Ok for xmas looks like I might be asking for a clamp meter as long as the price is right.

I have been looking at Fluke, Greenlee, Craftsman, Tpi etc.

Does anyone have any insight or a site with reviews on diff models on how accurate they are?

Greenlee seems like a good price, but craftsman has some real cheap Clamp on AC/DC True RMS meters on ebay.

any insight?

one word, one word only

FLUKE

Seriously, if you're going to get a good, true RMS clamp on, get a fluke, no question, no qualifications, no BS. GET THE FLUKE and get the best one you can. if you want information go to a store like graybar, guillevin,westburn-ruddy, or nelco. (look under electrical suppliers in the yellow pages) and take a look at what they have. fluke is the best out there, period.

90% of electricians and electrical workers use fluke, not only because they're the best, but because they're reliable as hell.

I have a Greenlee DMM, next on my list is a good fluke clamp on.

Fluke, settle for no less.

*end rant*

[ November 28, 2004, 09:23 PM: Message edited by: Sassmaster ]

lol thanks for the response

Im not conerned to much about reliability (if your talking about the meter taking abuse from working in the work enviroment) because I take good care of all my stuff, and i wouldn't really be exposing it to harsh conditions as well.

I wanted to know if the cheaper nes were still accurate to a fluke etc?

Im in graybar all the time and see the Greenlee's on the wall. Maybe I should ask next time.

Any other online sites to check out for the product?

if you want a really cheap one princess auto has some clamp meters for like $60...true they aren't that great...can't do DC amperage just AC but still thats ok for audio applications and considering they are a whole lot cheaper than anything else out there...I don't know what you are looking for but if its cheap then this is a good one to get

greenlee has their catologue online, and fluke does as well.

Fluke's page

Greenlee's page.

Is anything going to be as good as the fluke meters? not likely, but for a car application, the greenlee would work fine. but, personal choice, and as a recomendation, nothing less than fluke.

I wont need AC, if anything I would need DC for measuring current draw in the car

Can you get a DC clamp meter? I thought they only worked on AC?

DC and AC. I just got a barely used Fluke 336 off of ebay for roughly $200can (reatil is $425 iirc) Mesures 0-600A AC and DC, 0-600V AC and DC, and has a resistance setting also. Sturdy unit!

Their lower models can be had for quite a bit less since they're either only AC or only DC and also lower Max levels. Depending what you want to do wih it, you could always get a Digital multimeter and get an external clamp which hooks up to your DMM and then will give you a current reading in AC or DC depending on the model.

[ November 28, 2004, 10:34 PM: Message edited by: dbEric ]

they had a TPI model add on for any DMM out there it just ended for $12 us in ebay

Wow. I did not know that. I thought a clamp meter would only read AC amperage. Hmm I may have to go out and get a new toy now. [img]smile.gif[/img] Just in time for x-mas!