Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I GOT THIS MULTI-TESTER FOR MY PELLET STOVE WHICH IS 120 VOLT TO TEST BLOWERS MOTORS ON PELLET STOVE ETC ALSO MY AUTOMOBILES GREAT COMPACT TESTER ALL AROUND WHEN MY FATHER IN LAW SEEN IT HE SAID THAT IS A GOOD SIZE MULTI TESTER SO I GOT ONE FOR HIS BIRTHDAY AS FOR THE FUSE HAD NO PROBLEM WITH TESTER RITE OUT OF THE BOX,NUMBERS NICE AND BIG SO FAR READINGS ARE ON THE MONEY EVERY TIME NEVER NEVER GAVE ME A FALSE READING GREAT TESTER ALL IN ALL RAIDO SHACK ALWAYS TOP OF LINE VERY HAPPY CUSTOMER

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

When I purchase this meter, I use the unfused (10A max) plug. Now (after about 3 months) I have a peep alarm problem when use the previous plug, but now alarm when using the 400mA max plug???

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I've had mine for two weeks. I am just getting into toying with electronics and was very excited to start building some simple circuits. . .today it decided to give a steady tone when testing continuity, will not test Ohms or voltage. I'm going to try to return it for a different product. I am learning, so getting an incorrect reading will only confuse me.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I had the volts and ohms settings not working on 3 of mine, and read the comment about the fuse being bad. changed it and mine works. I did have it on a battery to read volts and switched it to ohms before unhooking the leads. Blew the fuse again!! ?No protection on the ohms??
Check your fuse if you have a funny reading meter!!

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

The meter indicated a short (Audible tone) when the dial/selector was put on Ohm's without the leads being touched together. After reading the other comments about the defective fuse that was supplied by the factory I changed the fuse, thinking this wouldn't cure an internal short circuit problem in the meter. To my surprise the problem went away and the meter works fine. Previuosly I has used the meter to test the voltage output of a new automotive battery charger, the meter indicated only 3.4 volts. After I changed the fuse the meter read the proper 12 volts. I almost took the battery charger back thinking it was bad, but all along it was just the fuse in the meter.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I am sorry to say that this is the first Radioshack multimeter to fail on me. I have ten others both digital and analog going back for years and I have no complaints. Bought this one for use with my sailing club and it died within a month. Just crashed. Fuse not blown, no external damage, something just went. I was very disappointed having to return it. I figured if it said Radioshack, I could count on it. Not this one, sorry.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

This meter is great but when I tried to measure the current in batteries and any other stuff like a transformer the current measurement is 4x what it should be. I have tried replacing the fuse trying different batteries all the same.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

This product lasted four usages before it completely failed. Radio shack did not help me what so ever. I would not recommend this product to anyone but the enemy.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

This thing just died in a drawer? I picked it up to use it today after not using it for about 9-12 days and it refused to show any voltage on ANY power source or battery despite. What a waste of time.

I dont know what else to say

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

This meter lasted about 2 months, and then just went crazy with readings that are totally unusable. I couldn't find a receipt, so the Radio Shack would not exchange it nor were they helpful in any way! I strongly suggest if a meter is important to you at all, grab a bargain at a local pawn shop with a Fluke or Simpson, but do NOT waste your money as I did and many others! I had an older meter from RS that lasted over 15 years. The new products are garbage and will not provide accurate readings. Save yourself some time and aggravation!

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

A very nice, at low cost, multimeter.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Good product, does what is expected.

Only down side is that the leads dont make a good contact half of the time. This is just plain frustrating. I might need to wear off some sort of finish that is still on the leads.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I am not a professional electrician, but I use multimeters on regular basis in a heavy equipment shop I work in. This one I bought for a home use. Boy, can it confuse you. I have no idea what is it telling me and I don't understand why does it speak 'Greek' to me. Is it due to my incompetence, something I did with it, a manufacturing mistake, or something else, who knows. I was recommended a Radio Shack multitesters as a cheaper but solid tool, this one did not work for me, have to look for something else.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I use this meter daily and love it. The refresh rate is much faster then my Bluepoint meter from Snap-on and this meter was 1/10th the cost. I haven't had any problems with the fuse. I think the people who are blowing it don't know how to use a meter to test current. You can't put the meter across your power source to measure it's current (as one person mentioned doing). A 200ma wall-wart adaptor can easily put out 5a testing this way. The meter should be place IN SERIES with the device who's current draw you want to measure. Or it can be placed in series with a known load. Say a 10ohm ceramic resistor or something. v=ir!

