Very first one was a Radio Shack with just an analog dial. Was still a kid, so it seemed great. Then was replaced by a yellow generic digital from Steve's Tools. A local Harbor freight type place. Still have them both, and they occasionally see use.

In my high school for any course that require calculations (i.e. chemistry, mathematics..) the only tool was log tables. When the class matriculated, wrote the province wide examination, a log table book was provided as part of the examination material. Multiplication, add the logs, division subtract the logs. Did I get that right Mr. Strickland?

Been there.  Done that.  The other thing is buying parts to prototype and realising they're not right.

David,

In the past I too had a tendency to purpose the lower cost tools, Now I know better, I still (sometimes) still buy the cheap ones/ If you only want a low cost tool for a low cost job then they work fine. I also like better quality tools as well.

Dubbie

Being the only person in my circle that dabbles in electronics, I had nobody to consult when making tool purchasing decisions. Naturally, I learned the significance of using quality equipment though self inflicted frustrations on account of bargain hunting for tools.

My first two purchases were a cheap breadboard with a bunch of bad jumpers, and a no-brand digital usb oscilloscope... i've managed to salvage some capacitors and high accuracy resistors from the Oscope, but consider both purchases a waste

I couldnt resist a little Monty Python-ish satire. Not sure how many people caught it.

We had to use this slide rule in my high school physics class.

Not to sound like an old timer, but 4 function calculators were just coming out on the market when I was in high school, they were fairly expensive, the physics teacher lived by the slide rule & wasnt quite ready to let it go. I dont remember how to use the slide rule either.

It didnt take more than a couple years for those 4 function calculators to become scientific calculators with trig & such, and with that, the slide rule was mothballed.

robogary  A slide rule!  My Dad has a yellow one like yours.  I've tried to learn how to use one a few times but it doesn't stick.  It is a beautiful instrument though.

My first measurement device was a K-5318B Multimeter.  I got it in 1993.  I  still have it and I continue to use it at least once a week or so.  Wonderful tool. 

That my first measurement tool was a ruler.

Electrically, I use a plastic caliper to measure wavelength and a slide rule to calculate frequency and the Fourier spectrum.

The plastic caliper works pretty good too on PWM signals and figuring out duty cycles.

It sure would be nice to modernize, but why bother ? Actually a scope of some kind would be such a productivity improvement.

An analog multimeter of course when I was 12, which I managed to blow it away by measuring AC voltage(mains) while the knob was still in DC