Why is it so hard to find a good multimeter?
Phrased differently…
Why aren’t there more open source multimeter projects?

Fortunately, John Duffy is working to fix that. I have to applaud his motivation and initiative to create a project like this and make it open source. I agree that digital interfaces are not as common as they should be, and even when they are physically available, the software to make use of them is typically abysmal. The meter I’ve had since college, pictured below, is one such example.

Open source is a perfect match for test and measurement. Every application is a little different and being able to customize interfaces (software or electrical) can have a significant impact. This is why I often find a small development board more useful than a fixed function piece of test equipment.

I particularly like the fact that he is designing this to be modular, so it is easy to extend and upgrade. Modularity combined with open source are probably two of the best ways to accelerate the advancement of a new project.

I encourage everyone to check out the project. I will be following this closely.
Github: https://github.com/jduffy105/HydraMeter_0.4
Hackaday: https://hackaday.io/project/176607-hydrameter
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMexSal01gQ