The Most Adequate Probes a Modest Amount of Money Can Buy

I needed some test probes for my electronics lab: things like banana plugs with alligator clips for the power supply, and minigrabbers for the multimeters. I ordered a bunch from ebay, $1-$1.50 each:

When I finally got around to using them, I was testing a 12V, 2A light circuit from my power supply. For some reason the circuit was seeing only 10V! I guess because ... those lousy test leads were 1Ω! Ridiculous. Probably 60-gauge wire.

So, not wanting to repeat that debacle, I picked up a Pomona set for $16:

Ten times the price, but at least they work! But I'd like to have a few of these things around; you never know when you need them. Can I find something cheaper but adequate? Amazon suggested Elenco TL-5 and TL-12 leads, and they showed up today.

I put them all to the test by running 3A through each, and measuring the voltage drop. I also compared against my homemade test leads: alligator clips crimped to speaker wire. Here are the results:

lead	length	mV/3A	Ω through both leads	Ω/ft
Elenco TL-5 banana alligator	3'	400	0.1 Ω	0.033 Ω/ft
Elenco TL-12 banana minigrabber	3'	300	0.133 Ω	0.044 Ω/ft
Pomona Minigrabber	2'	180	0.06 Ω	0.030 Ω/ft
Howell lampcord alligator	1.5'	240	0.08 Ω	0.058 Ω/ft

So the Pomonas win by a little, but the Elencos are less than half the price, and pretty adequate. I wish they offered a shorter length.