Craftsman  Digital Multimeter with Auto Ranging, 11-Function

Good: The multimeter itself is nice and has a color coded simple layout with large 1" digits for the display. The test leads are good quality and comes with a temperature probe. The backlight display really lights up the numbers well and looks great. Bad: The flip out stand on the back is super cheap, flimsy, plastic that broke within a week. It's ridiculous that this even made it store shelves with this obvious flaw. The rubber case that covers this is nice, but is loose in areas and doesn't really sit well on the multimeter. This will be going back to the store. Sad because I've had good experience with other Craftsman tools.

Extremely CHEAP Tilt Stand Bracket !!! In order to change out the battery you have to open the tilt stand bracket to get to the two very tiny screws (good luck changing out the battery on the job !) The tilt stand is held in by a cheap piece of plastic that breaks due to the force of opening the stand to get to the battery. This will be the second one that I bring back to sears in 2 days and the third time I have returned one this week (returned another model earlier with other issues) As far as the meter goes it seems to work fine. I used it on a school project for my son and we were testing current (amps) between Incandescent lighting and LED lighting (12 volt) I suppose you could remove the stand completely and never use it and the meter will still work fine. I get bothered by poor engineering like this.....its not a childs toy ! and of course if you look down a little further guess were it was made ?.....where else but....China. Overall...Not Happy and Frustrated !!!

Function wise O.K. but.... I puchased this meter to upgrade from my old standby *********** analog meter. I only got 2 minutes of pleasure from my new meter. To install the battery you must remove 2 screws from the battery compartment cover. To get at these screws you must lift out the support stand on the back. When I did this I heard a "snap" sound and quickly discovered that the meter could not be supported by the stand. The hinge plate for the support stand is held in place with two screws. This hinge plate had cracked from the left screw hole through to the outside no longer being able to supply enough tension on the support arm, rendering it useless. I immediately brought it back to the store for a replacement. Upon arriving home I opened the packaging for the new meter. Guess what? The new one was already cracked in the exact same spot as the one I returned. Beings how that meter was the last one in the store there wasn't much sense it returning it. Craftsman quality????

I place the order 07/05/12 and UPS delivered 07/06/12; What a pleasant surprise :-) . The meter did not ship with a battery, and that's OK, because, I wanted to install a quality fresh battery at start up. The appearance and tactile quality of this meter is on par with the popular yellow multimeter. I have not put the meter to work as of yet, however, I'm quite impressed with the meter and the way my order was handled so far, and I wanted to give this early review. I will do another review when the meter turns in its performance. I have several resistance measurements to record and needed a multimeter.

Follow up review:  Date: 07/24/12

Very satisfied; Meter performs as advertised and would recommend to others.  Quality feel and size of instrument gives assurance meter output is trustworthy.

I use it for testing electical systems on automobiles and for the most part it does a great job. Sometimes with lower voltages it isnt as right on, but it is close enough to get the job done.

I can;t think of anything this unit does not do. The quality is fantastic and it is extremely sensitive in all its readings. I did not think I really had a use for the temperature probe, but I already used it twice - once was on an oven temperature probe to check whether the ohms were changing correctly with the temperature. GREAT ITEM!!

This is the second Craftsman item that I have bought in the last month that has not had the advertised protective pouch supplied in the packet.  It looks like Craftsman are economising with the products without changing the descriptions on the packaging and website.

This tool has a lot more than I would have thought.  It is very durable as well.  While using it at work, I happened to drop it about 20 feet and when I went down to get it, It still worked and had just a little scratch on the tool.  Craftsman means quality.

This multimeter is great value and lots of functions for the price range. If you just want to use in hobby projects and around the house-it's a must have!

After comparing multi-meters available at other stores as well as other meters at Sears I can easily say that you will not find anyting better at this price. I had my choices narrowed down to this meter and item #82315. Comparing them on-line proved to be not very helpful because of conflicting and incorrect information on the features list of each and an employee at my local Sears store was not a lot of help either. I do not fault the employee because it was not their normal department to work in. However, after closer inspection this model did have a few more capabilities then 82315. The only real advanatge of 82315 was size and the non-contact voltage measurement-which in my case is not a big deal. After purchasing this model I tried out the various functions and was very pleased with its performance. The three best features of this meter are [1] auto ranging (don't buy a meter without it), [2] the large easy to read display and [3] the display back light. This meter is simple to use and has handled anything I've thrown at it with ease. My only gripe is that an extra fuse and a carrying case was not included with the meter. The Craftsman name has always meant quality. This meter is no exception