ITT Liquidation -- List of bargains

[JenniferG]

Was wondering if people would like to share all the ITT liquidation bargains they've come across.

I'm interested in the GDM-8251A multimeter.  Seems like a bargain at $100-120 on ebay.

[nctnico]

I'm eyeballing this one too but I'm going to wait until the price drops to $75.

[JenniferG]

Actually did even more searching here and found a list that someone else has already started generating for this ITT liquidation:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/a-list-of-equipment-from-the-itt-bankruptcy/msg1116804/#msg1116804

[JenniferG]

I see a lot of bids going on for the Instek GOS-6112 oscilloscopes on ebay.   



Would this be much better than my Tektronix 2225 for audio electronics work?  I don't need 100mhz.. well not now at least.. maybe later when I get into other electronics.

[JenniferG]

I'm eyeballing this one too but I'm going to wait until the price drops to $75.

Do you think it might drop this low?  The ebay suppliers have BOATLOADS of these don't they?  One guy says "make offer".  Tempted to offer $75!

[JenniferG]

I am just starting out and looking to build up my lil' lab.  So looking for any deals I can.  So I really appreciate all/any of the replies, related to this liquidation.

I currently have:  Fluke 8050A, HP 6236B Triple Power Supply, $17 capacitance meter, Velleman soldering iron (adjustable), Tektronix 2225 (50mhz scope).  Planning on going through all the chapters is "Art of Electronics" if possible.

[nctnico]

For me the reasoning is like this: including shipping a GDM-8251A multimeter for $110 costs the same as a new Vici8145. I'm not going into a debate which one is better but for me the value for money is the same.

[mtdoc]

Would this be much better than my Tektronix 2225 for audio electronics work?  I don't need 100mhz.. well not now at least.. maybe later when I get into other electronics.

No!.  The Tektronix 2225 is an excellent analog scope with plenty of bandwidth for most audio work.

Save your money for a modern DSO and hang onto your Tek 2225. You'll be glad you did.

[rstofer]

I was just looking at this on eBay.  It seems like a very good price for a meter with better accuracy than my $400 Fluke 189 (a gift).  I can't get terribly excited about more resolution when there isn't anything I can do about it.  Do I really need micrometer accuracy for something I'll cut with an axe?  Truth be known, I use my EEVBlog Brymen BM235 for just about everything.  It checks out fine again my DMMCheck calibrator - not nearly as tight as my 189 but within the rated spec

When looking at specs, it's nice to see very small percentage error but watch out for the digits or error.  It can turn out that an entire decade is meaningless.

100.000mV 1µV 120.000mV 199.999mV 0.012%+8

Page 115 here:
http://eeshop.unl.edu/pdf/GDM-8255AEE1_manual.pdf

This is from the GDM 8200 manual.  With 8 digits of error, the entire last decade doesn't mean a whole lot, on that range, at that update rate.  Instead of 120.000mV it would be more correct to think in terms of 120.00 mV.  That may still be just fine, and it is the worst DC digits error case, but it is something to look at when comparing meters.  I was looking at a couple of handhelds the other day and one of them had horrible digits of error.

In the end, that GDM-8251A is selling at a very attractive price.

ETA:

On reflection, the price was too good to pass up.  That meter is priced in the mid-level handheld range.  I'm not sure why I need it but I'm sure to get some use out of it.

[JenniferG]

I like the display on the GDM-8251A.  The fact that it isn't LCD is appealing. Should last longer no?  Easier to read.

[rstofer]

Would this be much better than my Tektronix 2225 for audio electronics work?  I don't need 100mhz.. well not now at least.. maybe later when I get into other electronics.

Given that you have an excellent scope for general use, I'm going to go back to the comments I made yesterday about the Digilent Analog Discovery.  And this time I want to be more specific to your work with audio. 

You will want to check distortion and that usually involves FFT.  I don't think your existing scope does that but most DSOs do.  To date, I am underwhelmed with the FFT on my DS1054Z.  I suspect I'm messing up but within the frequency range of audio (and higher), the AD does a magnificent job.

Here's a thread where I posted a picture of the FFT of a square wave:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/realtime-fft-for-0-30khz-best-bang-for-the-buck/msg1128720/#msg1128720

The other thing you will want to do is check amplitude and phase over a range of frequencies for filters and amplifiers.  Bode' plots, that kind of thing.  Scopes don't do well with this but the AD does a magnificent job.

