How to kill a Fluke Multimeter (Not)

design really matters. I know that fluke has company standards a lot higher than IEC.

I used to be a fluke agent, and I have seen a Fluke survive being run over by a bus. Might have been a fluke 27? Cant remember, but it was huge! Much bigger then a 77. Got to remember tho, not all Fluke's are made in USA, the the ones that arnt, are good at breaking themselves!

I'd like to see a test of one of the lower end models (such as Unit-T) and see if they also take the same level of abuse. I suspect they will. I have seen a cheap instrument fall from a third floor window and suffer no more damage than a broken battery compartment cover clip.

I am impressed. Having seen a few designs for thick film resistor networks I can tell you the ones in the Fluke meters are solid. I am pleased to know that when I take a dive off a tower my wife will still be able to use my Fluke meter.

Sorry William, I can't agree that you can just expect a meter to survive this sort of abuse because it contains no moving parts. My Chinese DMM, also with no moving parts, currently is on sale for $2.99 at Harbor Freight. I'll bet if I dropped it from 1 meter that it would disintegrate in a spray of shattered plastic, glass display shards, splintered phenolic pc board, and assorted electrical components from the circuit board. I wouldn't and couldn't expect more for my three bucks. In fact, I still can't figure out how anyone on the planet can retail a working 3 1/2 digit DMM for three bucks, which is a lower price than a Duracell or Energizer 9V battery bought from Walgreen's to power the instrument.

Given that the meter has no moving parts (other than the switch), one would expect it to tolerate a lot of physical abuse -- to take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. It's the electrical abuse that one has to worry about.