suggest a reliable hand-held meter that uses modern batteries.

[benjiboy]

I actually think of accuracy in a different way. To me a meter is accurate if it conforms to its specification. As you know you own the KM flashmeter VI it's calibrated to a K14 and C330 for incident with the dome and C250 with the flat disc. The light level is defined as to how many lux or how many cd/m^2 for reflected. And the meter is accurate if it conform to that with a small tolerance.
With that said a meter can be accurate and accurately wrong if the user doesn't know how to interpret the readings.
By the way the way you describe some people make meter readings is almost the same way Ansel Adams described how Edward Weston did his meter reading... any way he got excellent result and so did Adams.

I take your point Chan about a meter being accurate if it conforms with the factory spec., however I do think that that photographers who are getting unsatisfactory exposers are too quick to blame the light meter or the shutter speeds of their cameras because it doesn't conform to their sunny sixteen guestimate, anything but blame themselves and their exposure technique.

 

[Pumalite]

+1
You have to use your head too!

 

[Ronald Moravec]

Minolta meter IV takes AA. Measures incident or flash or combined, chord or chordless.

Weston Master IV or V reflective and invercone attachment for incident. No battery at all. Buy a used one and send to Hollywood light Metric and George will rebuild it.

Sekonic Studio Delux, basically incident with reflective attachment. No battery at all.

I just found I duplicated Chris Crawford`s recommendations from page 1 except I added the Weston Masters. Thats OK, he does great work

 

[Jim Rice]

I currently have an L-328 which I got used from KEH for about $120us. I had previously owned a series of L-28c-2s which I dearly loved. One day I may feel as comfortable with an LCD readout.

 

[Jim Rice]

The 328 uses a single AA cell.

 

[Bill Burk]

Here's the modification I did today to turn the TwinMate into a Zone System meter.

I put a screen protector over the front. Moved the calculator dial a stop at a time and marked the tip of the green arrow across the scale. Then I cut a sheet of brass into a comb to range from Zone II to Zone VIII. At left and right, there is barely room for 3 stops but marks for Zone II and VIII are necessary, so those two end marks are cut smaller. The VIII mark is "less accurately" cut than the rest - that's just a workmanship problem, not a design feature. I was very impatient, didn't wait for glue or paint to dry - so you can see it's rough. No Zone Roman numerals, you have to count them out.

I glued "on top" of the green pointer and with rough side up, so the modification won't interfere with the meter needle.

I thought for sure someone would be drooling over this.

 

[TheToadMen]

There are several iPhone apps that work very well and are accurate enough for most old model cameras (like my Agfa Clack).
Otherwise, get a nice small Gossen Digisix for a small price 2nd hand. Works very well and will fit on your camera: