I do believe I got a good deal.

[allanw]

Check out my incredible luck. Picked up all of this off my local Craigslist for $500.





Modern $10k scope + 4 500MHz probes. 350MHz, 2.5GS/s.
Fluke 87-V with Pomona lead set.

[.o:0|O|0:o.]

Did you have to fight a crowd of people off for it first? (Lucky bugger!) 

.o:0|O|0:o.

[inse]

It's not a good deal, it's a perfekt deal!

Seems like the seller had no idea of what he was selling.

...but it was his own, wasn't it?

[mikeselectricstuff]

I'd be rather wary about letting anyone know the serial number....

[allanw]

The guy knew exactly what he was selling, and knew his stuff. Says he was switching over to LabView-based scopes so he was getting rid of this one. Sounds crazy to me but whatever

I'm not sure why he was willing to let it go for so cheap. I was lucky to have replied to the post first, because he still sold it to me despite way higher offers from other people.

[Time]

stolen

[allanw]

Serial number is C020122. Bring it on

Scope reports powered on 75 times, last self-calibrated June 2009, and has been turned on for only two hours since then. A little strange I guess.

[Time]

God, you are so lucky! I hate you.

[just]

This scope was listed here also, for a few hours maybe, but someone deleted the post. And it is still on craigslist.

[Neilm]

That is a faster scope than I have at work!

Neil

[armandas]

The guy knew exactly what he was selling, and knew his stuff. Says he was switching over to LabView-based scopes so he was getting rid of this one. Sounds crazy to me but whatever

Utter buls*it. But I can't blame you, I don't think I would care either Do a review for us, if you have time!

[EEVblog]

Holy crap!
There is one on ebay for $10,700
I recon you could get $6000 for it pretty easily.
This is where you start to think - now if I sold this on ebay for $6K, I could buy a really shit hot brand new scope for $3K and pocket the difference...

In fact my wife wouldn't let me keep such and expensive instrument if she knew how much I could get for it on ebay!

Personally, I'd sell it. After all, how often are you going to need that sort of performance? And if you do you'd likely be better off (financially) simply renting a scope of that performance when you need it.

Dave.

[allanw]

I made the initial post a week ago but deleted it shortly afterwards to enhance my chances of getting the scope

It's very tempting for me to sell it but I figure it's a nice investment for the next 5-10 years. Not sure what I'd do with the money anyway. Hell, one of my goals was to make enough cash to buy a scope like this anyway

edit: haha, I love the poll. Hilarious Dave.

[TopherTheME]

holy freeken crap!

[JohnS_AZ]

In fact my wife wouldn't let me keep such and expensive instrument if she knew how much I could get for it on ebay!

*LOL*  A few years ago I was in a Goodwill thrift store when they rolled out some new 'stuff'. On the top of the cart was a Leitz LaborLux binocular microscope. It had the eye pieces, bottom light, top (polarized) light, all 5 objectives (10X through 1000X), and a camera mount. Snagged it for $30 bucks. When my wife looked it up on online she nagged me for weeks to sell the thing. It brought in $1,600 on eBay, of which I used $300 to buy another microscope. $300 when into my "hobby" fund, and the rest went into the household accounts.

As for that O-Scope, I'd sell it too ... after playing with it for a week or so. :-)

[mikeselectricstuff]

Keep it - once you''ve used a nice scope you hate using cheap ones. I have an Agilent MSO6034A, and using any other scope makes my skin crawl...
Kit like this hold its value well, so it's like money in the bank, except that you can play with it. Or do useful work.
 

[MrPlacid]

Wow, and I thought I got a good deal on ebay with this S2405 for $69 including shipping.

Some guys got all the luck

[EEVblog]

It's very tempting for me to sell it but I figure it's a nice investment for the next 5-10 years. Not sure what I'd do with the money anyway. Hell, one of my goals was to make enough cash to buy a scope like this anyway

I ask again "how often are you going to need that sort of performance?" :->

I could afford a scope like that if I really wanted to (and I'd love to), but there is no way in hell I'd ever bring myself to spend my own money to get one! Because deep down I know I simply will never need the performance.

