The cheap multimeter I swore by gave me a false reading on a 480V line

Been using this $18 pocket multimeter for 4 years. It worked fine for low voltage stuff around the house. Last Tuesday I was checking a motor feed in our plant in Tulsa. It showed 0 volts. Knew something was off because the contactor was still closed. Grabbed a Fluke from the maintenance cage and it read 486. Turns out the fuse inside my cheap one was blown the whole time. That could have gotten me killed. Now I test the meter on a known hot source before every single read. I still keep the cheap one as a backup but I don't trust it for anything past 24V. Anyone else ever catch a meter lying to them like that? What do you use for daily checks?

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