll see! FORM FACTOR The big choice you have is pen-type versus the standard form. Unless you have a good reason to avoid it, I highly recommend the pen type for home use. You often don't have a convenient place to set down a meter so that you can see it, so in practice one often has to hold the meter and both terminals in one's hands. Obviously, this would be more convenient if the meter were smaller, and were integrated into one of the leads. This is the philosophy behind a pen-type meter. You can measure the voltage in a set of wires hanging from the ceiling while standing on a ladder, for example, something you can't do with a standard form factor meter. (My attorney wants me to mention that I'm not suggesting you SHOULD do such a thing, just that you could.) OPERATION With two buttons and a switch, you might think this is low on features. Quite the opposite; the lack of buttons is just an indication of good design. The only thing this is missing that I've seen other meters have is a frequency counter. But nobody uses that, and a frequency counter in a consumer multimeter is likely to be junk, anyway. What this does is everything you likely need: AC/DC, diode, continuity, and resistance. The auto-ranging is fast, and beeps when its stabilized, a very nice feature because you're not going to be looking at the display while positioning the probes. The HOLD button is well-positioned near your thumb, and allows for grabbing a voltage without having to look at the device. Another nice feature is the light. Hold down the "HOLD" button for a second and the display becomes back-lit and a bright LED throws plenty of light in the direction of the probe, illuminating your work. DESIGN The integrated probe guard is a nice tough, and when not in use attaches to the pen body. There is a place on the back to wrap the wire for the other probe, and the probe itself gets garaged cleverly in the pen body, as well. Very clean design. The unit itself is not heavy, but nonetheless has a solid, well-made feel to it. MEASUREMENT I didn't have any calibrated reference to try against, but the unit made consistent measurements of batteries to within 10 mV of what one would expect. I can't say anything for long-term stability yet, but if I find any problems I'll update this review. SUMMARY I'm really glad I ended up paying a bit extra and getting this versus the sub-$20 versions you can also find. If you need to measure electricity, you need to do it right. If you don't care enough to pay more than $20 to buy a reliable unit, I'd argue you don't really need to measure it to begin with. Check out the reviews of the cheap meters, and you'll see there is a significant fraction of people who find out the measurements are off, or for whom the meter goes bad after a while. Wonder how many of the good reviews are from people who just haven't adequately verified their meter?

This is the second such volt meter I have purchased. The first was a decade ago so I was expecting it to not be on the market anymore. It IS on the market and it is a lot better than the predesessor primarily due to the far softer and flexible ground lead. Also, the positive contact needle has an excellent integrated cover cap to protect it which simply flips off but stays connected to the meter body. My older model uses a slip-on cap that begs to be lost and I am surprised I haven't over the years but not for lack of trying. I leave the older model in my country cabin and keep the new one with me at home. I could almost buy another to keep in my pickup but that seems extravagant.

Handy meter for control work

Great meter