During the last years the share of electronic water meters based on ultrasonic or magnetic-inductive measuring principles installed in households has increased steadily. The question arises to what extent their measuring performance differs from that of classic mechanical water meters. Due to the static measuring principles without moving mechanical components, it is to be expected that electronic water meters are less susceptible to water properties. To gain insights in this regard experiments were conducted with different water qualities (pH, total hardness, particles). In addition, the measurement performance at constant and variable flow rates was evaluated and compared with that of mechanical water meters. The fact that electronic water meters, in contrast to mechanical meters, measure discretely and not continuously was also addressed in the investigations. In particular, it was studied how the sampling interval affects the accuracy with which the total volume is recorded, depending on the time of sampling and the length of the observation period.