Multimeter recomendations

Personally I enjoy a big Simpson 260-dash-whatever. The Triplett 630 is in the same league. Both have been in production (in one variant or another) since before WWII. The RCA Senior Voltohmysts I love for their fashion sense but unless I need VTVM class input impedances, I'd prefer the Simpson or Triplett. In terms of used Flukes, I highly recommend any used 77-series unit. You can critique the designs because of what you saw as failings of your Fluke 85, but believe me, the LCD display on any Fluke LCD DMM will be far more durable than the faceplate on my Simpson 260 or Triplett 630. At the very low end, in the $3 to $5 range there are "disposable" DMM's available at discount stores here in the US. They are not a joy to use but they do mostly work. Tim.