It's odd I can't find a post showing the Network displays.

Oh, and you will probably need a signal source (AD has 2) perhaps a scope with two channels and single-sweep capability (got it!) or a couple of DMMs (usurps the scope inputs).

[usagi]

I like the display on the GDM-8251A.  The fact that it isn't LCD is appealing. Should last longer no?  Easier to read.

vfd was a big attraction for me. given a choice i'll pick vfd over LED or LCD.

part of the reason I like my crusty old fluke 45.

[jorgp2]

So auctioned items already being sold on Ebay?

Do they explicitly state that theyre from the ITT auction?

[JenniferG]

So auctioned items already being sold on Ebay?

Do they explicitly state that theyre from the ITT auction?

No, I don't believe so.  But I assume most of them are from the liquidation.  E.g. I see one auction with an opening bid of $500, of 37 of the same scopes everyone is bidding on.

[xrunner]

I got a GDM-8251A a few weeks ago, and the seller I used now says 65 sold and more available. Man they must have a BUNCH of these out there! 

[JenniferG]

I got a GDM-8251A a few weeks ago, and the seller I used now says 65 sold and more available. Man they must have a BUNCH of these out there! 

I see one for $105 including shipping.  I should buy one no?  Fluke is only 4.5 and this one can be calibrated by myself with just a 10v reference it seems (along with a diy usb cal  key -- 100 ohm resister between pins 1 and 4 I read).

[xrunner]

I see one for $105 including shipping.  I should buy one no? 

Hello Jennifer glad you joined the forum.

Well, I'm a TEA (test equipment addict) so of course I'm going to say yes, buy one. 

But really, its a very nice DMM and I don't think you will be sorry you got one at that price.

[JenniferG]

I see one for $105 including shipping.  I should buy one no? 

Hello Jennifer glad you joined the forum.

Well, I'm a TEA (test equipment addict) so of course I'm going to say yes, buy one. 

But really, its a very nice DMM and I don't think you will be sorry you got one at that price.

Thanks, the ebay ad says it was pulled from a working environment and that it is in good cosmetic condition.  I am assuming it might not even need calibration since it was pulled from working environment?   Are they really as easyto calibrate as I read? With just a single 10v refernce source?  amaizng.  Read the fluke 8050a manual and it needs fancy machine for it providing voltages in 4 different steps.   1000V even! wow.

I emailed Fluke and asked them if they could even calibrate this ancient 8050A I am getting, and how much it costs.  They said to email them back with a serial number .  I guess I will when I get it.  BUt I imagine they can't do it or it will cost too much.

Eventually after I get some money saved after buying all these books, components and test gear, I'll buy the eevblog bryman 235 meter.  Looks sweet and solid.  I bet they become collector's items later.

EDIT: lol never thought I'd be so excited at the prospect of a high digit high count accurate multimeter.  (Reminds me of that SNL skit with Arneson & Malkovich: "It's a calculator"!)   Just learned about the importance of a good multimeter a few days back. Always had the $5-$15 dollar ones laying around which I used.

[Housedad]

In January, I bought a few things from the ITT selloff.

I have two of the Instek GDM-8251A DMM's.  I hooked them up to a 10 volt reference and they turned out decent.  Further testing on 2 Vishay .01% resistors  and they were within specs.  I am pretty happy with them.   The datalogging software is available at Instek and works fine.

i also got a Rigol DG1022 and it is working well.  No problems.   There has not been a lot of time for me to test it but at least all the functions work and my new 1054z shows good traces  from it and at frequency. 

Two Instek GPD-3303S Power supplies.  I really like these.  Just the right size and fairly quiet with all the features I need.

One Instek GOS-6112 100 MHz analog oscilloscope.   Again, it works well so far, and what test I have been able to do show no problems. 

All of the equipment I got was in really nice condition externally without scratches, excessive dirt, or missing/broken parts.   Almost like they were on a shelf and never used.

i wish I had better standards to test them against, but for value vs price I thought they were all a pretty good deal.   Looking at the prices on Ebay, it looks like some items are getting scarce and the prices are going up.


I wrote this on another thread about the multimeters:

I think I lucked out.   I ordered and received a battery powered AD855BQ voltage reference from China (yeah, I know)  Anyway, it came with a supposed readout from a Agilent 34401a.  ( whoopy doo  a measurement that may or not be calibrated)   They showed a measurement of 10.00039 and 5.00057.

