The best multimeter for electronics is the one whose CAT rating you can trust and whose readings you can pull into Linux. Most listings blur both. A $70 meter and a $650 meter can print the same “CAT III 1000V” on the case, but only one of them publishes fuses rated to that number. And only some of them speak a protocol that sigrok, the open-source test-gear suite, already understands.
We shortlisted six meters from Fluke, Brymen, UNI-T and OWON that come up in every bench and homelab thread. They’re ranked on safety you can verify, on ranges that suit electronics work (microamps, not just 10 A), and on the route from the meter to a CSV file. For that last part we installed sigrok-cli on a Debian 13 lab VM and checked which of these meters its packaged driver list covers, because it differs from the sigrok wiki. Prices and stock below were checked in November 2026.
Which multimeter to buy
Pick by what you’ll put the probes on first, then by whether you need the readings on a computer. A logging cable cannot fix a meter that is not rated for the circuit you’re measuring:
- Best overall for a Linux bench: Brymen BM869s. CAT IV 1000V, 500,000 counts, and its BU-86X USB link works with the sigrok package your distro already ships. It sells through Brymen distributors for about €245 to €257, not on Amazon.
- Best logging meter on Amazon: Fluke 287 (around $645, check the live price): 50,000 counts, onboard trend logging and a stock sigrok driver.
- Best budget meter with honest fuses: Brymen BM235 (about $180): microamp to 10 A ranges behind 1000 V HBC fuses, no PC link.
- Cheapest USB logging: UNI-T UT61E+ (about $125 to $140): 22,000 counts and a USB cable in the box, read with a third-party tool.
- Best for homelab mains work: Fluke 117 (about $250): CAT III 600V, non-contact voltage and LoZ mode for PDUs, UPS units and outlets.
- Cheapest Bluetooth logging: OWON OW18E (about $70 to $85): 20,000 counts over BLE, for low-voltage benches only.
For most people building and repairing boards, the BM235 is where you start. The BM869s is the one you grow into once you want logging. The Fluke 117 is on the list because a homelab also has a breaker panel, but it is the wrong tool for a 3.3 V rail: its smallest current resolution is 1 mA.
How we picked these six
Specs come from the maker’s product page, datasheet or manual wherever one exists, and Amazon prices and stock come from Amazon’s catalog API on the day we checked. When a maker’s page and a retailer listing disagreed, we went with the maker. When a figure only exists on a retailer listing or a community project, the pick says where it came from. That rule removed a seventh candidate, the AstroAI DM6000AR, because its product pages do not state a CAT rating at all.
For safety we leaned on two sources that do not sell you meters. Fluke’s application note on IEC 61010 explains what each CAT level is tested against. The long-running EEVblog list of meters that do not appear to meet their claimed safety specs records teardowns where the fuses did not match the label. It was last revised in 2013, so treat it as a brand’s history rather than a verdict on today’s models.
We took the Linux half from our lab. The stock sigrok-cli package on Debian 13 pulls in libsigrok 0.5.2, and its driver list carries brymen-bm86x, fluke-dmm (Fluke 18x and 28x), eevblog-121gw and the old uni-t-ut61e. It has nothing for the UT61E+ or any OWON meter. Debian, Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04, and Fedora 44 all package that same 0.5.2 release from December 2019, so what your package manager installs is what this guide describes.
Comparing the multimeters side by side
Each CAT figure below is what the maker states. Read it next to the fuse column, because a CAT III 1000V label over 250 V fuses is the exact mismatch the EEVblog list keeps finding:
| Meter | CAT rating (maker) | Counts | Low current | Current fuses | PC link | Linux route |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brymen BM869s | CAT IV 1000V | 500,000 | 500 uA range | 0.44 A and 11 A, 1000 V HBC | BU-86X USB (optional) | sigrok brymen-bm86x |
| Fluke 287 | CAT IV 600V / CAT III 1000V | 50,000 | 500 uA range | 440 mA and 11 A, 1000 V | IR adapter (optional) | sigrok fluke-dmm |
| Brymen BM235 | CAT III 600V / CAT IV 300V (UL) | 6,000 | uA range | 0.4 A and 11 A, 1000 V HBC | None | None |
| UNI-T UT61E+ | CAT IV 600V / CAT III 1000V (self-declared) | 22,000 | 220 uA range (retailer spec) | Jacks marked 250 V max | USB cable | Third-party tool |
| Fluke 117 | CAT III 600V | 6,000 | None (1 mA resolution) | 11 A, 1000 V | None | None |
| OWON OW18E | CAT IV 600V / CAT III 1000V (self-declared) | 20,000 | 200 uA range | Not published | Bluetooth LE | Third-party tool |
Two patterns stand out. Of the meters that publish fuse ratings matching their label, the two loggers, the BM869s and Fluke 287, are also the two sigrok reads with no extra software. So the serious logging meter and the Linux-friendly one turn out to be the same purchase. The two cheapest loggers claim the same CAT IV 600V as the Fluke 287 at a fifth of the price or less, without saying what’s in the current jacks. That’s why they sit at the bottom for anything you plug into a wall.
1. Brymen BM869s
Brymen’s BM869s wins on both things this guide cares about. Brymen states it’s certified to IEC/UL/EN 61010-1 and the matching CSA standard for CAT IV 1000V. Its current inputs sit behind 0.44 A and 11 A HBC fuses rated for 1000 V, and the lowest range resolves 0.01 uA. Stable DCV mode gives you 500,000 counts, and basic DCV accuracy is 0.02% plus 2 digits, which is bench-meter territory in a handheld.
Logging goes through the optional BU-86X interface kit, an IR-to-USB adapter that clips over the meter’s PC port. sigrok has supported the BM869 family with this cable since libsigrok 0.3.0, and the BM869s uses the same cable and protocol, so the driver is already in the package your distro installs. Your readings land in sigrok-cli or PulseView with no vendor app, which matters because Brymen’s own logging software only runs on Windows.
What holds it back is buying it:
- No Amazon listing: you order it from a Brymen distributor such as Welectron (about €245) or Brymen EU, which showed it out of stock when we checked.
- The PC kit is extra: the BU-86X is a separate purchase, and you need it for any logging.
- One 9 V battery: fine for bench sessions, less so for multi-day captures.
Buy it if you want one meter for mains and microamp work that you’ll still be logging from in ten years.
2. Fluke 287
Fluke’s 287 is the logging meter for you if you would rather have a big-brand meter with Fluke’s service network behind it. Fluke rates it CAT IV 600V and CAT III 1000V. It has 500 uA and 5,000 uA ranges alongside 50 mA, 400 mA, 5 A and 10 A. The 50,000-count screen draws trend graphs from data logged on the meter itself, so you can leave it on a battery pack overnight and read the curve in the morning.
On Linux, sigrok’s fluke-dmm driver covers the 287 and 289 over a serial port. That means you need an IR cable that shows up as a USB serial device. Fluke lists its IR189USB adapter as a compatible accessory for the 287, and it is on Amazon at about $104; the ir3000 FC adapter on the same page is for Fluke Connect on a phone.
Price is the obvious catch: around $645 on Amazon (check the live price) against a list price of about $866, plus the cable. That Amazon offer comes from a third-party seller, so check that it is an authorised Fluke distributor if the warranty matters to you. Its CAT IV rating also stops at 600V, where the Brymen’s reaches 1000V. Pick it if you want a meter you can order today and log from without a computer.
3. Brymen BM235
We’d hand you the BM235 as a first proper meter. It is True RMS with 6,000 counts, and its microamp, milliamp and 10 A ranges all sit behind 1000 V HBC fuses, which is the part cheap meters skip. The EEVblog-branded version’s manual states it is certified to IEC/UL/EN 61010-1 and the matching CSA standard for CAT II 1000V, CAT III 600V and CAT IV 300V, and the UL logo on the front marks that independent test. Brymen’s shorter A4 sheet lists only the first two.
You also get the small features that save boards and probes. AutoV low-impedance mode kills ghost voltages. A BeepJack warning sounds if a lead sits in the amps jack while the dial is on volts. A type-K temperature input lets you check a regulator that runs hot. The Amazon listing is EEVblog’s branded version at about $180 (check the price on Amazon), the same Brymen build sold through Dave Jones’s store.
Logging is its gap. There is no PC interface at all, and sigrok does not support it (the brymen-bm25x driver is for the BM257s). If logging is why you’re shopping, go to the BM869s or Fluke 287 instead.
4. UNI-T UT61E+
The UT61E+ is the cheapest way to get readings into a script, and it’s a good low-voltage bench meter. You get 22,000 counts, True RMS and DC accuracy of 0.05% plus 5 digits, and retailer spec tables list 220 uA and 2,200 uA ranges that UNI-T’s brochure leaves out. UNI-T’s brochure lists a USB cable in the box. For logging a battery discharge or a dev board’s power draw, it does the job for about $125 to $140, depending on the listing (check the price on Amazon).
