I find it easier to have 2 meters - a DMM - doesnt really matter which one, but the REALLY cheap ones are just a bit too flakey for me - $40 will get you one that will work time and time again - great for testing voltages etc.

Also an analogue meter - much easier for testing continuity as you can see the sweep of the needle from the corner of your eye rather than try to read numbers. I also use this to test transistors in cct - theres no 100% way of testing these in cct - but an analogue will get you 80% reliability. I figure that if you have to pull the transistor out of cct and slot it into the transistor tester on your DMM then you may as well replace anyway.

I also found that you can never have too many of either of these - i seem to have a collection!