Going by the Ad855 Datasheet,  It should not be any more than +/- 1mv off of 10v and 5v.    I hooked up the +15v and -15v to the board from my power supply  (Instek GDP-3303s) and let the AD855BQ and DMM's warmup for two hours and  checked the voltages.   Meters set to slow mode.  Using standard Probemaster 8008 leads 60" long. 

unit 1:

AD588   5v:     4.9999v
AD588 10v:     9.9993v


Unit 2:

AD588   5v:     4.9999v
AD588 10v:     9.9990v

I know this is only a relative comparison with nothing verifiable, but even given the GDM-8251 tolerance of .012% +5, I'm pretty happy with it.

[innkeeper]

made an offer and picked up a GDM-8251A for 100 bucks plus shipping, few bucks off the asking price but hey every dollar counts..., really like it so far, and very clean. ... debating on picking up a gos-6112 scope while the prices last, my old balentine is showing it's age.

Also picked up a very clean Instek GPD-3303s ...i like the resolution on the voltage and current readouts, and seems accurate,  very nice supply i might get another.

[GreyWoolfe]

Was wondering if people would like to share all the ITT liquidation bargains they've come across.

I'm interested in the GDM-8251A multimeter.  Seems like a bargain at $100-120 on ebay.

I found one for $105 plus $19 for shipping, offered $90 plus shipping and bought it at that price.  It looks hardly used.

[Co6aka]

Tempted to offer $75!

FWIW, if one has a genuine interest then one should submit an offer; nothing ventured, noting gained; worst possible outcome is your offer is declined or countered. Business is business, emotion belongs elsewhere.

[bitseeker]

I see a lot of bids going on for the Instek GOS-6112 oscilloscopes on ebay.   

Would this be much better than my Tektronix 2225 for audio electronics work?

Keep the Tek. When you outgrowing it, you'll know what you need and there may be a newer generation of scopes to choose from.

I like the display on the GDM-8251A.  The fact that it isn't LCD is appealing. Should last longer no?  Easier to read.

VFD's are great to look at. Excellent contrast and viewing angles. All my bench DMMs, except one, use VFD. They do fade over time (as do OLEDs). However, I wouldn't worry too much about that. I have some equipment that's a couple decades old and the displays still look good because they weren't left on 24x7. Unless you're going to have a VFD running all the time, it shouldn't be a problem.

...the ebay ad says it was pulled from a working environment

This is marketing double-talk. If an instrument in a lab dies and is removed, it too was from a working environment. The condition of the environment says nothing about the functional condition of the instrument in question. It just sounds impressive.

...and that it is in good cosmetic condition.

That's meaningful and is in line with items I've seen folks here receive. Since many of these meters are being resold from the ITT bankruptcy liquidation, most of them have been in a classroom setting and will likely be quite clean. I've only seen a few examples that had cosmetic damage (usually power supplies), possibly from poor handling during packing/removal from ITT.

I am assuming it might not even need calibration since it was pulled from working environment?

From what I've seen, the calibration on these has been good. Again, the environment doesn't imply anything with regard to the operational condition. Buyers' experiences have indicated that they've arrived in good working order, so your chances are good that no adjustment will be necessary.

I emailed Fluke and asked them if they could even calibrate this ancient 8050A I am getting, and how much it costs.  They said to email them back with a serial number .  I guess I will when I get it.  BUt I imagine they can't do it or it will cost too much.

Fluke multimeters are pretty well-known for holding their calibration for decades. You'll probably find that it needs no adjustment.

EDIT: lol never thought I'd be so excited at the prospect of a high digit high count accurate multimeter.  (Reminds me of that SNL skit with Arneson & Malkovich: "It's a calculator"!)   Just learned about the importance of a good multimeter a few days back. Always had the $5-$15 dollar ones laying around which I used.

I think you'll find, as I do, that the dual display is one of the best features of a meter like this.

[bitseeker]

Was wondering if people would like to share all the ITT liquidation bargains they've come across.

I'm interested in the GDM-8251A multimeter.  Seems like a bargain at $100-120 on ebay.

I found one for $105 plus $19 for shipping, offered $90 plus shipping and bought it at that price.  It looks hardly used.

That's a good deal. I'd be surprised if they accept a lower price than that since the meters are selling well at over $100.

[bitseeker]

On reflection, the price was too good to pass up.  That meter is priced in the mid-level handheld range.  I'm not sure why I need it but I'm sure to get some use out of it.

