Side by Side Comparison of: Extech vs Craftsman

perfect for my work

Very happy with this product. I bought it in conjunction with the extra leads kit. I'm a hobby tinkerer and this is perfect for me. Compact, easy to use, and very versatile (love having the temperature option on such a small unit).

Real good deal and a very convenient size. Mine came ready to go with batteries and cables and a thermocouple.This is close to the perfect meter to slip into your tool bag and go. I would buy this again.

Very nice meter for the price. Better made and more accurate than my harbor freight throw-aways.Has many more functions that I haven't needed yet! Highly recommend.

The auto range is a great feature to have. Though bought an none-auto range multi-meter a while ago for a few dollars less, wish I bought this one instead. It is very easy to use and the large display is a big plus! I would recommend this to friends and family members - and to anyone who is into hobbies or for home use.

I bought this for my husband as a gift. After comparing several similar items,I chose this peticular model,and am glad that I did. It is perfect for what he does as a tech guy, with broad functionality, including the long leads and convenience of a 9 volt battery. He loves it. Flir is a well known reputable company, and within this price range, this is the best choice.

what a great little meter, i've used it on my car and in my house testing things.it's a great size and works perfectly. the price sure has gone up, i paid $9.99with prime shipping in Sept 16

Great product, item just as described with fast shipping.

Tested against my recently checked 87V and all readings came within 1%, though, I wouldn't recommend this for electronic or equipment testing. I bought this for home and simple vehicle testing only. Also, if you are wondering if it is UL Listed, it is.

I used this to test the fuses inside my Maytag Dryer with the Continuity feature to know which fuses were blown.Great little device that can be used for many other testing functions such as volts and ohms; as well as testing alkaline batteries.This digital multimeter helped save me big bucks on not having to pay a repairman to fix my Dryer.

This small meter assisted me in the needed troubleshooting of my old dryer by accurately giving resistance reading to find the faulty components. As a retired electronics technician from the U.S. Navy it is always good to have the right equipment, my old manual meter from Radio Shack was a gem however it got corroded and stop working, the internal circuit board got corrosion on the solder points inside. Do not leave something like that in the outside shed. Keep it indoors!!!!!

I am a retired journeyman electrician.This multimeter is good value for the money. The read out is steady, the dial has a very positive click, and the rubber guard lets it sustain moderate knocks with no problem.The leads are strong and the tips are covered until you need them, for safetyThere are a lot more finely tuned meters on the market, and more accurate, but not for less than $20, and many in this price range need to be treated more kindly than they will be on a construction site, where tools must be rugged.Certainly for most electricians or household uses it will be fine.If you are dealing with electronics I would recommend a Fluke meter at likely ten times the price, and not as rugged.

Good and small meter!But very sensitive when it gets a bang or if he gets a little knock! Each time the batteries have to be put back in place! That takes times, open the back tray and fix it!

Good meter for the money, nothing like my Fluke, but a reasonable backup.

I need to get better probes. I really like alligator clips and the probes have tips not conducive to using alligator clips. The probes also had to be pushed into the meter occasionally because they lost contact. The meter itself seem to work great.

Seems to be a fine product, but the continuity tone is a bit weak. You would not be able to hear it if you were testing something in another room.

I purchased this for my husband because he needed it for work. He has used various brands and styles of meters over time snd this works accurate and easy to use. The only thing he does not like is that does not have probe holders on the back as most do. He also chose this one because of the low cost and says its holding up as well as some higher priced Multimeters he's used in the past.

Very nice compact meter. Sturdy construction -- better than I expected given the cost. Excellent manual. Manual includes per range accuracy figures (as opposed to a blanket meter accuracy guesstimate). Quick test against known source indicates voltage and amperage accuracy within ranges from manual. I don't have a resistance standard handy but a check on random resistors matches expected values within ranges. I'll see how it holds up over time but initial looks are very good for a home VOM.I subtracted one star on the rating because of a minor personal issue: replacing battery or fuses requires removing screws. While this adds to the sturdy nature of the case, it's overkill for a compact home meter.

I bought this to replace a 40 year old meter that I forgot to remove the batteries from. Why they (and other brands) must use symbols rather than words to indicate something on the meter is strange.

So far seems like a good unit.

These are a great meter for the price. I think I own 3 or 4 of them so I have one in the truck, RV, the house, etc., some for more than 10 years. Just purchased this one for my son, who needed a decent test meter for fleet maintenance at a fire dept. Yes, they won't do everything a Fluke will, but they aren't $100 to $200 either. My only complaint would be the display window. Don't spill brake clean or other harsh chemicals on it, or it turns foggy. Otherwise, great meter.

Inexpensive and works fine for me. I only use these are few times a year but when I want it it's good to have available. It's much bigger than the last one I had, which was calculator thin, but that's not a problem in practice.

basic multimeter for use with cars and home electric, terrible instructions how to remove the battery cover as I wound up breaking the tab but it's being held together by the screw and the protective cover.

Nice tool, seems durable and accurate- though one of the fuses was blown on arrival. Fast shipping.

