Check out Dave Jones EEVBlog Youtube channel showing why 'cheap chinese multimeters are garbage' - it's not just build quality and how long it will last, and whether you'd risk holding it with 240v going through one, but also they are simply totally unreliable in their readings. This is because they are shoddily made and use the lowest quality components possible to meet the low price. Electronic professionals or electrical engineers need an expensive multimeter like a Fluke costing hundreds of pounds - reliable, versatile, robust and accurate. Home users on a budget however are looking at sub £40 multimeters like this Amprobe AM220, the budget offering from one of the major professional multimeter manufacturers. The Amprobe AM220 is autoranging - it selects the range automatically so you don't have to manually guess the selection, e.g. no 0 to 3 or 1 to 15 volts needed, although there is a faster manual option if you want to switch autoranging off. The Amprobe measures AC/DC microAmps, milliVolts and Ohms within the AVO ranges, and as well as doing basic continuity/diode testing (with audible signal) it also adds in capacitance as thats usefull these days.Practical upshot from Dave's "50 buck multimeter test" - the only quality choice for a cheap multimeter is either the Amprobe AM220 offered here, or the rival Extech EX330 and it's a tight call betweeen the two, although he plumps firmly for the Extech. On the safety side, unlike many other multimeter cheapies, these Extech and Amprobe ones are rated for CAT III 600V overvoltage protection. In the event I chose the identical Amprobe AM-240 over this Amprobe AM-220 (and the Extech 330), as this other model adds in an accurate digital temperature probe [+/- 1oC, range -50 to +700 oC] and it only costs a few pounds more (otherwise it's just the AM-220). Can't comment on the AM-220/240's supplied paper pamphlet as I quickly lost that, but the full manual downloaded as pdf from Amprobe was fine - it is for both the AM-220 and AM-240 versions but only covers their basic operation, so you might benefit from purchasing a beginners book on the use of multimeters if you are new to them. Build wise this Amprobe isn't quite as solid as the Extech case and it has a smaller LCD screen, but the AM-220's case is a nice shape and the stand/selector wheel works well - plus I wanted the sibling AM-240's thermal probe, so I stuck with the Amprobe brand.There's a pair of test leads and batteries supplied with the Amprobe AM-220/240, with the AM-240 adding in the yellow temperature probe as well. Amprobe also make a solid pair of rather chunky 10cm x 2cm crocodile clips that work with the AM-220/240 [the Amprobe AL-35] or there's a set of similar quality Amprobe replacement leads that come with smaller crocodile clip attachments [the Amprobe TL36A]. These Amprobe 220 and 240's run off two AA batteries and there's a battery warning when they need replacing. The AM220's got a couple of internal fuses and overload protection for 240v use. A nice budget multimeter built to last in the home environment.