Amazon.com: INNOVA 3320 Auto-Ranging Digital Multimeter, Red & Black : Innova: Tools & Home Improvement

It works well and as expected with one flaw. The continuity tester (beeps when there is a complete circuit) has a delay of about a 1/2 second. In other words, if you touch the two probes together, you would expect it to beep instantly. It does not. It beeps after a 1/2 second. If I'm testing a project or circuit for a short, testing if a solder joint is solid, I need it to beep the instant that the probes touch the test points.One other issue that I have with it, is that it has a battery tester function. 4 pre-set voltages (1.5, 6, 9 and 12). Gives you a green yellow or red light depending on the battery's charge. Fine, except what about all of the new batteries that we use these days? NiMH, NiCD, LiPO, LiFE, etc. Each with it's own unique voltage range. I do a lot of DIY that involves batteries, also R/C modeling that uses a variety of battery technologies. The 4 pre-set voltages this meter comes set to are basically worthless to me. I tested a charged LiPO in both the 1.5v and 6v ranges, each showed an error. Sure, I can (and do) just use the DC tester but it seems a waste to have included this feature.Otherwise, it is well made, the silkscreened labels on the front are solid and easy to read. Display has huge characters also easy to read, though no back light. Built in bumper pads are tough.It has an elastic loop on the back, I assume so that you can attach it to something to hold it up so you can use both hands and read the display. Elastic material is pretty cheap and will not last (it will stretch and fail like the waistband on an old pair of underwear), but it should be easily replaced with a quality thin piece of bungee cord.Good price/ value, but not a pro or pro-sumer piece of gear.

Update: A word of the wise, avoid leaving the switch anywhere but the off button when not using it. My switch sometimes will not switch entirely to off.. had it stuck between off and DCV (accidentally of course) and the batteries were shorting out causing them to heat up and nearly destroying my unit. The unit seems to be ok with no adverse affects other than wondering what to do with my alkaline Duralocks (which lost 0.2 volts in the process) because i don't think i really want to leave them in the unit. This is sort of a bad defect which i hope to notify the company so they can do a fix on newer models.Unfortunately my old one died so i got a new one since i love it's little load tester on batteries. This works great on AA, AAA, 9V NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) cells especially can tell when those cells are out of power it has enough load on the cell to bring it under 1.2 volts and on completely depleted cells you can really tell as the voltage would continue to drop. It's also got nifty lights to let you know what condition the cells are in, i believe it works best on alkaline cells but it also works with NiMH cells as you can always tell when you should recharge/top off the battery and you don't have to guess with this unit. If a NiMH cell is under 1.26 volts you can recharge it (and i prefer using a smart charger such as the Maha C9000). I haven't tried it with this current unit i just bought, but my old one worked with NiMH cells perfectly well although the batteries that come with it last pretty much forever. My old unit i bought in 2004 or 2005 still had the original batteries in them but they seem to still produce around 1.3 to 1.4 volts but when you put them in something like a flashlight that voltage would drop to about 0.6 volts so the only drawback is that they didn't work well under a load but i decided to throw some Duracells in this since they had a longer expiration date which is what it think these current cells have which are dated December of 2016. While they did last forever i think it wasn't good for the internals as my older one started to exhibit strange behavior even with fresh (alkaline) cells in it.Soon after an electronic piece (like a diode or something) shattered and the device quit working. I might try to replace that part and see if i can get the older one working but it appears that this new one has some different parts in it (or maybe updated parts?) so i don't know whether or not to attempt to get a replacement part based on the new unit. One thing to note is that there is a gap in between the two halves (so you can take the unit apart to get to the batteries) so avoid going near water with this (as you would with any multimeter). Not that i would accidentally drop this in water it's still a way for dust and dirt to get on the inside so i'll probably just put tape or put plastic wrap around the unit so that doesn't happen. Either way with all the other multimeters on the market this one is my favorite, wish more came with a battery load tester with light indicators. These lights are really bright too, that's another update on this unit from my old one was that my old one lights up but was not as bright as this recent unit.The only issue i really have with this multimeter is there is no way to turn off the auto shut off feature, when i am doing extensive testing on some batteries i tend to want to keep the thing turned on.. often times i'll have to turn it off and back on again to resume testing otherwise using a different multimeter is the only way i can really do this, however.. this unit does have a minor load like about 0.10 volts so it's hard to choose between a basic multimeter or this. Sometimes i just use a regular multimeter so i don't have to play around with the multimeter i can just let it sit and do it's thing.If i need more this is the multimeter to get!

