Originally posted by straightshooter Glen, the problem with many of the "vintage" light meters is they used selenium in them. The meter worked by light hitting the selenium which generated voltage and moved the needle. This was fine and it worked without batteries but selenium would eventually quit reacting to light which made the meter useless. If you get a vintage meter, make sure it's a CdS meter (uses batteries) and not a selenium meter.
CW
Though here's a hint about the selenium meters: for example the Gossen Pilot lives in a clamshell case. If it's lived in it all its life the total light exposure will be minimal, even after a couple of decades. These meters are small and handy.
The other big problem with selenium is how insensitive these are. Really, barely usable in a normally lit room. And slow to respond too, in such a situation.
There are a lot of cheap battery operated meters, but it's worth while to get one of the good ones - Gossen and Sekonic are the two main brands. I was leaning towards the Sekonic as my parents had one with their Nikon in the early 60's, but the way of the Bay said I needed to end up with two Gossens. The second one is a Luna (something? Lux I think, not Pro) SBC, which uses a 9 volt battery, the kind you put in fire alarms, and uses light indicators rather than a needle. It is a fantastic meter.