Fluke 113 vs Fluke 115: Which Multimeter Is Better?

Specs side by side

Specs checked against manufacturer documentation and official Amazon listings. Fluke 115 is hands-on tested by OhmSavvy; the Fluke 113 assessment is desk research. How we research.

Key differences

• →The 113 reads volts only through VCHEK, a low-impedance input of about 3 kΩ. The 115 has normal high-impedance volts positions (over 10 MΩ DC) and no LoZ mode at all.
• →The 115 measures current on 6 A and 10 A ranges; the 113 has no current function and only two input jacks.
• →Resistance on the 113 tops out at 60.00 kΩ; the 115 reaches 40 MΩ.
• →Fluke rates the 113 CAT IV 600V and the 115 CAT III 600V, although the 113's Amazon listing quotes a lower CAT IV 300V figure.
• →The 115 adds frequency, a mV range and tighter diode and voltage accuracy; the 113 is lighter at 404 g against 550 g.

Two meters, two jobs

The Fluke 115 carries our Hands-on Tested badge; the 113 does not, so everything said about it here comes from Fluke's spec tab and the official Amazon listing rather than bench time. Our Fluke 115 review has the longer write-up of the general-purpose meter.

Fluke 113 vs 115 spec by spec

Put the two spec tabs side by side and the 113 looks like a stripped 115, but that undersells what Fluke did. It removed the amps input, trimmed the ohms ranges and replaced the ordinary volts positions with a single low-impedance test. That is a design for proving circuits live or dead quickly, not for diagnosing equipment.

What VCHEK actually does

VCHEK is the reason the 113 exists. Touch the leads to a conductor and the meter presents roughly 3 kΩ across them. If a supply is there, you get a voltage on the 6, 60 or 600 V range. If nothing is there, the same position switches to a continuity test and beeps for anything under 20 Ω. One turn of the dial answers both "is it live?" and "is this the conductor I think it is?"

The low impedance is what defeats ghost voltage. A disconnected wire run beside an energized one picks up a charge through stray capacitance, and a 10 MΩ input like the 115's barely disturbs it, so the display shows tens of volts on a wire that can't power anything. At 3 kΩ that charge is drained and the phantom collapses toward zero. Our guide to voltage readings on a disconnected circuit walks through the physics; with a 115 you would need to load the circuit by other means to get the same answer.

The cost of a 3 kΩ voltmeter

LoZ is a strength on mains wiring and a liability almost everywhere else. Because the 113 has no high-impedance volts position, every reading it takes draws current from whatever it measures. A stiff 120 V supply doesn't care. A sensor output, a thermostat signal or a resistor divider in a control board does.

Worked example: a 5 V signal behind 10 kΩ of internal resistance, read with the 113, forms a divider of 10 kΩ and 3 kΩ. The meter sees 5 × 3 ÷ 13, about 1.15 V, and you would wrongly conclude the sensor is dead. The 115's 10 MΩ DC input sees 5 × 10,000 ÷ 10,010, which rounds to 5.00 V. Fluke also notes that the 113's autorange needs at least 3 V DC to register, so small signals are out of reach anyway.

The second cost is ground-fault devices. At the nominal 3 kΩ, Ohm's law puts about 40 mA through the meter on a 120 V hot-to-ground check, while a US GFCI receptacle is designed to trip at only a few milliamps of leakage (roughly 4 to 6 mA). Fluke's 113 page warns that LoZ measurements phase-to-earth can trip a GFCI or RCD. Test hot-to-neutral on protected circuits, or expect to walk back and reset the device. See why a GFCI keeps tripping before blaming the outlet.

Current: the 115's deciding feature

The single biggest gap is amps. The 115 has a fused A jack with 6.000 A and 10.00 A ranges for AC and DC, True RMS on AC, and tolerates 20 A for 30 seconds. That covers a blower motor, a well pump control circuit, a 12 V accessory draw on a vehicle or a small appliance. The 113 can't measure any of it, and nothing in its spec tab suggests a workaround short of buying a separate clamp meter.

The 115's current ranges have limits of their own: there is no mA or µA input, so standby and sensor currents are below its resolution. For flame rods, the Fluke 116 vs Fluke 115 comparison covers the meter that does read microamps.

Where the 113 earns its place

Fluke sells the 113 as a utility meter, and its feature set suits a narrow but common workload. A lineworker, a facilities electrician tracing circuits in an older building, or a service tech verifying that a disconnect really isolated a load spends the day on two questions: is there voltage, and is this the right conductor. VCHEK answers both without a dial change, and the LoZ input means a shared conduit full of phantom readings doesn't slow the job down.

The rating matters here too. Fluke lists the 113 under IEC 61010-2-033 at CAT IV 600V, and the terminals on the listing photo are printed CAT IV 600V. That category covers the origin of the installation, such as service drops and the line side of the meter base, where the 115's CAT III 600V does not reach. If your work genuinely happens there, the 113 is the one of these two built for it.

Its capacitance range is a pleasant surprise for a meter this simple. It reads from 1,000 nF up to 9,999 µF, so motor run and start capacitors are within reach, though Fluke widens the tolerance to ±(5% + 20) on the top 9,999 µF range. The 115 starts lower, at 1 nF, which matters if you also touch small electronics capacitors. Our guide to testing a capacitor with a multimeter applies to either.

Which should you buy?

If you were drawn to the 113 for ghost-voltage protection but also need current, the meter that combines both in this family is the 117; our Fluke 115 vs Fluke 117 page sets out what the extras buy. For a broader shortlist, see the best multimeter for electricians guide and the best multimeters roundup.

Where the sources disagree

Frequently asked questions