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Customers most agreed on the following attributes:
First thing you should do when you buy this multimeter is open up the back and replace the factory installed fuse with the spare fuse (included inside the unit). Once I did this the unit functioned perfectly. No complaints (other than the fuse).
from Huntington Beach, CA on 6/27/2008
The fuse died on me in about five months. I've babied my multimeter and couldn't imagine why a fuse would blow so quickly, or why anything would display at all in the LCD meter, if it had; but it did, even though the the readout looked okay (LCD display showed numbers, but would not give a readout, when the probes were used, even after new set of batteries was installed. But, after a quick and easy fuse change-out (using the included fuse inside the meter, itself), no problems. All was well again.
Works great, no complaints. Fast and accurate.
Unit does not work properly in ohm setting needs repair after 2 months use.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
You gotta be kidding me. I own this multimeter, but it hasn't worked for 6-months. So I came to this site planning to purchase a replacement online, and I see all the postings talking about the fuse. Well guess what - replacing the fuse fixed my problem! What a nice surprise. Thanks Radio Shack for having a product forum.
...the factory installed fuse was defective. A replacement fuse was included and everything worked well after I installed it, but my negative impression lingers. After all the negative comments about the fuse issue, why doesn't the factory do something about it? Why not offer some overload protection? It seems like a good meter otherwise.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from San Jacinto, California on 2/2/2008
When this unit stopped working after 3 mos I threw it in a drawer in disgust! After a year I read the reviews here and tried replacing the fuse which solved the problem. THERE IS A SPARE FUSE INSIDE THE UNIT! While reading the manual on line I learned of the included spare fuse.
I wanted to use it for biasing guitar power tubes. I got 33 mV even with the probes shorted together!
[3 of 3 customers found this review helpful]
Folks, if your meter suddenly stops working, change the fuse. I wonder if anyone who gave it one star thought of that. Mine seemed to give up the ghost so I changed the fuse and now it works fine. All in all a very good value on a multimeter.
Voltage measurements stopped working at about 9 months... of course it only has a 90-day warranty.
My old RS meter lasted 15 years and simply wore out mechanically, so this is very disappointing.
It seemed to work well for about 1 yr. Taken well care of. Then it stopped working. The unit turns on but it displays all zeros. No longer responds to any of the buttons . Bad value.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Omaha, nebraska on 9/9/2007
I bought this meter over 18 months ago and it has given me good perfromance. I mainly use it to check bias on tube guitar amps. The auto-ranging feature is great. I recommend this meter. I am an Electronics Design Engineer, and have seen even the best blow up their meters. If you pay attention and don't check 120VAC while the meter is on Ohms, you will have a good long-lasting meter. I liked it so much, I bought one for my brother to check his guitar amps with.
[0 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from San Diego, CA on 9/4/2007
I bought this around a year ago. A few days ago I used it to test a neighbors battery. When I picked it up it all voltages read really low. Ex 110v = .5v! 12v battery reads milliamps. I opened it and it has a burn smell. Hardly used and maintained in perfect condition never dropped and not a scratch on it. First DMM to ever fail.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Everyone who is saying that their meter started giving unreliable/random readings needs to change the fuse. After doing some current measurements mine started showing 0 mA all the time and it said there was a short even without the leads installed. It also gave very erratic resistance measurements. After replacing the fuse with the included spare (you have to remove the entire back shell of the meter) it still did not work. Since the fuses are ceramic you can't visually tell if they've blown. So after installing some known good glass fuses the meter now works perfectly again.
All in all this is a good meter. The auto-ranging works great and I've never had any problems in the two years I've had it. I highly recommend this as a good, cheap general purpose meter. It's not nearly as rugged as a Fluke meter but it's a fraction of the cost.
[0 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from Los Angeles, CA on 8/18/2007
I use it for home/auto hobby use, gets zero abuse, and always pampered like all my tools ...and still it's dead inside 1 year!! Piece of junk! Avoid this product at all costs and get something reliable.
[0 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
Used 5 times total. Now gives random voltage readings and just like mentioned here by someone else, it indicates continuity (short) with the leads held apart. Total piece of crud.
[0 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from Philadelphia on 5/6/2007
After using the unit for a few momths, it stopped working. For example, when I place it in continuity mode, it shows a short all of the time even with no leads attached. Poor quality.
[1 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
I was really excited by this product and it looked like a great value. However, the cable end broke off inside one of the attaching recepticals and it wasn't worth the cost of fixing it. I bought a new MM elsewhere.
[0 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
Mine just quit giving reading. Comes on but no readings. only used it a few times
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Like Nichole,(after about 3 years) my meter just stopped giving any readings at all. Power and display work, just won't give a reading. This has to be a fault in the design.
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Mine blows fuses like nobody's business. Otherwise it does what I need. If yours stops working its probably a blown fuse.
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
THIS IS A GREAT ITEM,FUSE BLEW ONCE, BUT OK..ITS GREAT FOR THE PRICE,,,,
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
well...mines toast. no longer works for some strange reason. turns on and everything, just forget about getting a reading.
Total piece of JUNK! I had an old "Archer" that lasted me 15 years. I've gone through 3--THREE!--of these in a year. One blew up on 120V AC, two on 12v DC,--so, it's not as if I overloaded it. I'm guessing the "Auto select" function is bad, and you wind up giving this thing something it's not ready for, which scrambles its brain. I work with electronics for a living, so I DO know how to use it. Stay away from this meter!
The battery life-time is only 300 hours. I prefer to use AA battery instead of this small AAA battery to extend the battery life-time.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I like this meter. I compared DCV and DCI and resistance measurements against a calibrated Fluke and the values were virtually the same in all cases.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
This device is just the right size for ease of use. The display is easy to read. The test leads are of a very high quality, flexible, not stiff wire.