I like the auto ranging and many functions in one instrument. HOWEVER, the two AAA batteries shift out of position and short out, heating the instrument and killing the batteries. I put a thick tape double over to hold the batteries from shifting and this worked out okay. The only other problem, is that the unit is so light and has no rubber on its round base, it is easily inadvertently pulled off the work bench. I am going to make a firm mount case for mine to hold it in its place on my work bench.

It's your typical multimeter and does what it's supposed to. The auto ranging takes a second or two, so you need to hold still while the meter figures out what to display. I like its compact size and the front switch seems pretty sturdy. I'm only a light user, pros will probably want something a little more responsive.

This is what I needed. It's a little finicky, but I knew it would be at this price (and based on the reviews), so that's OK.

Didn't come with battery. I don't keep 9v in stock so haven't tried it out yet but it looks great. Can't wait to use it, craftsmen is usually a great product.

Average China meter. Probably no better than other China meters with a different name. Usable, accurate enough for most (not electronic circuit work) get a better meter $$$$$$ for that.

Works ok but sometimes leads do not make good contact in receptacle.

The product is working fine with no issues till now, but i received this product with damaged packing and batteries , 2 fuses were missing. Not sure if someone took it out while shipping or the product does not come with these at all.I was in a hurry to use this product, so i did not attempt to return this product.

You get what you pay for, and it will do everything you need it to. However, In my opinion it isn't very accurate and very jumpy, especially with low power electronics. It is very durable and comes with a nice protective case. If you are going to be using it a lot and need precision than go ahead and spend a little more to get a high quality multimeter.

I don't think mine works correctly. I bought a headphone amp kit from eBay and some of the capacitors got squished in the shipping. My old Fluke meter doesn't test capacitance and I wanted to save money so I bought this inexpensive meter to test the components. I kept getting weird readings on the questionable caps so I tried all the caps in the kit and still got weird readings. To verify the results I doubled checked the meter by testing some caps I ordered through digikey.I even tried setting the meter to Ohms then Voltage to do a basic test to see if they even worked at all and still got weird readings.I'm going to return this meter and ask Santa Claus for a Fluke. I've been a very good boy this year so my fingers are crossed.

I have always used a fluke. the craftsman doesn't compare to it.

I have another that lasted longer ,,, this over reads the voltage by 50% and is not worth sending back.. since I can another at sears for $10

Cables or unit was bad. Was very hard to get a good reading.

It worked for a bit, then it decided not to. They need better quality control.UPDATE:If your device fails and is past the Amazon return policy (30 days), call the support number listed in the manual!!DO NOT GO TO SEARS. They cannot exchange the defective item. You can exchange handtools, etc..though.

i bought this tester for my dad when he does electrical work around the house and it is very straight forward for even this least noligable person. the casing though isn't really that tough its very cheaply made and broke when i put the battery in the compartment. this meter only lasted about a month at best.

We purchased 7 of these meters for a training project.All of them have a problem with battery retention in the battery tray (AAA batts) - with the slightest bump, the battery pops out of the slot, causing the unit not to work..We added a piece of foam in the battery box area to "press" against the batteries and re-installed the covers - that resolved that issue.We then began to put the meters through their paces, using commercially available test boards with known voltages, resistances and amperages.One meter would not read mA at all, one meter was about 50% reading mA (showed 23mA when the current was in the 50 mA range).We did not even continue testing the remaining meters - we cancelled the project for that day and repackaged the meters we had opened.The quality of this meter is low and really makes us question if Extech is the company to purchase our products from.I have reached out to the manufacturer and will be forced to return these meters - as they will not meet our needs.

Does not include thermocouple or thermocouple adapter. Buyer beware!

i got a faulty multimeter, its giving me 1 on all measurements

Doesn't work.

didnt work for one month

Can't get battery compartment open to insert battery! Screw head that holds battery cover on is about to strip. Jewelers screwdrivers are smaller (and have swivels built in) and I used the largest phillips head of this small set. Why even need a screw, why not use a battery compartment door "latch"? Is that beyond them, something that's on every single portable radio and child's toy in the world? Think about it, what kind of screwdriver do you use to change batteries in your TV's remote control? NONE. At least use a bigger screw head.Maybe not torque it down so much in manufacturing...*IF* these kind of screws work, the really tiny ones that just burrow into plastic, they're only good for several battery changes and then you just have to duct tape your case.Maybe mine was just overtightened in assembly, but manufacture them all the same then. Maybe use screw heads that don't strip like butter melts on warm toast.Third Craftsman product failure in a row and very soon after purchase. Let's call it third DOA IN A ROW. I won't buy ANY of their products again. Life's too short... The manufacturer is not the same company it was years ago. I've never had 3 purchases at a dollar store be DOA in a row.They saved 1/100th of a cent on their product and lost me as a customer for life. No wonder they're going to go bankrupt.Product is not worth $1, you just have to waste the time to return it or throw it out.Can't say how it works, since it never worked for me.To be fair, based on others peoples rating, it seemed to work for others. Maybe I just got a "bad one". But I've been getting a huge amount of "bad ones" from this brand in the last several years.

I was reading reviews about this multimeter being faulty, but I ignored them. Well I should of heeded their warning, because I too received a faulty unit. The clear container had been opened when received.

Instructions say to loosen screw to insert battery. There is no screw. No way to insert a battery without prying the case apart and possibly ruining the thing. Beware this product. Made in China. Useless.