Fluke 87-5 Industrial Digital Multimeter

The 87V is the most consistently accurate and phenomenally useful handheld digital multimeter in existence. Nothing new there. I have had occasion to use and compare more than fifteen new 87V’s over the past 4 years and every one was a winner! During that time, I also owned, used and sold about 7 or 8 wannabe’s that closely copied the best features of the 87V at much lower cost. But, all were major disappointments due to shortcomings in design, safety, accuracy, dependability and overall usability. Yes, the 87V is an expensive handheld BUT, it’s worth every penny because of its long history of proven performance in all kinds of situations. You just can’t do better than a FLUKE 87V.

fluke is hands down the best of all the meters I have ever used

I'm using this meter for electronics repair and love it! It's very accurate and has a nice loud continuity tone. And the tone isn't annoying either. However, there are a couple small grips I have. Including a safety manual instead of a user manual is not smart at all. Why not include the user manual and leave it up to the user to download the safety manual if they want? I'm honestly baffled by that choice... How do I get a printed manual? The 2nd gripe I have are the test leads. The price you pay I would have expected much better! They look and feel like a cheap pair of Chinese test leads. On top of that, why are the lead wires hard plastic instead of soft silicone? What year is this again? And when you use these test leads in the cold they become more rigid and hard to work with. Do yourself a favor and keep the leads in th box and buy a nice pair of probe master leads. Other than those 2 downfalls, I love the meter and is exactly what I wanted.

I am a master electrician for over forty years.
My life is of the up most importance.
I trust my life with my Fluke 87V.

The best of the best - reliable, accurate and built to last…

I wanted the dmm with unparalleled accuracy and reliability of the Fluke 87. Its the last meter I'll buy!

Although our use case is Electronic R&D I choose the 87 V, an industrial meter, over the 289. Yes, I could use the better precision of the 289 but the 87 V has a better reputation, longer battery life and 289's logging features don't work with Linux and are too cumbersome anyway.

My copy was produced in 2019 and the quality of external parts(holster, dmm case, knob is not so good as it was before. Screen lens has tiny black specks inside of it(I've checked both sides carefully, they are inside that transparent polymer!). External plastic and rubber parts shows various flashes... And the most "exciting" part is that Fluke support(US and EU) ignores my messages...

I have purchased my first Fluke multimeter in 2016 which is Fluke 87-V and I am really happy with my purchase. This DMM is excellent feature rich and I use its most of the features. I have purchased it for my workbench for my electronics repair work. This multimeter is absolutely accurate and reliable for serious electronics engineers and repair technicians. I have repaired lots of complicated electronics equipments using this DMM. I've found that all over the world reputated industrial electronics repair companies using this 87-V model for their high tech electronics labs and workstations. I have found that diode test voltages of this DMM is very sufficient for all types of IGBT modules or single IGBT, MOSFET and other Transistors and Diode testing. Nanosiemense Conductance function also I use most for checking of components leakage test. And I'm really happy that this function is very useful for checking Diode, Transistors, FET, Mosfet and other semiconductors leakage resistance test. However I didn't find any video on internet for this useful feature but mentioned in user manual of this DMM model. I have found that I can test shorted component in circuit rail with the help of mV scale and external power supply hookup to shorted rail. Other all features and functions are also very accurate and useful as well in this DMM. Hidden features of this DMM also really useful specially 2 REL function where I can easily monitor the offset values of any specific measurement for example; if checking any voltage drifting in higher or lower range (offset value) I can simply press relative button and meter display shows 0 and once measurement starts it will show any drifting value positive side or negative side from that values. I use this function in resistance measurement mode also for testing variable resistors like volume or pot for any jumps or intermittent skipping in viper terminal of them. Min/Max/Avg mode also great and accurate also useful for recording measurements over time. All and all this multimeter is awesome and preferable for all of those who are troubleshooting and repairing delicate electronics equipments. I have purchased Fluke 117 and Fluke 325 Clamp meter also after satisfied with Fluke performance.

Its a good meter, when the display went bad i contacted fluke to have it repaired, I was bluntly told that my version was too old and they didn't support it any longer but they offered to sell me a new one. The older meters are the ones that need support, not the newer ones. At their price point they should do better.