>>997500
a 10$ one is fine. unless you intend to use it on mains voltage a lot. or you need some specific feature like transistor or capacitor testing. or ESD protection.

as a matter of safety, if you're using it on death voltages like you will find at mains voltage, you need standardized rated probes so it cant arc through cheap chinky plastic.

>>997500
If you already have a multimeter then why do you need a new one? There are better things to waste money on.
If your job/life depends on it then get a proper multimeter. 30$ won't cut the mustard.

Auto-range is a nice feature i would like to have.
Also frequency meter useful when working with PWM.

I'm playing a lot with AVR uC so having second multimeter is convenient

>>997511
auto range is slow as fuck and fucks up constantly on phased or pwm circuits

>>997518
>>997511
Can someone explain auto-range to me?

Wouldn't it be more effort, not less, to have to look every time to see what the range was, and therefore what the number meant, instead of already knowing what the range is, and what the number means?

>>997558
Autorange does not select the measurement type. Your readings will be in volts if you have selected a voltage range, autoranging or not.

Let's say you're measuring 0.712V voltage. An autoranging meter will display 0.712V. A non-autoranging meter would have several manually selectable ranges like 0.1V, 1V, 10V and 100V. Of these, the first would overflow, the second would display the same value as the autoranging meter and the two others would display a lower resolution reading (00.71V / 000.7V). So, basically you just need to pay attention to where the decimal point is.

The main problem with autoranging is the time required to select the correct range. On better meters it's fast enough to not be obnoxious, but shit meters can spend seconds on selecting the range. In both cases quickly changing inputs can lead to a situation where the autoranger fails to follow the signal and just changes ranges constantly instead of showing something useful.
Non-shit autoranging meters allow you to manually select the range, if needed.

How about this one http://www.amazon.com/Mastech-Auto-Range-Multi-functional-Digital-Multimeter/dp/B000JKMTDM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 ?

Humidity meter would be helpful, I'm currently working on circuit that turns on humidifiers in the entire house.

Anyone had this model?

Check dave jones out, he knows his stuff but dislikes uni-t. I have his recommended meter from that review and like it a lot. It is a little over $50 though, so your mileage may vary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoeUgMFLyAw

I know you said budget, but fuck for 100ish dollars you can get the features of a 400 dollar meter by buying the Chinese market fluke meters. I would even wager that they have less of a chance of being counterfeited, if you can produce counterfeits then why are you going to make ones that no one has heard of for your home market when you can make ones for western markets?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=XDm5BfRrAsg

>>998126
Wow, didn't know that. Thanks!

I have the UT139C, it's fucking sweet. Solid build quality, good input protection.

>>998126
Was going to post this, good shout matey.