HP 3457A or HP 34401A?

[Scottjd]

Nice to see your baby has arrived. ^^

Hmm one of my 34401A is serial 3146A714xx and was made at around 1996ish, so yours is probably even older than mine by a little bit. My firmware was 07-05-02 IIRC.

Was the cal data shown in the video all that they gave you? Or is your current cal certificate on the way to you in the mail?
For the one shown in the video, I think they didn't even engage 6.5digit mode, it's almost useless. (bit of an exaggeration, but still, you paid for it so you expect to get your money's worth!)

I do have the NIST certificate and calibration data that was part of the price. The extra I paid for was the data I showed.
These were the readings before he calibrated it. Showing were it stood before the calibration and knowing the last time calibrated gave me an idea of the drifting. But after looking at that, it doesn't look like this things drifts that much anymore.  And thats exactly what I was looking for.

Yea, I really want to open it up and find the date, oh well. Next year.....
Maybe I can pull some more detailed information on the GBIP once I set it up. According to the manual it only displays 12 digits, but may have other notes and lines in the data that can only be seen over the GBIP interface.

[deadlylover]

I do have the NIST certificate and calibration data that was part of the price. The extra I paid for was the data I showed.
These were the readings before he calibrated it. Showing were it stood before the calibration and knowing the last time calibrated gave me an idea of the drifting. But after looking at that, it doesn't look like this things drifts that much anymore.  And thats exactly what I was looking for.

If it's not too much trouble, could you please take a quick picture or two of the current cal certificate? I just want to see what the quality is like, in case I might order from their eBay store in the future. Make sure to block any names/address from the certificate.

[PedroDaGr8]

For those in the USA, Global Test Equipment is doing a $75 special for Cal+Adj with Data (plus they pay for UPS ground shipping back to you). Just a heads up. Their special includes the 34401A, Keithley 2000 and some others plus a few counters.

I posted more details about it here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/$75-calibration-with-adjust-and-data-for-a-variety-of-multimeterscountersetc/

[Scottjd]

I do have the NIST certificate and calibration data that was part of the price. The extra I paid for was the data I showed.
These were the readings before he calibrated it. Showing were it stood before the calibration and knowing the last time calibrated gave me an idea of the drifting. But after looking at that, it doesn't look like this things drifts that much anymore.  And thats exactly what I was looking for.

If it's not too much trouble, could you please take a quick picture or two of the current cal certificate? I just want to see what the quality is like, in case I might order from their eBay store in the future. Make sure to block any names/address from the certificate.

Sorry, I had forgotten to do this for you. Here is the picture of the cal cert.

[fabioadriano]

Hi dears, i found this thread when i'm searching info about GREAT HP3457A ... 
& so i found a competition between two GREAT instruments
(a) HP3457A
&
(b) HP34401A

I have them both at home & i use them at work (here : http://www.inrim.it/gen/index.shtml#url1)

... I think that THERE IS NO COMPETITION between (a) & (b) .... BUT if the rule is 'only one' , not even think about one minute my choice is: HP3457A !!!!

surely HP34401A is 'smaller'  is newer  and is 'easier to use'  but ... HP3457A is more accurate ..  nothing else !!! 

p.s. i don't like competition ...this is ONLY my preference & use at work !!! (i.e. IF i MUST measure OUT of the laboratory sometimes i use also (b) )

[Scottjd]

Thanks for your thought. I didn't know the poll was still open and forgot to set and expiration date, so it's closed now since I have already bought one. Price was some of the factor, but size also made part of the decision for a home hobbiest. The bench is running out of room, especially after getting the microscope.
It was more asking for opinions from people that have used both, not a competition. They are both great units. I just couldn't pass up a deal for the 34401A  I made with a seller that added the bumpers, dropped the price a bit to match another post, included calibration before shipped to me, and another calibration a year after as long as I pay shipping to them. This way I can compare the cal data and see if it still drifting at all over a year of me using it. In fact the calibration done before mine when it shipped was in 2012 and it was still in spec. I was looking for an older one that hopefully stopped drifting. Being a home hobby I don't want to pay for a calibration every year, and it looks like I found one. But I will know for sure in 6 months when I send it back out to the same service center. And the GBIP works great once I found a USB adapter and is more enough for my needs. The only thing I've noticed is the rear and front ports are off a little with added resistance to the rear. But this switch is a common issue and not a big concern for me since I don't use the rear ports.

I just ordered the Rigol DP820, I like the fact I will be able to calibrate this myself with some script people have wrote and the 34401A. So now using this meter I don't have to worry so much about having to pay for calibration on other items I buy as long as I know calibration procedures are available or a script to make it go faster. The last thing on the list is a arbitrary function/signal generator. But I have time to figure that out for what I mainly tinker and work on.

Scott

Hi dears, i found this thread when i'm searching info about GREAT HP3457A ... 
& so i found a competition between two GREAT instruments
(a) HP3457A
&
(b) HP34401A

I have them both at home & i use them at work (here : http://www.inrim.it/gen/index.shtml#url1)

... I think that THERE IS NO COMPETITION between (a) & (b) .... BUT if the rule is 'only one' , not even think about one minute my choice is: HP3457A !!!!

surely HP34401A is 'smaller'  is newer  and is 'easier to use'  but ... HP3457A is more accurate ..  nothing else !!! 

p.s. i don't like competition ...this is ONLY my preference & use at work !!! (i.e. IF i MUST measure OUT of the laboratory sometimes i use also (b) )