Timeless SAMWA YX-1000A Perhaps The Worst, Cheapest Analogue Multimeter (My First, 26 Years Ago)

New (?!), retro, vintage, obsolete, cheerful or just bad? Well, you'll be the judge. I only present my perspective on an unchanged analogue pocket multimeter design, and do I have a lot to tell about it!
The SAMWA YX-1000A is a cheap Chinese analogue multimeter you can still find on the market for around 5 EUR or USD. While small and highly portable, there are so many design decisions that still surprise me today, the most obvious ones linked to why they would still consider it viable.

[@Domnu.]

Mi-l amintesc. L-am prajit in 3 secunde cum am ajuns cu el acasa. Eram copil si mi-l cumparasem din banii de buzunar. Atat de neatent am fost la pozitia comutatorului incat l-am bagat in priza, el fiind setat pe rezistenta. A facut poc si ala a fost. Mi-am luat digitalul dt830b.😂
Si pentru mine a fost primul multimetru.😊

[@Al-vc1kw]

I have a similar multimeter of roughly the same quality. And surprisingly enough, it outlived all the modern and expensive equipment I had over the past 20 years. Probes are really bad tho, but are easily repairable and replacable. So overall, I had a really positive experience with cheap multimeters like the one shown in this video. It was one of the first multimeters I ever got as a young electronics enthusiast and in my humble opinion it's the best to start with in electronics. Plus, it's easy to make small pcb addon circuits for it to extend it's functionality beyond it's original intent. With a bit of soldering, you can make small circuits that snap in in place of probes and can be used to measure frequencies or capacitance and inductance etc. Sky is the limit. Cheap analog multimeter and a cheap solder gun that uses copper wire as tip (that you can easily replace whenever you want) and you're good to go.

[@retrowikid]

I am glad you had fun with this model and I agree you can make a lot of modifications if you are imaginative in electronics. In my case it was a series of frustrations that was not conducive to a better experience. While you can learn by having the opposite of what you should, in my case it led to wasting time and having less chance of appreciating a good design early on and seeing what a particular technology can offer.
The first aspect that really bothered me was the low ability to have reasonably accurate measurements due to the unpredictable needle deviation at each measurement coupled with the fact that the scale does not offer a proper reference to the needle deviation. Such small inconsistencies make you believe that analogue multimeters could not have reasonably good accuracy, which is very far from the truth. By comparison, even if you buy the cheapest digital multimeter, you are still much better positioned, resulting in a cognitive bias that may haunt you later on.

[@raduminecraft1]

This was my first multimeter. A few days ago I bought a digital multimeter because the old one broke when I gave it high voltage. I bought the same model of analog multimeter because digital multimeters do not fascinate me. Analog multimeters are cheap and still usable

[@ManuelVerdecia-cy2kn]

Hay que ponerle traducción Español

[@mustangrt8866]

I just use it as a volt meter for batteries

[@retrowikid]

It is so inaccurate that even determining a voltage is sometimes hit and miss. I mean, when you are measuring a battery and have to sort through tens, the fractional voltage part starts to matter.
Of course, if you really want a battery tester, it is fine, but it is not a multi-tester or multimeter and it is even quite expensive for what it is.