---10-23-2017 EDIT---I still have all 3 of my Innova 3320 multimeters, and they are still working great. Each one gets used a couple times a month on average, so they have more than paid for themselves over what has now been 6 years of ownership. I also haven't felt a need to upgrade them in that time, so these 3 meters along with a 4th multimeter (that has a clamp style ammeter that I need occasionally) are all I own right now.There is a small quirk I have noticed with this meter, so I figured I would mention it in case anyone else has the same issue. Sometimes one of my meters will start giving a reading that is a bit erratic, almost like it's having a hard time knowing what it's supposed to do. Alternately, the autoranging feature will sometimes also become a bit sluggish in coming up with a final result to display. I mainly notice it when I'm working in DCV mode, and the issue pops up now and then on all 3 of my meters. Whenever one of my meters begins having this issue, a quick full rotation of the mode selection dial back and forth 5-6 times fixes the problem right up. I'm guessing there must be a little bit of dirt working down onto the sliding dial contacts (located directly underneath the mode selection dial) causing a poor electrical connection there over time. The dirt is probably getting in via the small gap around the dial itself. That dirt/residue is being scraped off by the sliding contacts when the dial is rotated back and forth a few times so that's why everything starts working perfectly again.Another thing I thought I would mention is that for the last couple years I have been using Eneloop rechargeable AA batteries in all 3 of my meters instead of regular disposable alkaline batteries. My meters all run perfectly on the Eneloops even though rechargeable AA batteries only put out 1.2vdc instead of 1.5vdc.---END OF EDIT---This is a great meter as long as you are getting it for the right tasks. The auto ranging feature works great as long as you are measuring something of a decent value whether it be resistance, voltage, etc. This is not the meter you would want for doing sensitive electronics, fine adjustments of electrical components, computer work, etc. This meter will not be accurate enough and consistent enough to be of much use for those types of applications. This meter is absolutely amazing for its price when it comes to doing (120vac) home electrical, automotive (12vdc) electrical troubleshooting, furnace troubleshooting (24vac), solar installation testing and troubleshooting (12-48vdc), etc. For electrical maintenance and installation tasks I almost exclusively use continuity, voltage, and resistance measurements to look for broken circuits, check for voltage loss across terminals due to corrosion, verify correct wiring after a new installation, etc. This meter also works great for testing automotive sensors for proper function. Most automotive sensors have resistance levels in the 400 to 700 ohm range when operating properly and this meter measures levels like that very consistently and accurately.Where this meter does falter a little is when you need to measure a very low resistance level or a very high level of resistance accurately. The auto ranging feature gets a little confused or slow, and is not good at giving the same result if the same test is repeated several times.The reason I am giving this meter 5 stars is because the issues with this meter are really not issues to me, because the situations that cause those issues can usually be worked around and 99% of the things I use this meter for work accurately and rapidly. I have used many high quality fluke meters and they work great in all situations, but they are also a lot more expensive. I will gladly give up 1% usability for a meter that is one fifth the price. I have also used meters that are cheaper than fluke meters and are still accurate in all situations, but they require you to set the range for every test done which adds time to everything and if you are wrong you can blow fuses, etc. This meter is fast, because I just turn the dial to the right mode, put the leads on and get a result I can use and I can move on.Another really nice feature I have never seen on another meter is the battery tester. It is great for rapidly testing to see if a spare battery you find in a drawer is a new one that became separated from its' package, or if it is a dead one that got lost on the way to the recycling bin.This meter is also nice because if you accidentally damage it or lose it you are not out much money. This meter works so perfectly for the tasks I need it for that I have bought 3 of them just in case they stop selling them, because there are no other meters I like as much as this one that cost less than $75. Then I am able to keep one in the car at all times for emergencies, one in the garage for working on cars, and one inside the home that stays nice and clean for home related tasks.