Klein MM720 Review

This is a review of the Klein Tools MM720 multimeter for use in hobby electronics projects primarily related to amateur radio.
A pdf document of this review: 1drv.ms/b/s!ArY0uP2JPdTZhsBTm...
Or
github.com/TomWilkinson/Multi...
This review was produced to help you decide if the Klein Tools MM720 multimeter will fit your purpose and budget. This is part of a series of multimeters reviews.
A good multimeter for hobby electronic projects should be able to measure millivolts, volts, microamps, milliamps, amps, ohms, nanofarads and microfarads.
If you want to measure picofarads, nanohenry, microhenry or reactance you will need a LCR meters. I cover the two LCR meters I own in another review.
I am not a professional, I am a hobbyist. This review is not sponsored; I bought this multimeter with my own money. I only used and tested this multimeter in CAT I and CAT II environments. I do not have a way to review or test the safety of this meter. I leave the CAT III and CAT IV environments to trained and licensed professionals. It may seem like I am a Fluke fan boy, but I recognize their flaws along with their advantages. There may be unintended mistakes and/or errors in this review.

[@georgedavall9449]

I will say, Tom is one smart Man, and very thorough in his reviews!

[@Slking507]

It spans the right ranges for what I need. Happy I made the purchase. Thank you.

[@rfink222]

Very good assessment of the MM720. Thanks for comparing to the other options.

[@losslessthoughts]

I bought the MM450 but regretted it, I had thought the only real difference between it and the 720 was low impedance mode but there are a few others, the main one I missed being the 6000 count display on the 720 vs the 4000 on the 450. That is my main regret. I didn't even open, I'm going to pay the extra $30 and exchange it for the 720 tomorrow. It will actually be my first multimeter, I mainly want it for tinkering with electronics and learning. Also for around the house / car.

[@bass-man5401]

Thank you. Been shopping for a digital multimeter for some time and dont know what to get aside from a Fluke that I cannot afford. I think I will go with this

[@mrpetit2]

Not having a dedicated AC mV range (only 6,000V) and a mediocre DC mV range (600,0mV) makes this meter not so suitable for electronics work. This is more an electrician's multimeter.
I have a 2000 counts cheap pocket multimeter from the 80's that does even better than this one in this regard, so it's not a particularly high bar to set.

[@ryanmorgan5644]

Do you think gold plated leads would change these results and make them more accurate if you were to buy this meter and upgrade the leads? For resistance that is

[@N8FDY]

This will only help over time, because the gold plated leads will hold up longer. As long as you make sure you wipe that oily coating of the leads that come with the meter the leads should be good for a few years. People who do circuit tracing with continuity measurements prefer the cold plated leads. The meter met it specifications for the resistance measurements I tested. The accuracy is mostly controlled by the design of the meter. Instead of spending $35 to upgrade the leads, take that money and add $15 more and buy the EEVBlog Bremen BM235 instead of the MM720, that will give you better accuracy on the resistance ranges.
In my testing I use the same test leads on every meter, I don't use the leads that come with the meter, I want to test the meter not the leads.

[@mikeadler434]

👍👍

[@capriracer351]

That was a bit disappointing. I was hoping that these were an improvement over the MM1000 I purchased about 12 years ago. But, it is a slow, inaccurate meter just like the MM1000, just with a fancier case and display. I hardly ever use mine and probably should have returned it when I realized how bad it was. It may be ok for just a general residential electrician and is probably safe if you have an accident with it, but that is about it.

[@georgedavall9449]

Wow @ 01:07 😯 🙄

[@christopherworthington7000]

Crap...I bought this exact one...Am I good just reading 12v and 120v things🤔

[@N8FDY]

You should be fine. I try to avoid watching a review of anything I already bought. I hate that feeling that I bought the wrong one. 12V DC is fine at .5%+5 you will only be up to .03 volts or 30 millivolts off. My testes show the meter was alway in specification on all the DC voltages. At 120 V AC the meter is 1%+3 so you could be up to 1.6 volt off. The meter only missed it very lower AC millivolts specifications, it was fine with higher AC voltages.