I think the old school analog multimeter is still better than a digital one for a lot of appliance calls.

Everyone pushes the digital ones for their accuracy, but when you're chasing a flickering voltage on a dryer board, the needle swing on my old Simpson 260 shows the drop in real time. The digital readout just lags and jumps around. Anyone else still keep an analog meter in their truck?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancy4182mo ago

That needle swing is great for seeing a trend, but it's just too slow for most modern stuff. Digital meters with a good bar graph show the same real time change without the guesswork. Trying to read a precise voltage off an analog scale in a dark laundry room is a pain. My Fluke's min/max hold catches those quick dips the needle would just blur past. The old Simpsons are cool, but they just can't keep up on a lot of boards now.

laurar382mo ago

Tell that to my grandpa's dusty old toolbox.

kelly614d ago

That thing about the dark laundry room really hits home. It's funny how we hold onto tools that work "good enough" until we finally try something better and realize we were just making things harder on ourselves. I've seen it in the kitchen too (old school meat thermometers vs. instant read digitals) and even in the garage with those old bubble levels vs. the digital ones that beep. We get comfortable with the struggle I guess, until the convenience wins out.