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Re:Fluke owns trademark on multimeters with "contrasting yel... by reeses on Wednesday March 19, 2014 @11:56AM (#7429522)
As a consumer, I find it confusing when "cheap" (in both senses of the term) meters knock off the Fluke visuals.

My first Fluke multimeter was a hand-me-down from my father, and he had made it clear how it was a better instrument. At the time, there were no "Fluke yellow" instruments on the market. They were generally considered ugly.

Fast forward through the 1990s and I'm in a builders supply shop looking at meters. I grab what I thought was a Fluke, got home, and only then realised I had a cheap knockoff. Yes, my fault for not reading, but a large number of second generation tool users have been raised to invest in the products of a few companies that have maintained solid reputations.

Re:Fluke owns trademark on multimeters with "contrasting yel... by makomk on Wednesday March 19, 2014 @12:23PM (#7429730)
"At the time, there were no "Fluke yellow" instruments on the market. They were generally considered ugly."

From what I can tell, in the time period you're talking about even Fluke meters weren't "Fluke yellow" though - e.g. http://www.stevenjohnson.com/pics/why-i-buy-flukessm.jpg

Re:Fluke owns trademark on multimeters with "contrasting yel... by reeses on Wednesday March 19, 2014 @05:51PM (#7432131)
The Fluke 25 and 27s could be had either in fading black or get-dirty-yellow and fading black. Both came with decaying LCDs for no additional cost.

They definitely used yellow and black in the mid-to-late 1980s, primarily on "ruggedized" field gear. Bench gear tended to look pretty much like most bench gear, as far as I can recall.

Re:Fluke owns trademark on multimeters with "contrasting yel... by bananas on Thursday March 20, 2014 @10:24AM (#7435673)
Fluke 75 had a removable yellow case circa '86. My father had one.
Re:Fluke owns trademark on multimeters with "contrasting yel... by gnaffle on Wednesday March 19, 2014 @01:28PM (#7430292)
The original Fluke 87 was introduced in the mid 90s if I remember correctly, and I think the yellow cases predate that model.