i noticed, that multimeters, like other electric tools, i own, are seldom used. and when i want to use them, normally the battery has leaked.
so, on the last multimeter, i bought about ten years ago, i made some minor surgery. i drew the battery cables to the outside, and fixed the battery with tape to the outside too.
now its just a flick with a finger, to separate the battery from the meter. and no more ruined electronics.
Now I’m the guy that needs a new one 
Was trying to fix the bad buzzer contacts on my 25 year old RS meter and loosened the display in error. While trying to put the tiny screws back in I fumbled it and tore the mylar ribbon cable from the board. No way to fix it so I salvaged two fuses, two knobs and the fresh batteries - the rest went in the trash.
I’'m looking in the under $50 range; mostly on Amazon because I have Prime. There are so many choices it’s hard to decide, 90% of my use is continuity and voltage and I don’t need super accuracy. I really liked my old two-knob manual ranging meter. It seems they don’t make them like that anymore. The $16 meter gets as good a review as the $35 one - I think it’s down to how it looks (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
Mastech, Tekpower and HoldPeak are all Chinese meters in the running for my $.
I have 2 $5 harbor freight throwaways, and I have a HP (Fluke equivalent) for my accurate stuff… most measurements are for troubleshooting.
My “good” meter is true RMS, needed for DCC voltage checking, and also good on PWM outputs on decoders.
Greg
John, for continuity and voltage in the not super accurate range, the Harbor Freight 2 for $5 meters cant be beat. And if you get the flyers from Harbor freight, you might even get a coupon for half off, or a free one, when you purchase that other thing you wanted.
While the Fluke are the best, the cheap ones will do.
I use both.
The Fluke is very accurate and the cheapos are not, but for most uses on our trains the accuracy is not needed.
Some meters on the full scale readings can be off by more than 1 per cent, but on 5 volts that is only .05 volts and does not matter on our trains.
However when setting up regulated supplies I defer to the more accurate fluke.
If I could afford even a basic Fluke that would be my choice too. The HF meters are just too cheesy for me, so it will be one of the Chinese ones that have good reviews. It will probably come down to battery style. I prefer AA or AAA over 9V. If I can get the right batteries in a color I like even better. What a terrible way to choose a meter (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif)
For now I have another basic RS Auto-Ranging meter borrowed from work. I hate it compared to my old RS one with two knobs.
Mikey likes Fluke meters too, use mine all the time! But I have to suggest the expensiver $10.00 or so inexpensive offerings will suffice for most users in every regard… Tony’s comments about test leads sounds all to familiar, I do a lot of field work so I’m pretty rough on these things. Quality has its place, good test leads are all that…
There are literally thousands of BIN listings anywhere from $1.89 to $9.99 shipped on eBay for basic throw away DMM’s of all sorts.
Just looked eBay has multiple Buy It Now’s for Fluke DMM’s NEW, Fluke DMM #101 $46.00 shipped and Fluke #115 True RMS DMM for $110.00 shipped…
Michael
