Fluke 117 Multimeter Review (2026): The Electrician’s Daily

Why you should trust this review

I bought the Fluke 117 with my own money as a daily meter for residential and light commercial electrical work, and Fluke had no involvement in this review. I have used cheaper True-RMS meters from other brands alongside it, so my judgments here are comparative, not brand loyalty. A meter you carry every day lives or dies on whether you trust its readings and whether it survives the abuse of a tool pouch, and those are the things I cared about.

I am not an HVAC technician, so I will be explicit about where this meter is the wrong tool for that trade rather than glossing over it.

How we evaluated

I carried the 117 as my primary meter through more than a year of real work: checking voltage on live circuits, verifying continuity, measuring resistance, and troubleshooting on equipment with dirty, non-sinusoidal waveforms where a non-True-RMS meter would read wrong. I used the AutoVolt feature constantly so I was not guessing AC versus DC, leaned on the built-in voltage detector for quick live checks, and put the meter through the normal indignities of getting dropped and crammed into a pouch. I compared its readings against a more expensive reference meter to confirm it stayed honest.

Accuracy and True-RMS

True-RMS is the feature that separates a real working meter from a toy, and the 117 delivers it. On clean sine waves any meter reads correctly, but on the distorted waveforms you get off variable-frequency drives and rectified DC, the 117 stayed accurate where averaging meters drift high or low. Checked against a higher-tier reference, its voltage and resistance readings held tight. That trustworthiness is the entire reason you carry a Fluke instead of a bargain meter: when the number matters, you believe it.

AutoVolt and VoltAlert

AutoVolt is the convenience feature you stop appreciating consciously because it just works. The meter senses whether you are reading AC or DC and shows the right value without a dial turn, which removes a whole class of fumbling and misreads. The built-in non-contact voltage detector is the other quiet time-saver: a quick wave near a conductor tells you whether it is live before you ever touch a lead to it. Together they make the meter faster to use on a live panel than a meter that makes you commit to a mode first.

Durability and ergonomics

This meter takes abuse. It survived being dropped onto concrete during my testing without losing calibration, which is exactly the kind of real-world durability the price buys. The case feels solid, the display is easy to read in varied light, and the dial has positive detents so you know which mode you are in by feel. The factory test leads are the one weak spot, stiffer and shorter than I like, and many users swap them for softer silicone leads. That is a cheap fix and a common one.

Where it falls short

The honest limitation is the missing microamp range. If you are an HVAC technician who needs to read flame-sensor current, the 117 simply cannot do it, and you want a different Fluke for that job. It also lacks the data logging that some lower-priced competitors offer, and the backlight situation varies by production run, so confirm before buying if that matters to you. None of these are flaws for a general electrician; they are just reasons the 117 is not the universal meter for every trade.

Who should buy the Fluke 117?

Buy it if:

• You are a residential or commercial electrician who wants a trustworthy daily meter
• You value True-RMS accuracy on dirty waveforms
• You want AutoVolt and a built-in voltage detector to speed up live work
• You want a meter that survives years of pouch abuse and a calibration network behind it

Skip it if:

• You are an HVAC tech who needs a microamp range for flame sensors
• You specifically need data logging on a budget
• You only do occasional light DIY and a cheaper True-RMS meter would suffice
• You want the broadest industrial feature set and will step up to a higher model

The verdict

The Fluke 117 earns its status as the electrician’s default by being accurate, fast, and durable in the ways that matter on the job. True-RMS and AutoVolt make it trustworthy and quick, the build survives real abuse, and Fluke’s service network stands behind it. The missing microamp range rules it out for HVAC work, and the stock leads deserve an upgrade, but for general electrical use this is the meter I would buy again knowing it might get lost or dropped. It is the right balance of capability and confidence.