How much has EEVblog cost you?

[rodcastler]

I can assure you EEVblog has cost me an amount way different from zero, not to mention the austrlian accent I have adopted. oright mate! 

[robrenz]

+1
 
I am afraid to add it all up. 

But a big thanks to Dave for rekindling my  love of electronics after many years. I think I am just one of many that the EEVblog/forum has done this to.

[GK]

+1
 
I am afraid to add it all up. 

You should consider restoring and hot rodding cars for a hobby.

[robrenz]

+1
 
I am afraid to add it all up. 

You should consider restoring and hot rodding cars for a hobby.

Your right, it's a mere pittance relative to my machine shop total

[grenert]

You should consider restoring and hot rodding cars for a hobby.

Or merely keeping a British sports car alive! 
 

...where'd my headlamps go?

[helloworld922]

I've seen all the cool gadgets Dave looks at which are well outside my student budget and I end up browsing ebay and other sites sighing a lot instead of actually buying anything!

Me too! I go onto the equipment manufacturing website and look at all the goodies they have. Spend part of my days reading the users manuals of stuff I will probably never use/own

I had an interest in electronics before I found the EEVblog, which has costed me ~$100 USD, but I can definitely blame Dave for convincing me to get a new DMM (marginally better than a complete cheapy cause of my budget).

[Mechatrommer]

it started with ds1052e and some retarded robotics when i came here. total damage... $4437, and thats only the reported cases, within these 2 or 3 years? dont remember.

[N2IXK]

Only about $50 so far, for one of those FE-5680A rubidium frequency standards. And another $75 or so to package it into a nice box with a power supply and adjustable divider. Now sitting in the lab as a master reference for my frequency counters.

The eBay prices on FE-5680s seemed to spike up shortly after the EEVblog covered them....were going for $100 or more at one point.

[Stonent]

Perhaps I should change my tagline to "Helping the global economy, one video at a time." 

Dave.

Rigol, Fluke, and Agilent should be paying you a commission.

[andyturk]

But a big thanks to Dave for rekindling my  love of electronics after many years. I think I am just one of many that the EEVblog/forum has done this to.

Yup. Until about six months ago, the last time I'd used a breadboard was '79--not much difference between then and now. Of course, ARM chips are *way* more fun than Z80s. 

Recently acquired due to Dave: Fluke 87-V, Rigol DS1102E, Rigol DG1022, BK Precision 1651, not to mention piles of stuff from Mouser and DigiKey.

[peter.mitchell]

not a whole lot, just a new bench... a nice and expensive workbench though...

[vk6zgo]

You should consider restoring and hot rodding cars for a hobby.

Or merely keeping a British sports car alive! 
 

...where'd my headlamps go?

Joseph Lucas--- The Prince of Darkness!

[JeanF]

 Well, I already went for a Hakko 888, a UT-61D multimeter, a Bus Pirate, all three upon direct recommendation from the videos.

I also bought a Fenix LD01 for my father for Christmas, and I got.... a MiniChamp (too bad I don't get as much mail as Dave  ) and a PoKeys 56E, because my brother wanted to see it in action too !

A scope (which would be my very first) is tempting... but I must resist... no... don't...click...here...aaaaughhh 

Not directly related to the blog, but all this enthusiasm made me buy an AVR kit (from Freetronics in Oz  %-B ) and a usbtinyisp.

[JoannaK]

Well.. The electronics has not cost much, biggest ones have been ESR meter and one of those cheapo handheld hotair guns. But I also got the way-so-crazy idea of makign video blogs.. so I'd have to add the price of camera, mics, and editin sw into the list.

Not to mention humiliation of seeing me at the video. 

[justanothercanuck]

Things I've bought recently in the re-pursuit of EE...

a table and chair to work on, because my computer table is full. 
a new multimeter because the 20 year old analog cheapie I had couldn't measure worth crap.
wire strippers, no idea where mine went over the years.
parts (obviously)
Looking to buy a cheap bench supply and an oscilloscope.  Maybe a decent soldering-desoldering station. 

[steve30]

Just a Hakko FX-888 I suppose.

But Dave's videos and this forum did give me the inspiration to restart some old project and start some new ones, so I suppose the numerous recent Farnell orders count .

[Fsck]

I don't really want to find out. I'm sure it's at least 5000. Not all of it comes directly from Dave though. Actually most of it is from the forum I think.
Shahriar (Hugoneus) cost me >500 because I *HAD* to get a Keithley 220 after seeing it opened up and of course more for neat accessories like a funky 2-knob triax -> BNC converter.