On Linux, sigrok is no help here. The packaged uni-t-ut61e driver is for the old UT61E, which uses a different chip and protocol. The sigrok wiki says the UT61+ series is not supported, and git master has no driver for it either. You read the E+ with the Python unit_ut61eplus project, last updated in 2023, or with dmm-tools, a Rust GUI and CLI whose latest commit landed the week we checked.
Where the UT61E+ disappoints is the CAT label. UNI-T self-declares CAT IV 600V and CAT III 1000V, its brochure lists no fuse ratings, and the current jacks on UNI-T’s own product photo are marked “FUSED 250V max”. Its brochure lists ETL certification for the UT161 series, not the UT61E+. The earlier UT61E is on the EEVblog list for 250 V ceramic fuses behind a 1000 V label, so we’d keep the E+ on the bench and off the breaker panel. UNI-T’s UT161E (about $162) is the certified sibling if you want the same class of meter with an independent mark.
5. Fluke 117
The Fluke 117 covers the other half of a homelab: the circuit feeding the rack. It’s CAT III 600V and True RMS, with VoltAlert non-contact detection so you can check an outlet before you open anything. AutoVolt picks AC or DC on its own. Its low-impedance mode stops a long unused cable run from showing a phantom voltage, and at about $250 (check the price on Amazon) it’s the meter electricians actually carry.
Electronics is where it stops being useful. The 117 measures current only on its A input (6 A and 10 A ranges), and Fluke’s FAQ gives its best current resolution as 1 milliamp. You cannot measure a microcontroller’s sleep current or a sensor board’s standby draw with it. There’s no PC link and no sigrok driver either, so buy it alongside a BM235 or BM869s, not instead of one.
6. OWON OW18E
OWON’s OW18E is the cheap way to watch a reading on your phone or Linux laptop from across the room. That helps when the board under test sits inside an enclosure. It’s a 4.5-digit, 20,000-count True RMS meter with 200 uA and 2 mA ranges and 0.1% plus 2 digits on its 2 V to 200 V DC ranges. Bluetooth LE comes from the retailer listings and reviews; OWON’s datasheet only mentions a phone app. Amazon lists it at about $70 to $85 (check the price on Amazon), though every seller we found was a third party rather than OWON.
No OWON handheld meter is in libsigrok, packaged or in git. On Linux you read it over BLE with a community tool such as sercona/Owon-Multimeters, a small C client for the OW18E, B35T+ and B41T+ whose last update was in 2024. It works, but it leans on the deprecated BlueZ gatttool and hcitool utilities, and you depend on one maintainer. dmm-tools, mentioned under the UT61E+, also lists the OW18E, though its README marks that support experimental.
We’d use the OW18E for 5 V and 12 V work only. Its CAT IV 600V and CAT III 1000V rating is self-declared, with no fuse ratings published, and the EEVblog teardown of the older B35T found a 20 A/250 V ceramic fuse inside. Skip the cheaper B35T+ entirely, since we couldn’t find a maker CAT rating for it.
What a CAT rating actually promises
A CAT rating says how big a voltage spike the meter can take without it arcing through to your hand. The category tells you how close you are to the power source, and the voltage is the working level. Fluke’s application note on IEC 61010 breaks the categories down like this:
- CAT II, plug-in loads: anything you reach through an outlet, such as a server PSU, a UPS output or a bench supply’s mains side.
- CAT III, the building wiring: the breaker panel, feeders and hard-wired circuits, where a fault delivers far more current than at an outlet.
- CAT IV, the service entrance: the utility connection, the meter base and outdoor mains conductors.
The category matters more than the voltage. Per Fluke’s note, a CAT III 600V meter is tested with a 6,000 V transient from a 2 ohm source, while a CAT II 1000V meter faces a 12 ohm source. So the CAT III 600V meter is the safer one even though its number is smaller, and we rank the BM235 above any cheaper meter shouting CAT II 1000V on the box.
A maker can also self-certify, as Fluke’s note says plainly, so the label alone tells you little. Before you trust a rating, check these:
- An independent lab mark: UL, CSA, ETL, TÃœV or VDE with a listing you can look up. A CE mark is a self-declaration, not a test.
