sitting on fence about amp meter

I've thrown 2 amp gauges in the garbage this week alone. One of them had dropped the tiny steel center post out of the brass shunt. That only burns the needle out of the gauge. The other had a lovely green corrosion all over it as did everything copper or brass in this panel. What have I said here ? These instruments have ememies in their environment such as moisture, vibration, etc.. that will kill them eventually, much like our own bodies.
Put a brand new instrument of any type in there today and it will fail someday too.
The main advantage of a Volts gauge is that its failure does not disable the entire car.