Hot take: A multimeter with a backlight beats a cheap one every time when you're working in a dark hangar at 2 AM

Last week I was troubleshooting a bad ground on a King Air up in Seattle. Grabbed my old no-name meter from the bottom of my box and spent 20 minutes trying to read the display with my phone flashlight. Finally borrowed the lead tech's Fluke with the backlight. Found the problem in under 5 minutes. The difference was night and day. Why do we put up with gear that makes the job harder just to save 40 bucks? Anyone else got a tool upgrade that saved them a headache?

3 comments

3 Comments

emery101mo ago

Man that "phone flashlight trick" hit way too close to home lol. I've totally done the same thing, trying to read a blurry LCD while holding a flashlight in my teeth and balancing a screwdriver. It's honestly sad how long I put up with it just cause I didn't wanna spend the cash. The backlight is one of those things you don't realize you need until you actually use it, then you feel real dumb for all the time you wasted squinting. Now I just tell myself that every tool upgrade that saves me 10 minutes is basically paying for itself.

adam_baker1mo ago

3 years of fighting bad lighting before I finally bought a headlamp, @emery10.

jenny1981mo ago

Start using your phone flashlight for a minute and you'll see it's actually better than a headlamp in a LOT of situations. Headlamps give you that weird tunnel vision and blind everyone around you, and the light is usually too BRIGHT for close up work. I've dropped tools because the headlamp strap got loose and the light swung INTO my eyes. Plus those things drain batteries like crazy and the cheap ones break in a month. Phone flashlights are softer, you can angle them differently, and you ALREADY have your phone in your hand anyway. I'm honestly not convinced spending money on ANOTHER gadget is the smart move here when your phone does the job perfectly fine.