When I get something like this (and it's happened often actually), I always check out what I can get for it on ebay and then ask myself "If I had that amount of cash, would I hand it over to buy this exact thing?" If the answer is no, as it almost always is, then I sell it.

You have maybe $6000-$7000 easy in your pocket right now, would you seriously buy this same scope with that money?
I recon you could buy another scope almost as good for half the money you'd get for this one.

Kinda reminds me of the contestants on Deal or No Deal who have "won" $20000 and then risk it with 50/50 odds to gain maybe an extra $10000. If you walked up to them on the street and offered then the same gamble, they'd laugh in your face. But at the time their minds think that $20000 is "play" money when they are on the show. Crazy stuff!

I once had a top of the range Audio Precision Analyser in my home lab http://ap.com/products/2700
Awesome bit of kit, I loved it. But the value was simply too great to keep it, it was worth more than a new car.

Dave.

[allanw]

Well in my previous topic I was picking up voltage spikes of 300MHz from my switched mode constant current supply. It was only because I had a 400MHz analog scope that I was able to even see them. It'd be nice to have a digital version of it.

I suppose I could sell it and get a $3000 300MHz scope or something, but there probably aren't any around.

And the huge 10" screen and all the fancy waveform viewing features are so nice...

Anyway as a college student I don't really need much in terms of spending money. The most expensive things I buy are to support the electronics hobby.

[Psi]

Hm.. keep/sell, It's such a hard decision and i'm not even the one who got it

If i didnt already have a good setup I'd probably sell the scope and use all the money to buy a really good collection of cheaper test gear and tools.
I mean $6k+ would get you a HUGE collection of gear that IMHO would be more useful than one AWESOME scope.
You could make a fully kitted out electronics desk + rigol scope, siggen, two psus, two fluke dmm, hotairrework, soldering, variac, LCR, usb logic analyser etc.. plus a good collection of good quality tools and a few parts kits for caps/res/diodes etc..

However, it is an awesome scope so if you already have a good electronic desk/setup or you need, or think you will need that kind or performance, then by all means keep it. It will make you happy every time you look at it

[EEVblog]

Well in my previous topic I was picking up voltage spikes of 300MHz from my switched mode constant current supply. It was only because I had a 400MHz analog scope that I was able to even see them. It'd be nice to have a digital version of it.

I suppose I could sell it and get a $3000 300MHz scope or something, but there probably aren't any around.

Both Rigol and Lecroy have new 300MHz scopes around the $2000 mark.
Sure, much smaller memory, slower update and screen etc, but is that worth say $5K extra out of your own pocket?

Heck, here is 4 channel 500MHz Agilent Infinium for $2650:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Agilent-hp-54825N-500MHz-Infinium-Oscilloscope-54825A-/200522099008?pt=BI_Oscilloscopes&hash=item2eb00c6940
and another:
http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-Agilent-54825A-Infinium-Oscilloscope-500MHz-4-Ch-/190466618847?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c58b1f5df

Not that I'm trying to convince you you'd be crazy not to sell it or anything ;-)

Dave.

[.o:0|O|0:o.]

I recon you could get $6000 for it pretty easily.

With QE and the depreciating dollar, why sell today when tomorrow you can sell it for more (...or for food)  

In other words, I think it would be a good investment to keep it for a while.

.o:0|O|0:o.

[Hypernova]

IMO it's like a gold brick, if you don't sell it it will do you as much good as a lead brick.

But it's soooooo nice to look at 

[.o:0|O|0:o.]

Actually, on second thoughts, sell immediately as Dave suggested and then buy a cheaper scope immediately and also a gold brick with the difference.

.o:0|O|0:o.

[allanw]

Those ebay scopes you listed do look nice... this is a tough decision.

Are you certain this scope would even go for above $5k? It's never been sold on ebay before. And with taxes and ebay/paypal fees it'd lose more than 30% I think...