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Had to choose between hot air station and a better multimeter last week
My $30 multimeter was drifting on resistance readings and my old heat gun died. I went with a $110 Hakko hot air station because I do more SMD work than anything, but now I'm second guessing if I should have just bought a Fluke instead. Has anyone else made a similar pick and regretted it later?
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elizabeths5127d ago
That "guy at work" might be overstating things a bit. Cheap meters aren't ideal for high voltage work near your heart, but a drifting resistance reading on a $30 unit isn't going to kill you. You'd have to be measuring mains power or something with a badly made meter for that to happen. For low voltage electronics work, a mediocre meter is usually fine as long as you don't rely on it for safety critical measurements. The real risk is getting inconsistent readings that lead you down the wrong path troubleshooting, not actually dying from it. Sounds like you made the right call for your SMD work anyway.
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elizabeths5127d ago
Heard from a guy at work that cheap meters can kill you if you're not careful, so maybe both was the safer play.
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