I took a chance on a DT830D Multimeter for wopping price of $6.47 Canadian 
dollars + $7.99 shipping. For that kind of money I wasn't expecting much. 
There are several different ones around all with the same orange / yellow 
case. That's about where the consistancy seems to end. Some have a 
smaller circuit board and weaker folded sheet metal sockets for the test leads, 
and in the worst of the worst units, a transistor test socket that is not even 
connected and does nothing.
 
Others have a larger circuit board and better sockets. In most of the 
latest units I've seen, fuses are non existent. Accuracy also seems to 
vary greatly between the better units and the knockoffs.  

The design dates back to the 90's. I first got one much like it back in 
1995 or 96 from a pawn shop. I think it was $15. It's long paid for itself. 
It has less functions, and hard wired test leads which I've replaced probably 
a half dozen times in the last 30 years.

Over the years the internals have went from a large through hole IC and 
through hole resistors, to a chip on board IC with a blob of epoxy covering 
it and SMD resistors are used.

The one I ended up with arrived unscathed by Canada Post. I took it out 
of the package and switched it on and was suprised to find it even came 
with a 9 volt battery preinstalled. I tested it against a Zoyi ZT-702S 
in voltages both AC and DC and even up around 350 to 400 volts it was 
accurate within 1 volt. Ohms was just as good. It was able to stay 
within 1 or 2 ohms of the Zoyi when measuring a 1 MEG resistor. Low ohms, 
(20 ohms and lower) could be a bit better, but is likely due to internal 
resistance in the test lead wire.  
Currect, diode test, and continuity beeper all work fine and are accurate.
The transistor gain test seems fairly accurate when tested against other 
transistor testers.  

The test leads leave a lot to be desired, but are not the worst either.
The tips are removable and the wire looks to be spot welded to the probe
tips. One failed within a day and had to be soldered. I also placed a drop
of hot glue at the end where the wire exits the probe. This prevents the
wire from twisting and breaking off.  The plugs at the meter fit into the 
sockets nice and snug.

For someone on a budget or just starting out in electronics (provided you can 
get a decent one) it's not a bad meter. Some might miss features like auto 
ranging, auto shut off, backlight. Accuracy wise it's plenty good enough

One note is that a lot of care needs to be taken when measuring voltage and current. 
Make sure you're on the correct setting. Always start on a higher setting and 
work down in range. Same for current measurment. Limit your time in the current 
setting when measuring more than a few hundred milliamps. Without a fuse or any 
other protection you have to be careful not to go over voltage or current.
   
I mainly wanted a digital meter for checking voltage or current at one spot, and 
not tie up a main meter. Another requirment was that I didn't want to have to deal 
with auto shut off. For less than 20 bucks shipped I'm quite happy.