OT: Measuring Tools

I need to buy some new tools for the electricians in my plant this year and am looking for some advice. We are a large industrial plant with various types of PLCs (PLC5s and CLX mostly), Digital DC drives (Rockwell 1395), and PowerFlex 700 VFDs. I need to get these guys the tools they need to troubleshoot and repair the drives and have a couple of questions.

1. What type of scope meter would you recommend for the above devices?
2. What is a low-range continuity tester? What is is used for? What model would you recommend.

Although there are cheaper i would recommend a Fluke Scopemeter 190.

The Fluke scope are fine instruments. I have used some. I perfer the TekScopes. The TEK 710 is a basic unit. The 720 does harmonic analysis with out using a laptop. The 710 can be down loaded to a computer and then the analysis done.

The scopes are equals in durability and I think the tektronix probes are more user friendly.

Yokogawa makes a fantastic clamp on ampmeter that also has volt and ohm scales. It is a digital read out with an analog scale that actually is easy to read and accurate.

You cannot beat a Fluke 87 multimeter. They are the most flexible and durable hand held meter I have ever used.

I have a fluke 787 - I am happy with it , and it is fine for the field . I gained it after a customer allowed my old 87 to get borrowed , and it wasn't returned . Saves carrying a V/I source as well as a VOM .

Fluke equipment is expensive , but pays off in the long run - since your requirement is slightly higher than average - you need a 'scope , then obviously cheap disposal equipment may be out of the question .

Hioki have some excellent scopes and analysing equipment - a little cheaper in price but not in quality. One of our testing companies in Sydney Ozz has bought quite a lot of Hioki gear and maintains it is a good as anything else available in the market today.

just got one of these Fluke 43B power quality meters and its pretty cool.Brian

I used a Fluke 111 as a basic multimeter on the production floor. It's very compact and as rugged as all their other stuff. It seems to be as accurate as the other Fluke meters I compared it with. I like it because it is so small and easy to work with, but doesn't sacrifice quality. I got it at Sears for around $130...

EDIT...wouldn't ya know, it's been discontinued
http://us.fluke.com/usen/products/Fluke+110.htm?catalog_name=FlukeUnitedStates&category=HMA(FlukeProducts)

We purchased a Fluke 789 ProcessMeter this year. It takes the standard Fluke 80 DMM and adds a lot of current output functionality for working with 4-20ma loops etc. Great addition to the toolbox especially working with drives and PLC analog inputs.

I would also look into a 3 phase power quality meter. Again Fluke has some good models