Fluke 289 True-RMS Stand Alone Logging Multimeter

Where to start...The negatives first...1) I received the meter, and the packaging was absolutely terrible, it was just flopping around inside the box, not in a bag or anything of the sort. It looked like it was a return, that is how bad the packaging was. I looked at some unboxing video's and apparently this is how its shipped.2) The way the molding is cut left these little yellow flakes all over the place and just seemed like terrible quality control overall. Also there is some dust and a scratch on the underside of the display casing. The scratch is pretty noticeable when there is light on it, but with the backlight on you cannot see it at all. Although it bothers me for a brand new $600 meter, its not enough for me to warrant a return.3) There is a green dot on the bottom left of the clamshell, looks like a sharpie or something and I tried using 99% rubbing alcohol and the dot just laughed and mocked at me. I guess its staying there.4) AC Current is not bang on, but is well within spec on the mA range. I forgot to test this when I was taking pictures and don't feel like updating. I have not tested the 10A or uA at all and do not have any standard's to really do so.The Good1) Every other function on the meter is bang on accurate. It was calibrated in June of 2020 and it is spot on down to least significant digit except resistance obviously.2) With the LoΩ and the Rel feature, I was able to measure with stability .18 ohm which is compared with the Keithley in 4 wire mode with filters.This took awhile as I left the meter on 30 min and shorted the leads till it was stable and used rel while stable, then measured the low resistance in which it eventually stabilized at the same value of the Keithley. Not the best setup but it was just a quick test.Other then that, resistance did quite well across the board and is well within spec.3) The meter is very solid and feels good in the hand, it is quite big but with all the features it has I don't mind the size at all. Also the leads it comes with feel really nice and are better then what my other meters came with.4) Continuity mode is very fast, faster then my Keithley.5) AC+DC, DC+AC Etc. modes are absolutely awesome, I will use this meter for measurements of that sort because all my bench meters toggle a relay back and forth to do dual measurements.I didn't do much trend capturing, but it comes down to you can either set it to take a sample whenever you want, the lowest being every 1 second, or you can set a specific amount of time that you want it to record so it knows how often to take a sample, because it is limited to 15000 readings.Finally the open circuit voltage in Diode/Continuity is 5.4v at 1mA. It was able to light all standard LED's no problem.The Keithley in the pictures is in cal. and is spot on, the standard used for testing was the DMMCheck Plus r6.Overall it is a great meter, but either mine was in a rough batch or Fluke's QC absolutely sucks, because there were some issues and for the amount you pay for this meter it should be flawless.Edit: I uploaded the pictures in order, but Amazon kinda threw them all over the place. Voltage readings have both meters, and resistance they are done separately.

Love this meter, it's my workhorse, in use every day in the mechanic trade, never let's me down, except for when I pop an internal fuse ... my fault, not the meters. Do yourself a favor and get a few of each of the internal fuses (2 kinds) and you'll be set to tackle anything.

I’ve owned and used several of these meters for years. I have serviced, troubleshot, and commissioned industrial equipment for 26 years. A reliable meter with useful features, such as data logging and min/max/average readings, is an important member of my tool bag. I always rate tools based on whether or not I would buy them again if lost or stolen. I have done that with this item and I would do it again without a second thought. I can give nothing higher praise than that.

I was previously using FLUKE 87-v, 112, 117. Now just started exploring my 289 a long with my task doing microcontroller-based design projects. This meter has a very good quality built, but seems little bulky in size. It is claimed as high-end measurement meter with multi function for electronics works, large digital display and data exporting, but the Trend-Capture logging feature is not packed as a standard accessory. We need to buy separately the software and other hardware tool in-line. Actually I need the logging function to record timely the output DC current from analog sensor-to ADC board. To analyse the DC out pattern with time domain. So we need to pay more for that thing. Overall it is FLUKE quality, so you'll get it together with its pricey cost. I did realized that while comparing to the Agilent electronics meter in same specs range. At the back label of the unit, it's printed MADE IN USA of U.S. AND NON U.S. PARTS. Don't know how much parts are really made in USA. After all I love this meter.(Feb, 7, 2013 -review updated)I just started using it and doubled checked it again:-ARM processor-based core of DMM..- Yes, I do admit at the first moment to say it is a very good quality built- how ever later I found some quality issues at this FLUKE such as the external rubber housing..it can't beat the (made in USA) FLUKE 87-V, FLUKE 112 & FLUKE 177 (made in China) which more sturdy, hard built. The external yellow rubber protection is 'melted' together with main-ABS/plastic casing, and screws at behind. So, it can't be taken out the protection rubber from meter main body (like other series). It could be easier broken if dropped at higher place, considering almost 2-pound weight, it is not a single piece of rubber that hold off the main housing from broken apart against dropping impact. Obviously, we could noticed at joining gap around this meter. If that part pushed harder (middle body part), I could feel the moving plastic part with 'eekk' annoying sound- flaw design for high-end industrial standard meter.- The screen contrast not as good as illustrated, expecting the nowadays electronics display technology, FLUKE is not that premium. Especially when switched on the back-light, we could see the dark text will be faded accordingly to 2 steps illumination level (opaque). When used this meter with ambient light (back-light switched off), the text looks 'greenish' black, not a true dark font, poor contrast, not so right to say this a good industrial DMM as well. The display is big but the intention to make it a V1/4 VGA display-dependency meter is not there! I could say China-brand company provide better matrix display equipment than FLUKE at this price!- The yellow rubber protection is not well-finished, clearly seen the rough-mould pattern was faded at some places (this really make me frustrated of having FLUKE today - a signature of FLUKE QUALITY goes down!)- The beep sound only has on/off, no loudness level provided. The 'on' beep is quite disturbing when use this meter in my R&D lab.- The info function is not a necessary, as it be static info for DMM beginner, just lists of common sense DMM function, not something advanced info or could be user-saved such as the electronics formulas or job task notes. My thinking that 'wasting' of button space. Perhaps FLUKE intended this 289 to be used as lab-teaching DMMs in a collage?- All the measurement function seems excellent as well as the AC/DC, freq-Hz, pulse-width captures doing fast, high accuracy, all-in-one for electrician and electronics. That's FLUKE has to be.- Waiting the IrDa-USB cable for PC interface and Temperature probe, later will figure out the performance.- I just realized that inside the box did not get the User Manual pack (book and CD) as illustrated on the FLUKE box. Just reported to FLUKE and Amazon for this issue via email. Thanks Amazon for helping me. FLUKE did not reply any of my complaint until now!Conclusion, there were trade-off things, in order to get best features; Trend Capture, measurement and accuracy aspect, with a huge price, not fully said -MADE IN USA, FLUKE should come out with better than expected on 289 model. Don't too much expecting for past history of FLUKE to become an excellent one today..

With the exception of about a 3 second start up, every function of this meter responds super fast including a continuity test that can alarm on open or closed and responds to changes in the micro seconds. If you know what your doing this meter will never be the weak link in your diagnostics. It is not an oscilloscope but simply the highest featured, fastest responding most accurate hand held DMM in the world. I have yet to blow this meter up doing something stupid but I have blown up other fluke meters and I still have a face which I would not have had if I'd done the same with a cheap non cat 4 meter. Outstanding!