Why Are Fluke Multimeters So EXPENSIVE?

The answer may surprise you!

A multimeter is a little handheld device for measuring watts and amps and volts and ohms and shit. (I’m caring about them right now because I’m caring about solar, and, well, fixing my kitchen.)

For hardcore blue-collar boys, it sort of holds the same niche as a graphing calculator might for mostly white collar engineers. Or maybe an iPad, any more … even a fancy phone, for anyone more modern than me.

For decades, the brand of multimeter called Fluke has been the one to covet.

It costs two or three times more than even its best competitors, even though it’s not more capable, or durable, or pretty, and the company who makes them is going strong anyway.

The answer to why is an object lesson in how empires begin to sag under their own sheer weight, and always have.

We are of course on the cusp of learning personally all about some less theoretical aspects of the same phenomenon.

But this … is not a political post. I’m waxing whimsical, see? Alright then.