Radio Shack 15-Range Digital Multimeter: Product Review

Radio Shack lists their website price of the 15 Range Digital Multimeter at $19.99, but I've seen it in certain stores for $29.99. The unit doesn't come with a battery, and you need a special twelve volt for it, so tack five to seven extra dollars onto the price depending on where you get it.

The range of features is pretty good for the price, even at $25 with the battery, but the design is just bizarre. For some reason the engineers decided to wedge the meter itself into the protective case, and it cannot be removed without a screwdriver. Not only that but when you close the case, there's barely any space for the leads unless you really fold them up in a very particular way. The leads are also permanently fixed into the unit, they cannot be removed as with other types of meters, which is another awkward and strange design choice. This also means you can't replace the leads if they develop a short, unless you want to do some soldering.

As far as technical specs, the meter reads AC and DC voltage up to five hundred volts and resistance up to 2M ohms. The unit also has a diode-check function, an overload indicator and a low battery indicator. The unit can also operate at full auto-polarity, and turns off automatically when idle for a few minutes to save battery life. Overall battery life seems pretty good, I've used it for over ten hours on the original battery and it has yet to run out.

Leads are gold plated and seem to be accurate, though I don't deal in very precise milli-voltage readings. Under regular, everyday circumstances it seems to read accurately, and this unit is really meant more for portable quickie stuff than in-depth troubleshooting. The unit is small and light enough to be easily portable, but it's a little too big to be pocket-sized, unless you're talking about a cargo or jacket pocket.

If you solely use the meter stationary at a desk, I'd recommend it as a decent cheap option, but if you have to close up the case and travel around with it frequently, it's just way more of a pain than it needs to be. I'm thinking about hacking it to totally remove the front case and mount a velcro loop on the back to hold the leads, then just being very very careful when carrying it around in a bag to keep it from damage. You really shouldn't have to go through all that sort of thing, though, even with a $20 meter.