Tested 6 Best Automotive Multimeters in 2025(Here’s #1)

Last updated on February 8th, 2025 at 10:58 am

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro in electronics, owning a reliable multimeter is essential. It’s your go-to tool for diagnosing issues, measuring current, voltage, and continuity, and ensuring everything is running smoothly. When it comes to automotive work, the right multimeter can make all the difference.

Basic multimeters handle the essentials—current, voltage, and continuity measurements. But higher-end models come with advanced features like auto-calibration, precise probes, clearer displays, and more accurate readings, providing a better experience overall.

With so many multimeters on the market, choosing the best one can feel overwhelming. To make things easier, we’ve tested and narrowed down the top 6 automotive multimeters for 2025.

Why an Automotive Multimeter?

Automotive multimeters share core functionalities, but what sets them apart are the added features and build quality. Any reputable multimeter must meet strict industry standards, such as FCC or CE certification, ensuring reliability and safety.

Here are just a few ways automotive multimeters are used:

• Testing a car battery
• Diagnosing a malfunctioning headlight
• Detecting short circuits in wiring harnesses
• Measuring alternator voltage output
• Checking the resistance of fuel injectors

Enough said, let’s get into the actual list.

Best Automotive Multimeters:

1. Fluke 117

Fluke 117 is a highly accurate, professional multimeter. It’s highly ergonomic and has a very durable build. This multimeter can measure voltage, current, resistance, continuity, capacitance, and frequency. It’s pretty much everything you’d need for automotive usage.

The Fluke 117 is the successor to the acclaimed Fluke 115 and has a very similar but upgraded capacity in terms of performance. It’s good for up to 600V and comes with the trademark VoltAlert feature. The Fluke 117 is a True-RMS meter that can measure non-sinusoidal and sinusoidal waves.

Its low impedance helps it provide a more accurate reading by removing the effects of ghost voltage. The VoltAlert feature lets it detect voltage without contact, much like the AstroAI mentioned earlier. It also comes with a CAT III safety rating up to 600V.

Specifications

AC/DC Voltage: Up to 600V

Weight: 1.21 pounds

Power: Battery

Pros

• Ergonomic design
• Backlit display
• No-touch meter
• Highly accurate measurement

Cons

• Lacks Micro Range

2. AstroAI Digital Multimeter

AstroAI DMMs are usually a solid choice for multimeters and other similar tools. This particular unit is a ‎ASIMT5000A model. It has a durable build, slightly on the bulkier side, and comes with excellent-quality probes.

It has a non-contact meter at the top left side, which will let you test the presence of electricity on outlets and such without actually taking out the probes. That’s a handy feature if you want to test for power in an outlet at home. It also has auto-calibration, so you don’t need to dial the range to get the correct rating manually.

The AstroAI can measure voltage, resistance, and diodes like any standard DMM. But it also comes with a nifty feature for temperature measurement. There are two temperature sensors on this thing.

The first one is at the top, which can moderately measure the temperature of the surrounding vicinity. The second one is in the form of an additional probe, which you’ll need to plug into the device.

Specifications

AC/DC Voltage: Up to 1000V

Weight: 1.26 pounds

Power Type: Battery

Pros

• Budget-friendly
• Lightweight
• Led Indicators
• Backlit Display

Cons

• Small Display Size

3. Innova 3320a

Innova has been a household name for electrical tools for a long while, especially in Canada and the US. The Innova 3320a is an excellent little budget option for a multimeter with fantastic capabilities. It has a very minimalist interface but is light and easy to use.

The display on this thing is enormous, with crisp and clear letters. The screen doesn’t have any backlight, but the display size makes up for that to some extent. The selector dial feels a bit mushy, but that’s honestly not a deal breaker for its price.

It can measure DC/AC up to 600v, resistance up to 20mΩ and up to AC/DC 200 mA. It also has an audible continuity tester. There’s no temperature tester on this, but it’s relatively accurate at measuring what it can measure. It also has a safe input impedance level for automotive use.

