What are the advantages and disadvantages of pointer and digital multimeters?

Pointer multimeter is an average value instrument, which has an intuitive and vivid reading indication. (Generally, the reading value is closely related to the pointer swing angle, so it is very intuitive).

A digital multimeter is an instantaneous sampling instrument. It takes a sample every 0.3 seconds to display the measurement result. Sometimes the sampling results are only very close, not exactly the same, which makes it less convenient to read the results than a pointer type.

Pointer multimeters generally do not have internal amplifiers, so the internal resistance is small. For example, the DC voltage sensitivity of the MF-10 model is 100 kilo-ohms/volt. The DC voltage sensitivity of the MF-500 model is 20 kilo-ohms/volt.

Since digital multimeters use operational amplifier circuits, their internal resistance can be very large, often 1M ohm or more. (That is, they can achieve higher sensitivity.) This reduces the impact on the circuit being measured and allows for higher measurement accuracy.

The pointer type multimeter has a small internal resistance and mostly uses discrete components to form a shunt and voltage divider circuit. Therefore, the frequency characteristics are uneven (relative to digital), while the frequency characteristics of the pointer type multimeter are relatively better.

The pointer multimeter has a simple internal structure, so it has a lower cost, fewer functions, simpler maintenance, and stronger over-current and over-voltage capabilities.

Digital multimeters use a variety of oscillation, amplification, frequency division protection and other circuits inside, so they have many functions. For example, they can measure temperature, frequency (in a lower range), capacitance, inductance, and act as a signal generator, etc.

Digital multimeters have poor overload capacity due to the use of integrated circuits in their internal structure (however, some now have automatic gear shifting and automatic protection, but are more complicated to use), and are generally difficult to repair after damage.

The output voltage of a digital multimeter is low (usually no more than 1V), which makes it inconvenient to test some components with special voltage characteristics (such as thyristors, light-emitting diodes, etc.).