Analog needle meter still useful in digital age?

Multimeters, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, bench supplies. Choosing and using.
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tito_elmer
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue May 05, 2026 10:51 am

Young techs laugh at my old Sanwa analog meter. But it catches things digitals miss.

Where analog wins:
  • Trending: watching a needle sweep shows rate-of-change, digits just flicker numbers
  • Peaking/nulling: adjusting a trimmer for max/min, needle is intuitive
  • Fast intermittents: needle twitch visible, digital sample rate misses it
  • No battery for voltage/current (only ohms needs battery)
Where digital wins: precision, auto-range, no parallax, high input impedance.

I keep both on the bench. Analog for feel, digital for numbers.

Anyone under 30 still reach for analog? Or truly dead skill?
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