# Greenlee Meters; What Do You Think?



## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

For knocking around at home, I'm not sure it much matters. I've got a 10-dollar analog meter in the kitchen junk drawer with leads as thin as angel hair pasta that I got at KMart years ago I use for miscellaneous stuff in the house.


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

We don't get a lot of posters from Mali. Your union local must be tiny.

If you're going to fiddle with bench top electronics, you'll want a second hand Simpson analog meter. I purchased mine for 80% less than list. Its defect was a lousy D cell battery connection/ terminal -- that was easily fixed. 

T5-1000 are not oriented toward bench top work - - rather they are all-rounders. Even a T5-600 will do you fine. ( You're never going to use the higher voltage range of the T5-1000. )

As for a DMM, Fluke is a terrific brand... but every body and his brother has cloned their electronics -- at least as far as the basics. I've been surprised at how decent the low-end DMM are. You can save a TON of money by giving up the Fluke bells and whistles. ( full autoranging )

I can't speak to how well these will hold up in Saharan sand, but Ghana, next door, must have no end of Chinese importers by now. ( It's the gold fields. )


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## Satch (Mar 3, 2011)

I don't know how I bollocksed the settings but I live in the States. I cannot seem to correct it from this mobile device. 

The T5 is a daily carry item and is nigh perfect to commercial and industrial maintenance. The 1000v model is only about 10-20 dollars.more than the 600v version so the company went that way. The 87V is superb and is used when accuracy and fine resolution are needed for electronic controls in apliances, card access systems, VFDs, and similar.

As suggested a $450 meter is not needed for hobbyist tinkering. What is your primary thoughts behind suggesting an analogue meter for.electronics?

Other than visually watching the needle move up and down whilst a capacitor charges/discharges I am hard put to find a good reason to use analogue meters. About the the only one built like it should be anymore is the Simpson 260. I do have an old Micronta analogue from the 1980s that is in good shape. I just don't like using analogue for fairly precise electronics measurements. 

I have actually considered getting two meters. A T5 or Fieldpiece stick meter for mains use and a pure electronics meter for tinkering. I just can't find a lot of chatter on the Greenlee/Brymen models. Amazon has great pricing on them at the moment.


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## Satch (Mar 3, 2011)

And BTW, thank you for the nice responses.


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## RMRiggs (Feb 16, 2015)

we had two at a company I used to work for… screens went out on both, although they worked good until that happened…


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## Satch (Mar 3, 2011)

RMRiggs, that is not encouraging. I am not sure what Greenlee's warranty on these covers and for how long but two screens in two specimens is not good. I will have to check into this a bit further. 

For the other posters, I understand the confusion about location. I did not know that Timbuktu was in Mali. I just added that when I joined up because my old dad used to tell me when I was a kid I didn't know if I was in the house or Timbuktu. So it just sort of stuck in my head. Sorry for any confusion.


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## Grogan14 (Jul 16, 2009)

Satch said:


> RMRiggs, that is not encouraging. I am not sure what Greenlee's warranty on these covers and for how long but two screens in two specimens is not good. I will have to check into this a bit further.
> 
> For the other posters, I understand the confusion about location. I did not know that Timbuktu was in Mali. I just added that when I joined up because my old dad used to tell me when I was a kid I didn't know if I was in the house or Timbuktu. So it just sort of stuck in my head. Sorry for any confusion.


Some of us got it.


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## wendon (Sep 27, 2010)

If you're going to retire, why not do it in style? I'd buy a Fluke. I've got Fluke 12 that I picked up at an auction sale for $35. I'd rather buy a used Fluke than a new look-alike. If you're going to tinker with electronics, you might want a scope. I've got a 99b that I picked up for $250 years ago.


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## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

I bought a cheap Klown meter after my Fluke went missing and the display would rarely settle down to give an accurate reading.


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## Ridge (Mar 25, 2011)

*greenlee clamp meter*

Im not sure about new models of greenlee meters, But I have a 5 year old greenlee clamp meter that I have used in a steel mill for 4 years in some pretty dirty,dusty ,and greasy places and have only had to replace the battery once. It still works great. Just compared it to my brand new fluke last week. Amp reading was dead on (.1 off). voltage was 2 volts off, not too bad. still use it. hope this helps some.


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