I am considering purchasing a Fluke meter to do some
alignments & repairs here.
Can anyone reccomend a Fluke meter model or anothere brand model?

Clint-

I like the idea of having a couple of those cheap meters. I keep one in my
brief case and one I take with me on trips.

For the shop, I wanted something I could depend on, so back in about 1980 I
purchased a Fluke 8020A handheld digital multimeter. Soon after that the
display darkened. I purchased an upgraded display, installed it myself, and
have had no other problems since then.

Three years ago I bought a Fluke 8012A bench model digital multimeter at a
Hamfest for $40. It looked rough and was missing its power cord and probes.
With just probes and a new cord, it appears to be working perfectly. Comparing
it with the old 8020A, readings of various voltages and precision resistors
were identical, except for a 0.01 volt difference when reading a 13.8 volt
power supply. I know that the 8020A has never been calibrated since leaving
the factory.

About a year later I bought a Fluke 8050A bench model digital multimeter in
non-working condition, for $35. This model has one more digit of resolution
than the other two meters, and has true RMS on AC. The problem turned out to
be that it had dead internal batteries, and required the batteries to act as a
voltage regulator when operated on AC. Some slightly smaller batteries from
Radio Shack made it work. Again, it appears to be working perfectly. Voltage
and resistance readings agree with both other meters. (I forget which one of
the three was 0.01 volt off on 13.8!)

The moral of the story is that here are three meters approaching 25 years of
age, that have maintained their accuracy in spite of rough handling over the
years.

I would recommend any of the three models if you can find a used one. Of
course, you may find that someone has mis-calibrated it, so you need some
assurance it is still accurate. Perhaps you can scrape together a handful of
precision resistors and use them as a "standard".

If you want a more modern meter, the latest Flukes offer auto-ranging. The
early versions sacrificed some accuracy and were slow, but I understand more
recent models are better. However, I'm not willing to spend the money for
auto-ranging when my old fixed-range meters are so good!

73, Fred, K4DII