Multimeter advice

[James_8970]

Hello everyone,
I want to pick up a multimeter to measure the rails for my PSU and just something else to tinker around with. I'm completely new to multimeter's and don't know where to start.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I should pick one up (local electrical store, home depot?), what brands should I get and are there any features that one may come with that another may not? Lastly, do they need to be calibrated every now and then, if so how often and where can this be done?
I don't want to exceed $100, but I'd like to keep it lower if possible. If I need to spend a little more, then so be it, I'd rather be out the money now then need to spend more money later when I realize I bought a POS.
James

[Eldonko]

Good place for stuff like that is Active.

Active Electronics
106 King Edward St. East
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
R3H 0N8
Tel: (204) 786-3131
Fax: (204) 779-7521
Email: winnipeg@active-tech.ca

You can get what you need for under $100 no prob. You can also get a decent MM on ebay, just dont buy the $10-20 cheapos bc they really suck.

[SKYMTL]

I buy almost all my stuff from here:

http://www.etool.ca/home.html

Personally, I think the best price / accuracy multimeter out there is the Extech EX420.

[James_8970]

Thank you for you're quick responces Eldonko and SKYMTL.
Don't worry, I won't be buying a cheapo, I like the saying "Good quality is cheap, it's poor quality that becomes expensive!". I think I'll give Active Electronics a try first, considering they are local (no shipping) and I need some other wiring supplies that they'd likely have (18AWG wire and some sleeving/heatshrink to fix up my PSU and fan cables), if they don't have competitive pricing I'll go with etools.
Lastly, SYMTL how do you determine the ripple in your reviews? I have the 850W Strider, and version 1.0 had a few problems, so I'm kinda interested if version 2.0 (my unit) has the same issues. No articles state what revision they have so it's hard to know.
James

[Eldonko]

Oscilloscope for ripple testing James. Not a cheap piece of hardware, used by mainly electrical engineers.

[James_8970]

So it would seem, now I see why only the good reviewers use one.
I might bug my uncle, he's the VP of a local engineering firm and might have one laying around that I could use for a night, I'm doubtful as they'd probably have a higher end one, but it'd still be worth a shot.
Once again, thanks a lot for the help, really appreciate it.
James

Edit: Anyone else not getting e-mails today? I'm using hotmail and they are not in my junkmail account.

[SKYMTL]

I use a USB Instruments Stingray O-Scope with the optional adaptor for SMPS designs which gives the proper capacitence.

[vinister]

I got a nice bluepoint one from my snap-on rep, it was on sale for $299. I saw the exact same one made by fluke (they make the snap on one) at Active for $499. I have had it for almost 4 years now, has never let me down.

[James_8970]

Yeah, I was going to try and keep the total of both these tools below $200-$250, I'll see what I can find lying around e-bay, but I doubt I'd purchase something like this from e-bay. It seems like I'll just be sticking with a multimeter for now unless I can find something in between he $100-150 area.
James

[James_8970]

100MS/s USB PC-Based DSO-2090 Oscilloscope - eBay (item 110243597499 end time Apr-22-08 04:16:47 PDT)
Hhhmmmm, that's tempting. What exactly should I look for in a oscilloscope?
James