Why is this the meter of Choice, Fluke 87-5?

Hi Tom,

I can only speak for myself, but I'm guessing all those categories of users want it for the brand, and all that goes with it (i.e. reliability, safety) and availability/support for many years, and the perception that Flukes stay close to calibration for decades. The 87-V still has some uniquenesses making it very suitable for design engineers, because it can measure current and voltage to extremely fine granularity - ideal for modern circuits.

But, on a technical level alone, there are other multimeters (from Fluke and other manufacturers) that have better performance in certain areas, and higher count, and are more feature-rich (and some of those features are extremely compelling), but that only partially is responsible for the purchase decision. It can be the other stuff as mentioned too.

Against non flagship brands, it is easy to make a distinction. Some can drift, others can have flaky rotary dials after a few years, (I experienced that with UNI-T and it put me off forever) and so on. Most students and hobbyists might not use the multimeter at high voltages often, but low-end brands can still fail even if you treat them with kid gloves. So personally I believe it is attractive for the brand associated qualities, plus the very handy granularity - so not necessarily the number 1 choice, but still a good choice depending on price. Anyway it's just an opinion : ) personally I'd like to use one of the logging Fluke's but the current Flukes I use are the 87-V, and 170 series, both purchased new, and an older Fluke model purchased used that I can't recall.

I think the one observation I've realized over the years is that all engineers want to do more and want higher accuracy and granularity and features, so the multimeters of a decade or two ago that were considered fine for handheld use, although they still function, are no longer as desirable, hence the attraction of meters like the 87-V and other modern multimeters in general.

If you need more thoughts on this, do let me know.

I’ve got both an 87 and a179, but have had the opportunity to try one of those logging versions, a 200 something, I can’t remember which.

Whilst the display was nice, the menu system just wasn’t quite as easy as simply turning the dial and pressing one or two buttons, so for me that ease of use while you’re trying to get your measurements was really important, more than I’d realised.

Flukes are definitely dependable, and on those few occasions when the display seems to show something a little odd going on, there’s always been something odd going on that needed some investigation (like when you’re sure that’s a dc supply, but somehow the smoothing caps were left out and you’re measuring an unsmoothed fully rectified output instead....)

A

I’ve got both an 87 and a179, but have had the opportunity to try one of those logging versions, a 200 something, I can’t remember which.

Whilst the display was nice, the menu system just wasn’t quite as easy as simply turning the dial and pressing one or two buttons, so for me that ease of use while you’re trying to get your measurements was really important, more than I’d realised.

Flukes are definitely dependable, and on those few occasions when the display seems to show something a little odd going on, there’s always been something odd going on that needed some investigation (like when you’re sure that’s a dc supply, but somehow the smoothing caps were left out and you’re measuring an unsmoothed fully rectified output instead....)

A