Greenlee DM-860A Review

This is a review of the Greenlee DM-860A multimeter for use in hobby electronics projects primarily related to amateur radio.
A pdf document of this review: github.com/TomWilkinson/Multi...
This review was produced to help you decide if the Greenlee DM-860A multimeter will fit your purpose and budget. This is part of a series of multimeters reviews.
A good multimeter for hobby electronic projects should be able to measure millivolts, volts, microamps, milliamps, amps, ohms, nanofarads and microfarads.
If you want to measure picofarads, nanohenry, microhenry or reactance you will need a LCR meters. I cover the two LCR meters I own in another review.
I am not a professional, I am a hobbyist. This review is not sponsored; I bought this multimeter with my own money. I only used and tested this multimeter in CAT I and CAT II environments. I do not have a way to review or test the safety of this meter. I leave the CAT III and CAT IV environments to trained and licensed professionals. It may seem like I am a Fluke fan boy, but I recognize their flaws along with their advantages. There may be unintended mistakes and/or errors in this review.

[@johnlucier8572]

Not the end 9f the world. I own greenlee and I'm happy with it and 8t never let me down..

[@ac4nl]

Brymen 869s

[@mrpetit2]

Regarding the software, the stock Brymen software is pretty basic. But as the protocol is open (albeit a pretty strange protocol), compatibility has been incorporated in other DMM software.
I personally use Ts Digital Multi Meter Viewer, but it also works with Testcontroller and is incorporated in Sigrok.
Strange detail is that with the stock software, the logging interval in 500K resolution mode is about 2 times per second, whereas when I use Ts Digital Multi Meter Viewer or Testcontroller, the logging interval in 500k mode is 5 times per second.
I believe the specs in the manual state 1,25 times per second, but with my meter the display refresh is just as fast as in the 50k mode, and when I log in 500k mode, all the values that are logged with 5 times per second have unique values, so I guess the specs in the manual are wrong about this.

[@N8FDY]

Thanks for the info.

[@mrpetit2]

Interesting that your DM-860A doesn't meet specification in the lower DCV ranges.
I have the Brymen BM869S that I have ISO17025 calibrated annually, and it always passes (I think I have it for about 5 years now).
Of course this is also only a sample of 1, but I wonder....Does Greenlee do their own calibrations?
Because the funny thing is, the only calibration instructions for this meter (with that I mean the adjustment procedure) is a document from Greenlee.
Also, looking at Joe Smith's video's, where he frequently uses one of his BM869s's parallel to other higher tier multimeters (UniT 181A, Fluke 189, Gossen metrahit ultra etc etc) I never see his BM869s's giving different values than those other higher tier multimeters. That is of course not an ISO17025 calibration, but it gives a comparison and general idea.
...food for thought...
I saw that the greenlee leads are not the newer style Brymen leads where you can screw on little 4mm bananaplug adapters that are included. I find that feature very handy.

[@N8FDY]

Thanks for sharing. I ordered a BM869S from Welectron so I can compare it with the Greenlee. I tried to order it from TME and got this message "This product is not available for sale in your country."

[@mrpetit2]

@@N8FDY that is very strange from TME. Lots of americans have ordered from TME afaik.
But Welectron is also an excellent supplier. I believe their prices are a bit lower but their (overseas) shipping costs are a bit higher

[@mikeadler434]

👍👍

[@johnlucier8572]

The video of the Meter in the screen is way off and not in the screen area..to9 bad. Camera has to be mounted in view..