Personally I think it's mandatory to have a good bench top meter as well as a decent hand held. I use the bench meter most of the time. It's just more convenient.
Maybe, but you are hardly just starting out in electronics.
I simply can't see how a bench multimeter could be more convenient than a handheld- I would say the reverse.
As you are an electronics design professional with a load of experience, I can understand how an instrument like the hp would be ideal though.
For an electronics newbee this is what I think are the bare essentials (costs notional):
(1) Handheld multimeter, with temperature measurement, transistor tester etc. (£70UK) (see ModemHead's post #6)
(2) Soldering iron (£50UK)
(3) Fine pliers (£22UK)
(4) Fine wire cutters (£22UK)
(5) Power supply, 0V to 18V minimum, 0A to 2A minimum (£50UK)
and you are set to go.
Later, consider another identical power supply and, later still, a second-hand oscilloscope (£200UK)
One of the major worries for private individuals is Through Life Costs (TLCs). If the second-hand hp multimeter went wrong it would cost a lot to have it fixed. If a new handheld multimeter went wrong it would be guaranteed for a year and possibly five and, ultimately, it would not break the bank to buy a new one.
Although comparable prices, when I bought a used Tektronix scope last year, I didn't buy the model I would have really liked with digital readout etc on similar reasoning: I could service/maintain the lower model but not the higher model (the essentials: bandwidth, number of channels etc were the same).
A prime example of the effect of TLC is motor cars: a pre-owned luxury limousine is relatively cheap, because even minor component failures can cost a fortune.
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