Spoken like a true TEA member. Of course, a bench meter won't run out of battery power in the middle of logging measurements. You do need to log some measurements and don't want to be interrupted, right? Right!

[gnavigator1007]

I previously posted elsewhere about my success in the 1st ITT Tech auction. It was my first time doing one of these things. The bulk of the schools' inventory went in 3 large auctions (Florida, Maryland, & Oklahoma). I've already sold everything I don't plan to keep aside from maybe 8 Rigol 1102E's & a couple GDS-2102's. I put in some bids in the last auction in Lake Mary, Florida but was unwilling to chase the lots further at the prices they reached. The last few lots seemed to mostly be leftover facilities that they were unable to relocate inventory in time for the earlier larger auctions. The last lots went for prices that will not be very competitive with what was already up on eBay. I recognized several bidder numbers from the first ITT Tech that had won some of the largest lots and they all wisely bowed out early on as bids got a little silly. Can't be sure, but the GDM-8251A and the GPD-3303S seemed to be the 2 most prevalent items across all auctions.  The largest lot I remember seeing of 8251A's was 120 units. 3303S was 100 units. Have to consider many more were sold as single items or in lots of 2,3,4,5,8,10,20,& 40. I know not everything that sold was destined for eBay, but there are a few sellers I've been watching that I suspect have larger inventory waiting for everyone else to sell out so they can try a higher price without as much competition. Cost of storage must not be much of a factor for them or they paid too much to begin with. Other sellers seem to be more into passing these on as quickly as they can and move on to the next thing even if they take a loss here and there. I still haven't seen many of certain models (like the GDS-830 or some of the GW Instek or TTI spectrum analysers) go up for sale yet. The original eBay sellers are probably getting low by now on things like the Rigol DG-1022's/A's, DS1102E's/D's, and maybe GW Instek GDM-8251A's, GPD-3303S, GDS-2102. I think there should be a good number of GOS-6112 oscilloscopes around for awhile.

[innkeeper]

I see a lot of bids going on for the Instek GOS-6112 oscilloscopes on ebay.   

Would this be much better than my Tektronix 2225 for audio electronics work?  I don't need 100mhz.. well not now at least.. maybe later when I get into other electronics.

Bandwidth considerations aside ( you stated it isn't important to you)

The Tektronix 2225 is one of the few scopes with a 500 uV/Div range. simply put is one of the best scopes i've used for detecting low voltage noise.
its a keeper for sure. don't give that up even if you do go for one of those Insteks

The GW Instek goes down to 2mV/Div. so from that perspective, it is just not as good as the Tektronix.
on the flip side, the GW Instek has a few nice on screen display features.

cant ever have enough test gear and the price is right.

if it were me, and i could only have one, id keep the Tektronix.

[JPortici]

I got
a GDM-8251A (better calibrated than my multimeters. phew)
a GPD-3303S (the version that doesn't overshoot)
for about 400 euros (200 + 120 shipping + customs)

a facebook friend i pointed out to the auction got
- Multimeter
- Power supply
- signal generator
- DSO
for just 500 after shipping to italy and taxes. C R A Z Y.

[JenniferG]

I got
a GDM-8251A (better calibrated than my multimeters. phew)
a GPD-3303S (the version that doesn't overshoot)
for about 400 euros (200 + 120 shipping + customs)

a facebook friend i pointed out to the auction got
- Multimeter
- Power supply
- signal generator
- DSO
for just 500 after shipping to italy and taxes. C R A Z Y.

I am wanting the GPD-3303S.  How do I make sure I get the version that doesn't overshoot.  I definitely don't want that!

I want both the GPD-3303S and the GDM-8251A

[flash2b]

Check this post: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hp-6236b-triple-output-power-supply/msg1145140/#msg1145140

But I see that you already go the answer....

[tszaboo]

I just ordered a GPC-3020 for 70 EUR including shipping and import duty. And tempted to order a GDM-8251A. Damn you all.

And I also, dont need an universal counter. Why would I need an universal counter. It is rarely used. I really dont need an universal counter for 50 EUR!

[iainwhite]

I got:

Rigol DG1022A 2 Channel 25 MHz Waveform Generator for $159 + 15 shipping
GW Instek GDM-8251A Multimeter 120,000 count  for $105 + 19 shipping

Both are in fine condition. I'm very happy.