Originally Posted by mach4

You are absolutely correct!

All I was suggesting was that most of the electrical issue posts start with something along the lines of "all of a sudden my car would't start", and then a string of helpful suggestions ensue. Since the first sign of trouble is only the result of a period of time where the problem existed previously, it would be nice to conveniently at a glance reference the battery voltage before starting and monitor the voltage while driving as early warning of an electrical problem headed toward a non-start situation, often in less than optimal conditions. I realize that volt meters that plug into the cigar lighter do not provide that information (unless they are plugged in at the time) and are therefore less than useful. A cheap HF multimeter is preferred for troubleshooting, but it's kind of inconvenient to try to get a voltage reading while driving as manipulating those little probes are tricky one handed and popping the hood to get a battery reading all the time is kind of a pain.

Recognizing the lack of utility I didn't get one of those cheap cigar volt meters, choosing to add voltage monitoring to my other system status monitors - fuel pressure, EGT, trans temp, oil temp, intake temp, engine bay temp, boost and vacuum.