Review: 4/5 Fluke 85 (Earliest Version) - Digital RMS Multimeter

banhim

, Googlit
May 17, 2013
1,164
284
United Kingdom
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A Fluke 85 Multimeter, this is the original version not the later mkII/mkIII versions

Good points:

  • Normal 'Fluke' quality and snob-factor
  • Replacement parts are easy to come by
  • Auto-ranging, makes operation dead simple
  • Has basic recording ability (peak & min/max) as well as frequency counter
  • Great battery life
  • Dead clear to use compared to lots of multimeters

Bad Points:
- Uses 'Bussman' type fuses, which are pretty unique to Fluke monitors and priced accordingly (expect to pay £10 for a fuse change)
- It'll get pinched if you leave it laying around.
- Displays can fail, these will cost about £20 to repair.

These are fantastic meters and well worth tracking down if you plan to do much automotive electrical fault finding/work, personally I believe a decent meter used in conjunction with OBD will pin-point the majority of electrical/electronic faults on a vehicle.

Bank on paying around £75-100 second hand, I paid £80 for mine from the famous auction site about three years ago. Cheaper meters will be 'out-of-cal' but this is hardly vital for 'crude' automotive work.

Quality - 4/5, I don't have the original 'Fluke' leads with mine, I use a generic lead set but they hold up well, mine is a 1998 model and still going strong and I use it a lot, and I can't vouch for its history.

Value for money - 1/5 if you rarely use a meter, 5/5 if you do.

4/5 overall, VFM letting it down for 'occasional' use, and this is a rather old product now.