[bearman]

Interesting thread for sure.   I was laid off on January 9th of 2009.  4 years ago this coming Tueasday.   I decided to rekindle my electronics interest.  I saw these things called micro controllers or Basic Stamps at Radio Shack.  I thought I should finally learn about these things and looked into gettting one of the Radio Shack starter kits.  No big deal it was $95.00 USD.  Then I found out I needed a serial interface cable to my PC.  Turns out they didn't come with a cable and I had to buy one seperately.   It was another $60.00 just for a stupid cable.  I did a little rant in the store to myself and decided I wasn't going to pay that much for a serial to USB conversion cable.  The young man working at the store overheard me and called me over.  He kind of whispered to me, "Look up Arduino on the internet."  I said a what?,  He then said, " You can find them at Adafruit".  I said "what the hell is that".  I asked him to "just write these names down for me" and I will look into them at home on my PC.   

Well I got home, found the Arduino site and read about the Arduinos and about the command set and ordered a Duemilanove and was on my way to learning about microcontrollers for $30.00.  Well I have thanked that young man several times and showd him some of the projects I have built in the last 4 years.

I also discovered Daves site around the same time.  I think he only had 7 or 8 videos out when I found the site.  I got into immediately and viewed all his previous Vlogs so I was hooked and up to date and poised for more. 

Well.  I have really spent a lot in the last 4 years.   Between Dave talking about gear and me wanting to try all the sensors that connect to Arduinos I have regularly bought gear or componets for working with or constructing things with the new found power and flexibility of the microcontroller.  Building things years ago with TTL or CMOS discrete componets are okay but too costly to make things on a regular basis because most of my fun was derived from making things.  Once it was built I lost interest in the device. 

Well the above history I have spent lots.  I got the following.  Rigol 1052E DSO, Fluke 87 V, Hako 936D, Duemilanove,  Full compliment of sensors for interfacing to Arduino. 

[torch]

It's amazing how many times the Rigol DS1052E gets mentioned in this thread. In my case, I was already looking for a scope and looking at the Rigol. Googling for user reviews led me to EEVblog. Same sort of thing happened when I started eyeing signal generators and was looking at the Hantek. Most recently I was shopping for a soldering station, and Dave's review helped me settle on the Hakko 888. So I can't really say that Dave has cost me any money, but this forum has helped me make intelligent decisions, perhaps keeping me from wasting money or buying more than I need.

And I second the comments on machining. If you think a hobbyist electronics bench is expensive, you should try setting up a home machine shop!

[ivan747]

I can assure you EEVblog has cost me an amount way different from zero, not to mention the austrlian accent I have adopted. oright mate! 

Bloody right, mate!

[c4757p]

I can assure you EEVblog has cost me an amount way different from zero, not to mention the austrlian accent I have adopted. oright mate! 

I've just adopted a self-consciousness of how stupid I sound when I say "sodder".  We Americans sure do have a way with language...

[WV1800es]

You should consider restoring and hot rodding cars for a hobby.

Or merely keeping a British sports car alive! 
 

...where'd my headlamps go?

O, yeah I'm waiting for my HP 8825A (thanks to all in the function generator discussions)to show up this week.  Spent Sunday putting new brake hoses and calipers on the front of my '72 Volvo 1800es.  I still got a bug for one of those Hantek 8060 Scope/FuncGen/MM/Tricorder rigs.  Has anyone got any feedback on THEM yet??  Glad I still got a job with the Phone Company!!

[mianchen]

I was sharing a big computer desk with my wife in a bigger office. Then I built myself a lab in the smallest room of the house after watching Dave's EE lab video. I got myself a desktop PC, a  Fluke 87 III, a UT61E, an HP3468A, a Rigol DS1102E, a Hameg HM504-2 scope, 2 PSUs, a hot air gun+soldering station, a dremel, a set of lindstrom cutters and other hand tools + lots and lots of components and junks...well my ebay feedback score (registered 2002) has jumped from 80 to over 300 just from buying and selling EE gear and components in the last 6 months...

[Rick]

I tried to replicate Dave benches (the only difference being the 2 longitudinal planks to avoid sagging in the middle) and I got ripped off by the carpenter so I built my second bench myself for 1/3 of the price of the first one. Besides that 90 cm height is too much for me may be Dave is tall I don't know. So the second bench is only 80 cm high. Everything included I spent $3500 so far... and I still have no oscilloscope, no frequency counter, no signal generator, no antistatic mat, no desoldering station. This is to say I am not working yet... I must say I paid may be 1/3 of that amount for shipping stuff from USA. Too many multimeters, and at least 5 of them (bench ones) bought for repairs.

[quarks]

I joined (two years ago) and bought quite a few things directly inspired/influenced by EEVblog. Right now I look for more Calibration/Reference components.  If I can get what would like to have, it will sure do a lot of damage to my bank account. But I do not really count the $, because I discover so many interesting aspects, learn new things and finally have a lot fun with it.