Specifications

AC/DC Voltage: Up to 600V

Weight: 0.5 pounds

Power Type: Battery

Pros

• Budget-friendly
• Lightweight
• Large Display

Cons

• Mushy Dial

4. Fluke 87V Industrial multimeter

Fluke 87V is a beast of a multimeter with extensively high capacity for a wide range of measurements. It has both an auto and manual calibration system. It’s rather large, bulky and heavy, but it’s exceptionally durable and well-suited for professional-grade work.

Some even consider it to be Fluke’s flagship multimeter. And they are correct. It is by far the best unit from Fluke. The Fluke 87V can measure up to 1000V AC/DC. It can also measure resistance, diodes, capacitance, and continuity. It’s essentially a complete package for any electrical or automotive application.

Like any other Fluke multimeter, it has a huge display, but it looks tiny compared to its overall bulk. The display is backlit and has dual resolutions for 6000 and 20000 counts, respectively. It also comes with a lifetime warranty.

Specifications

• AC/DC Voltage – Up to 1000V
• Contactless voltage detector– No
• Type– Auto-ranging
• Count – 6000, 19,999 in High-resolution mode
• Safety rating – Cat IV/600V, Cat III/1000V

Pros

• Highly durable
• Great Accuracy
• Dual Resolution screen
• CAT-IV Rating

Cons

• Bulky
• Uses 9V batteries, which are harder to handle

5. Klein MM700

Klein MM700 is a solid choice multimeter for both electrical work and automotive applications. It can measure current, resistance, frequency and every other general range, but it also has a temperature meter. Klein multimeters tend to be on the bulkier side, but this particular model is relatively light while still being durable.

It comes with alligator clips, a temperature probe, and a few other useful attachments. One of the selling points of this unit is its surge protection with its CAT IV/III ratings. The MM1000 also comes with some calculating capacity. It can store past data and let you compare the differences between different readings.

It has separate probes for temperature measurements and auto-calibration on its standard ranges. The display is large and has excellent visual clarity. It has a backlight on top of that. The outer casing has a layer of rubber for extra durability.

Specifications

• AC/DC Voltage – Up to 1000V
• Contactless voltage detector– No
• Type– Auto-ranging
• Count – 4000
• Safety rating – Cat IV/600V, Cat III/1000V

Pros

• Lightweight
• Durable shell
• Large display
• Surge protection

Cons

• Low count

6. Amprobe Am-570

Amprobe Am-570 is a True RMS probe with a ton of excellent features. It can measure all the usual ranges and temperatures. It can measure AC/DC voltage up to 1000V. Amprobe has a few other meters on the market, but the Am-570 is in the sweet spot for both features and performance.

It has a large backlit display with excellent visual clarity, and the interface comes with multiple record and reference features for quick difference calculation. The Am-570 also has a dual-mode temperature meter, which is great for automotive applications.

One of the main selling points of this multimeter is the low-pass filter. That function lets you filter out low ranges of AC, which helps detect stray voltages. It also has a low impedance mode, which helps get better reading and also protects the device you want to test. That kind of feature is handy for automotive applications.

Specifications

• AC/DC Voltage – Up to 1000V
• Contactless voltage detector– Yes
• Type– Auto ranging
• Count – 6000
• Safety rating – Cat IV/600V, Cat III/1000V

Pros

• Lightweight
• Ergonomic
• Low impedance mode
• Dual temperature modes

Cons

• Auto calibration is a bit clunky

Conclusion

That concludes our review of the 6 best automotive multimeters in 2023. While these are some of the best ones on the market, they are by no means the only options available. You should use the ones listed here as a reference.

There are plenty of other multimeters that offer higher specs, so feel free to do more research before you buy one.

References

(26) How to Use a Multimeter – YouTube

The 4 Best Multimeters of 2023 | Tested by GearLab

The 9 Best Multimeters of 2023

(31) AstroAI Digital Multimeter, TRMS 6000 Counts, INTELLIGENT JACK, AC/DC V, Current, Cap, Res REVIEW – YouTube

(31) Innova 3320a CHEAP-O Multimeter Review & Teardown! – YouTube

Multimeter review / buyers guide: Fluke 87V / Fluke 87-5 Review