Quote Originally Posted by sossity View Post
in the end I decided its still best to change any components which I was suspicious of because of their relation to a known faulty component. [...]They would save a lot of money if you were confident they would give you 100% results, but I can't decide how much I would rely on them.
I find the ESR tester is pretty useful - was recommended on an electronics forum. Bob Parker writes about his original Bob Parker's Electronic Stuff Homepage. I found the Peak Electronics version by chance while reading up on the ones listed on Bob's ESR meter page. I have found the low-range ohmeter helpful checking transformer and motor windings. The semiconductor tester has also been helpful. Don't use them regularly enough to know for sure how reliable the results are. I figure they save me a lot of time trying to do circuit diagrams and chasing replacement components that I mightn't need.