- Fuses rated for the meter’s voltage: the EEVblog rule is that current-range fuses must carry the CAT voltage, so a 1000 V meter needs 1000 V fuses, ideally HBC ones.
- Published fuse specs: a maker that lists fuse voltage and interrupt rating in the datasheet has little to hide. The OW18E doesn’t list its fuses, and the UT61E+ marks 250 V on its current jacks.
- Low-current ranges: a microamp range is what lets you measure a board’s sleep current. A mains meter like the Fluke 117 lacks it by design.
A meter that only touches a 5 V rail, a 12 V supply or a battery pack never sees a CAT event, so a self-declared rating is not dangerous there. The risk starts the day you point that same meter at a wall socket because it’s the one on the desk. If your homelab includes mains work, own one meter with a real mark and keep the cheap logger for the bench.
Reading a multimeter from Linux with sigrok
sigrok is why logging works on Linux without vendor software. One library, libsigrok, carries a driver per meter or cable, and two front ends sit on top: sigrok-cli for scripts and PulseView for a GUI. Version is the catch. Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch still package libsigrok 0.5.2 from 2019, so a meter the wiki calls supported may only work in git master. This is how the meters in this guide map to it:
| Meter | sigrok driver | In distro libsigrok 0.5.2 | Connection | Without sigrok |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brymen BM869s | brymen-bm86x | Yes | BU-86X USB HID adapter | Brymen Windows software, dmm-tools |
| Fluke 287 / 289 | fluke-dmm | Yes | IR cable as a USB serial port | FlukeView Forms (Windows) |
| EEVblog 121GW | eevblog-121gw | Yes | Bluetooth LE | EEVblog apps, microSD log |
| UNI-T UT61E (old model) | uni-t-ut61e, uni-t-ut61e-ser | Yes | UT-D04 USB or UT-D02 RS-232 cable | UNI-T software |
| UNI-T UT61E+ | None | No | USB cable (HID) | unit_ut61eplus, dmm-tools |
| OWON OW18E, B35T+ | None | No | Bluetooth LE | sercona/Owon-Multimeters |
Meters with a stock driver are the ones you can script into a test rig today. That’s how we’d pair the BM869s with a programmable supply from our bench power supply guide, logging current while a script steps the voltage. If a newer driver lands in git, you don’t have to wait for your distro: sigrok publishes nightly AppImages of sigrok-cli and PulseView on its downloads page.
The EEVblog 121GW (about $235) nearly made the picks for that reason. It’s CAT III 600V with a cETLus listing, HRC fuses, a 50 uA range, Bluetooth LE and microSD logging, and its sigrok driver ships in the stock package. We kept it as a runner-up because it stops a category short of the BM869s, and EEVblog’s store says its legacy Android app will not run on modern phones, recommending the third-party Meteor app instead. If you want an independent mark plus wireless logging under $250, though, put it on your shortlist next to the BM235.
Whatever you pick, the USB side is the same plumbing as the rest of your bench. If you’re adding a console or UART cable at the same time, our USB serial console cable guide covers which chips Linux handles cleanly. If the meter is one piece of a microcontroller bench, the Arduino IDE on Linux guide gets the board side running.
Pick by what you plug the probes into
Most multimeter confusion goes away once you name every circuit the meter will touch over its life, not just this month’s project:
- Dev boards, Pi rails and battery packs only: a UT61E+ or OW18E if you want logging, a BM235 if you don’t. Sleep-current work on a Pi 5 or other SBC needs a microamp range, which all three have.
- A bench that also runs mains gear: the BM235 as your everyday meter, with real fuses and CAT III 600V for when you check a PSU or a machine from our laser engraver roundup.
- Logged measurements in scripts or CI: the BM869s, or the Fluke 287 if you need Amazon. Both have stock sigrok drivers, so your pipeline doesn’t depend on a hobby project.
- Rack power, UPS units and outlets: the Fluke 117, next to a bench meter. If you’re sizing a big PSU for a multi-GPU build, it’s the meter for checking the circuit that feeds it.
If you only buy one meter for a mixed bench, we’d get the BM235 now and add a logger later. It’s the cheapest meter here whose fuses match its label. Our electronics workbench starter build puts the UT61E+ in all three budgets as the one meter you buy once, so if one of those benches will also see mains work, swap in the BM235. The meter you buy for a $5 sensor board ends up on a wall socket eventually, and that’s the day its CAT rating matters.