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Fuse: Volts and Amps settings are adjacent on the selector switch. Easy to quickly select volts and measure .. oops the switch went too far and I have a blown fuse. Happened to me on the third use. Switch is a little soft but I should have been more careful

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I've had the unit for a couple of years and it never worked luckily I have a bunch of meters. I read this site and found out about bad fuse right out of the box. I replaced the fuse with the one inside the case and it works perfect now. Duh!

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Those who wrote poor reviews about this meter either don't know how to use it properly or expect too much for [$]!As for the fuse problem, replace the fuse that comes in the unit with a glass fuse of the same rating and you won't ever have a problem.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I got this multimeter work a few times and then it doesn't work at all. Doesn't read any thing I test. I tested a 9 volt battery and it said it had almost 20 volts. I don't even need to be testing anything and it reads 20 somewhat volts. This is the worst Multimeter I have every got. I don't recommend this Multimeter to anyone on the planet. I even replaced the fuse inside with a new one and that still didn't fix the problem.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I use this mainly for battery testing for digital cameras and other photo equipment. Also for general testing around the house including electrical outlets and small appliances. It has never given me any problems.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Inconsistant or no resistance readings. Loved the audible feature for checking shorts but always wondered if it was true. Because of it's inconsistency always had doubts with this DMM for any measurements. Even tried the fuse replacement as noted by other buyers and swapped test leads with no improvement. My simple analog meter was more reliable than this.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

This little multimeter that could was a replacement to my ancient pocket-sized 12 range analog multimeter that literally fell apart a few weeks ago. and WOAH, what an improvement....however...

The first thing I did to test it was measure a 50V 200mA AC adapter I had lying around. The voltmeter function worked fine. But when measuring the current, bam, there goes the fuse. Replaced it, now it works fine. In fact it finds resistances faster than it did with the previous fuse...weird.

When looking at the mV range, there seemed to be a lot of phantom readings, and I was about to complain about this, except then I realized it was picking up the static from my hands! Rubbing the probes in my hair, I got it to 400mV or so. Very fun.

The continuity tester is very useful for checking dead house wiring, specifically wall sockets, for shorts.

The battery tester is nice, but not really necessary since it only does 1.5V and 9V batteries , and you can just find the charge through the voltmeter.

I would like the max current for the unfused terminal to be a little bit higher, like 15A or something like that.

Now I use it almost every day to check salvaged parts. I love the check diode function, it's more awesome than banana cream pie.

All in all, this multimeter is a good friend that I carry with me at all times.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

First thing you should do when you buy this multimeter is open up the back and replace the factory installed fuse with the spare fuse (included inside the unit). Once I did this the unit functioned perfectly. No complaints (other than the fuse).

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

The fuse died on me in about five months. I've babied my multimeter and couldn't imagine why a fuse would blow so quickly, or why anything would display at all in the LCD meter, if it had; but it did, even though the the readout looked okay (LCD display showed numbers, but would not give a readout, when the probes were used, even after new set of batteries was installed. But, after a quick and easy fuse change-out (using the included fuse inside the meter, itself), no problems. All was well again.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Works great, no complaints. Fast and accurate.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Unit does not work properly in ohm setting needs repair after 2 months use.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

You gotta be kidding me. I own this multimeter, but it hasn't worked for 6-months. So I came to this site planning to purchase a replacement online, and I see all the postings talking about the fuse. Well guess what - replacing the fuse fixed my problem! What a nice surprise. Thanks Radio Shack for having a product forum.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

...the factory installed fuse was defective. A replacement fuse was included and everything worked well after I installed it, but my negative impression lingers. After all the negative comments about the fuse issue, why doesn't the factory do something about it? Why not offer some overload protection? It seems like a good meter otherwise.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

When this unit stopped working after 3 mos I threw it in a drawer in disgust! After a year I read the reviews here and tried replacing the fuse which solved the problem. THERE IS A SPARE FUSE INSIDE THE UNIT! While reading the manual on line I learned of the included spare fuse.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I wanted to use it for biasing guitar power tubes. I got 33 mV even with the probes shorted together!

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Folks, if your meter suddenly stops working, change the fuse. I wonder if anyone who gave it one star thought of that. Mine seemed to give up the ghost so I changed the fuse and now it works fine. All in all a very good value on a multimeter.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Voltage measurements stopped working at about 9 months... of course it only has a 90-day warranty.

My old RS meter lasted 15 years and simply wore out mechanically, so this is very disappointing.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

It seemed to work well for about 1 yr. Taken well care of. Then it stopped working. The unit turns on but it displays all zeros. No longer responds to any of the buttons . Bad value.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I bought this meter over 18 months ago and it has given me good perfromance. I mainly use it to check bias on tube guitar amps. The auto-ranging feature is great. I recommend this meter. I am an Electronics Design Engineer, and have seen even the best blow up their meters. If you pay attention and don't check 120VAC while the meter is on Ohms, you will have a good long-lasting meter. I liked it so much, I bought one for my brother to check his guitar amps with.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I bought this around a year ago. A few days ago I used it to test a neighbors battery. When I picked it up it all voltages read really low. Ex 110v = .5v! 12v battery reads milliamps. I opened it and it has a burn smell. Hardly used and maintained in perfect condition never dropped and not a scratch on it. First DMM to ever fail.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Everyone who is saying that their meter started giving unreliable/random readings needs to change the fuse. After doing some current measurements mine started showing 0 mA all the time and it said there was a short even without the leads installed. It also gave very erratic resistance measurements. After replacing the fuse with the included spare (you have to remove the entire back shell of the meter) it still did not work. Since the fuses are ceramic you can't visually tell if they've blown. So after installing some known good glass fuses the meter now works perfectly again.

All in all this is a good meter. The auto-ranging works great and I've never had any problems in the two years I've had it. I highly recommend this as a good, cheap general purpose meter. It's not nearly as rugged as a Fluke meter but it's a fraction of the cost.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I use it for home/auto hobby use, gets zero abuse, and always pampered like all my tools ...and still it's dead inside 1 year!! Piece of junk! Avoid this product at all costs and get something reliable.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Used 5 times total. Now gives random voltage readings and just like mentioned here by someone else, it indicates continuity (short) with the leads held apart. Total piece of crud.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

After using the unit for a few momths, it stopped working. For example, when I place it in continuity mode, it shows a short all of the time even with no leads attached. Poor quality.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I was really excited by this product and it looked like a great value. However, the cable end broke off inside one of the attaching recepticals and it wasn't worth the cost of fixing it. I bought a new MM elsewhere.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Mine just quit giving reading. Comes on but no readings. only used it a few times

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Like Nichole,(after about 3 years) my meter just stopped giving any readings at all. Power and display work, just won't give a reading. This has to be a fault in the design.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Mine blows fuses like nobody's business. Otherwise it does what I need. If yours stops working its probably a blown fuse.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

THIS IS A GREAT ITEM,FUSE BLEW ONCE, BUT OK..ITS GREAT FOR THE PRICE,,,,

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

well...mines toast. no longer works for some strange reason. turns on and everything, just forget about getting a reading.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

Total piece of JUNK! I had an old "Archer" that lasted me 15 years. I've gone through 3--THREE!--of these in a year. One blew up on 120V AC, two on 12v DC,--so, it's not as if I overloaded it. I'm guessing the "Auto select" function is bad, and you wind up giving this thing something it's not ready for, which scrambles its brain. I work with electronics for a living, so I DO know how to use it. Stay away from this meter!

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

The battery life-time is only 300 hours. I prefer to use AA battery instead of this small AAA battery to extend the battery life-time.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

I like this meter. I compared DCV and DCI and resistance measurements against a calibrated Fluke and the values were virtually the same in all cases.

Comments about RadioShack 29-Range Digital Multimeter:

This device is just the right size for ease of use. The display is easy to read. The test leads are of a very high quality, flexible, not stiff wire.