eevBLAB 91 - Why Are Fluke Meters So EXPENSIVE?

Comments · 4.8K

• EE

  @EEVblog · 4 years ago · pinned

  NOT sponsored by Fluke. In fact you should buy my BM786 for 20% off using the coupon code 555: <br><a href="https://www.eevblog.com/product/eevblog-bm786-multimeter/">https://www.eevblog.com/product/eevblog-bm786-multimeter/</a>

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• TO

  @tonybp · 3 years ago

  When I was studying electronics, my dad bought me a Fluke 83. It was the low end model with no RMS feature. But even though it was the low end model it was still expensive. He bought it with some of his savings, he made his homework when it came to the best brand. &quot;It&apos;s not top of the line, but it should do, right?&quot; .. . &quot;Absolutely, dad!.. this is awesome!&quot; I said. That was almost 30 years ago and I still have it and I still use it. I blew the fuses a few times but it still works great. Thank you dad, I miss you so much.

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• RO

  @RobCCTV · 4 years ago

  In 1987, in Moscow I made a Russian engineer cry with joy when I gave him my Fluke 77. &nbsp; &nbsp;He had been very kind to me regarding setting up for an exhibition there, and I had given him it as a gift in thanks; something that was simply unafordable and actually unobtainable for engineers then. Russian engineers knew the quality and reliability of Fluke even then, and so he was mega-grateful for my gift. For all I know, he may still be using it now.

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• TW

  @tweak447 · 4 years ago

  Senior Advanced Microwave Metrologist tech here. &nbsp;Years ago, the USN quit recalling Fluke meters for periodic calibration and replaced the stickers with &quot;cal if suspect&quot; stickers. &nbsp;We tracked every single piece of GPETE/TAMS by model/serial for the lifetime of the unit. &nbsp;In doing so, we found that Fluke&apos;s handheld DMM&apos;s NEVER went out of calibration. &nbsp;They would only fail to operate outright due to abuse/accidents. &nbsp; We had a saying - Heaven is where the meters are Fluke, the scopes are Tektronix and the spectrum analyzers are HP. &nbsp;Hell is where the meters are HP, the Spectrum analyzers are Tektronix and anything is Giga-tronics.

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• ST

  @Stefan_Van_pellicom · 2 years ago

  I am a carpenter and very happy with my old Fluke 10 that I managed to buy at an auction some 20 years ago. I only test for continuity, line AC and the occasional battery. Nice thing about Fluke is, when you whip it out, customers think “he must know what he’s doing!”…

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• JO

  @johnalexander2349 · 4 years ago

  I&apos;m a property developer that uses Fluke, and I can confirm AvE&apos;s observation: &quot;Sometimes you&apos;ve just got to whip out a 12 inch Fluke, to get the sparkies to take you seriously.&quot;

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• MI

  @MikelNaUsaCom · 4 years ago

  in the 2000&apos;s microsoft was having trouble selling SQL server, they actually upped the price to match oracle... and boom their sales went up... instead of down... because of the impression that a higher cost translated to a higher quality product, even though no changes were made to the product except for increasing the cost. &nbsp;=D

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• PR

  @PrinceAlberts · 4 years ago (edited)

  I was in the military for over 20 years and I’ve been given various reasons when I asked why we always buy Fluke. “Made in the USA” and “Better Input Noise Filtering” were the two most common reasons I was given. We didn’t have any specific test procedures that required a Fluke, most just said “using a multimeter” or “Using a Fluke 77AN or equivalent” perform such and such.<br>Measurement confidence, however, was a very real thing. We don’t even calibrate Fluke multimeters used for non-critical measurements anymore. When a Fluke fails, it doesn’t go out of calibration, it dies. If it turns on, it’s good. That’s a huge deal in the field.

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• SH

  @Shadetree2 · 10 months ago

  my fluke meter is over 40 years old and still works perfectly. &nbsp;i still use it regularly.

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• ST

  @stevefriedl3983 · 4 years ago

  This was absolutely fantastic content - it&apos;s not &quot;This is the multimeter you should get&quot;, but &quot;these are factors to weigh when shopping for a multimeter&quot;. &nbsp;Finding out that most of the reasons for Fluke&apos;s superior price actually don&apos;t matter to *me*, so I can make my alternate purchase with confidence rather than wonder if I&apos;m missing out on something or cheaping out.<br><br>We need more of this kind of wisdom.

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• NJ

  @NJT1000 · 4 years ago

  Fluke and Avo were the weapons of choice when I used to work for the UK Ministry of Defence in the Naval Supply ships. In the early days we used to be provided with the enormous and heavy analogue Avo 8 meter. This bulky beast had a certain advantage made use of by a Senior Electrical Officer of my acquaintance who was a great advocate of 24 hour drinking. When the behemoth was removed from its beautifully made leather case, it left the exact amount of room to stow a six pack of stubbies so he had enough McEwans Export to keep him going until lunch time. Of course everybody who didn&apos;t know just thought he was carrying around one of the main tools of his trade - including the Chief Engineer!

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• RY

  @Ryarios · 4 years ago

  All the Fluke meters I’ve used where we had to have a traceable calibration certificate, were calibrated using a Fluke computerized calibration device. &nbsp;It made the calibration affordable. &nbsp;To calibrate other brands the tech had to test every single function and range manually and the costs for recertification were often as much or more than the cost of a new meter with certs.

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