I've sworn off going to HF. I think the list of things I've bought from them that worked more than once is very short. I guess if you need a tool that works once and you don't want to spend much, go there. For the ones that keep on working, they're not exactly accurate. There was a thread here from about ten years ago where people were comparing the HF meters to Craftsman and the like, the middle of the road meters. The HF stuff was all over the map, and I understand it hasn't gotten any better.
I honestly wish Radio Shack was still around. I have a Micronta analog meter that still works perfectly plus it has classic good looks. It was probably a top of the line meter in its day. I'm sure they would have had a decent digital meter by now.
I like my 30 yr old RS SPL meter. You can download the calibration correction for that ancient SPL meter to use with REW. And I used to have a closet full of Heath tube test gear... that I never have to use much anymore.
I didn't mean to be touting HF specifically, only the notion of bargain tools can be OK.
Important to understand theory of measurement. Almost never does accuracy per se matter - just a straw man. What you do want is measurements that repeat the same or to use methods that don't depend on the quality of the meter.
B.
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