Ordering a Rigol in Canada

[Alex Eisenhut]

Because of the weak dollar and shipping costs, turns out it's actually cheaper to buy a Rigol in Canada. Assuming, of course, the dealer replies to my email.

Anyone ever deal with Allied up here? I've ordered parts before, expensive Amphenol connectors, it went well.

But I emailed the Allied rep for Montreal about buying a scope, no reply, nothing after two days.

So Canucks, you ordered from Canada or the US?

[TheSteve]

You could just buy from Rigol Canada(Electro-Meters). We've bought some gear from them at work with no problem. Or buy from tequipment, get the eevblog discount, ship to a US address,pick it up and hope for no tax when crossing the border - this assumes you are close to the border.

[Silveruser]

I purchased a DP832 from RAE in Halifax unfortunately  had to wait a couple months for the boat to get in from China. There was none in stock at the US distributor and ElectroMeters aka http://www.rigolcanada.com/ was out as well. Pricing was okay just had to wait for the boat .

George

[cidcorp]

Because of the weak dollar and shipping costs, turns out it's actually cheaper to buy a Rigol in Canada. Assuming, of course, the dealer replies to my email.

Anyone ever deal with Allied up here? I've ordered parts before, expensive Amphenol connectors, it went well.

But I emailed the Allied rep for Montreal about buying a scope, no reply, nothing after two days.

So Canucks, you ordered from Canada or the US?

I'm going to get flamed for this , but I bought 3 pieces of Rigol gear from Canadian distributors (not Allied) - My recommendation it check Batronix or Tequipment (do the exchange, and
shipping) and I bet EVEN with coming into the country and *possibly* being charged the HST...would still beat their pricing (Canadian)... just my observations lately, especially with some of
the Black-<Fill in the Day> sales.  Or I guess the best option is to ask for a quote from all the Canadian Authorized Sources and then tequiment (US), batronix (US), and saelig (Germany).  Pick the
non-domestic only if you are saving ALOT, otherwise $20-30 and easily be negotiated to keep it local. 

rigolcanada.com (authorized distributor, NOT the Canadian Sub - bit deceiving).
TMetrix or www.aca.ca - online quotes www.acaprices.com (authorized Canadian Distributor)
www.test-pal.com

All that I can think of... Some amazon sellers sell, but I assume that is grey market (some will ship to Canada).

Chris

[Alex Eisenhut]

399$ US is 532$ CDN, EM sells it for 507$ CDN and 19$ shipping. Teq wants 115$ for UPS shipping and who knows what UPS shenanigans will happen at the border. Teq's free shipping is only within the US.

[TheSteve]

Based on exchange alone the price is about the same shipped to a US address as you can get a discount from tequipment - so the only possibly savings is the tax, if they decide not to make you pay at the border. In BC you'd have a 50/50 shot at the 376 USD price right now.
So if you aren't near the border buying in Canada makes sense - until they raise prices again anyway. They have been slowly increasing as the dollar weakens, I'd expect another increase pretty quick.

[pickle9000]

I purchased my Rigol from Teq but it was more expensive (about 30 bucks) over a Canadian dealer. The diff was that I have purchased from Teq before and will again. I perceive them to give me good service so don't mind paying a bit extra for that. Very quick replies and fast shipping. 

[Bud]

UPS or FedEx will hit you with their brokerage fees. I can't remember about Purolator. Shipping by USPS will add Customs handling fee at the border, though amount not that insane as brokerage. HST has always been charged, I cant remember a single case when it had not (Ontario). Also, should you need to send back to the US it will cost.

EDIT: FedEx bastards add another fee on top if they do not have your credit card registered with them to pay brokerage/customs, they call it disbursement fee.
EDIT: And I recall they both add fuel surcharge fee. It is always fun to read their invoice.

[Bud]

Anyone ever deal with Allied up here?

Allied is a big industrial vendor, I did not have problems with them.

But I emailed the Allied rep for Montreal about buying a scope, no reply, nothing after two days.

Better call, same for any vendor, this is quicker. But once I bought something they assigned a account manager who emailed me with his direct contact shortly after the purchase.

[RobertBG]

I can't speak for these companies but in the automotive products that I deal with I've had some dealers not honoring the prices listed on their websites.    I doubt this will be a problem for you but as others have said it may be wise to pick up the phone and call in order to lock down a price.

[Terry Lingle]

I did the price compare thing when I bought my scope.
  ACA   was about $25  CDN cheaper once I converted all prices to  To my door.
I have been dealing with them for about 45 years whithout any issues.

[Alex Eisenhut]

Well the Canadian dollar keeps sinking. At this rate (in both senses of the expression) I'm going to buy it locally since the local price isn't going up. I suppose once they're out of stock they'll have to increase their price.

I was told the same story at my bike shop for the same reason. This spring the dollar was still strong and all the stuff they had in the store was bought with the stronger dollar. They told me to buy tires, chain rings and what not now, because in 2016 they're going to have to increase their prices at least 20%...

Oh... Canada!!!!

[TheSteve]

With the cost of fuel driving from BC to Portland would hardly be practical unless you wanted to make a weekend vacation of it. If you buy from a place like tequipment you can have the product shipped free to a parcel service at the border and pay 3 bucks to pick it up - much quicker and cheaper.
As previously mentioned being the Cdn dollar keeps getting weaker its currently cheaper to buy in Canada until all of the vendors raise prices again.

Rigol NA's warehouse is in (well, not, but very close to) Portland, so it should arrive Canada pretty fast and cheaply.

Or, you can drive down I5 to buy it in person if you live in BC or nearby.

PS. Now Rigol NA has a clearance 2072A for $714, and I assume it is still hackable.

[Alex Eisenhut]

As previously mentioned being the Cdn dollar keeps getting weaker its currently cheaper to buy in Canada until all of the vendors raise prices again.

Yup, it sucks. Luckily I bought most of the ridiculous things I wanted when the dollar was strong. Quadcopters, 1:6 truggy 4x4 (totally absurd but fun), etc.. etc..

The flipside is all the Tek plugins I have are worth more. I have 4 1S1s for example. They're difficult to get working correctly since much of the test equipment required per Tek is non-existent. At least with another scope I have a chance of repairing these little monsters and getting them working to be worth selling.

[TheSteve]

As previously mentioned being the Cdn dollar keeps getting weaker its currently cheaper to buy in Canada until all of the vendors raise prices again.

Yup, it sucks. Luckily I bought most of the ridiculous things I wanted when the dollar was strong. Quadcopters, 1:6 truggy 4x4 (totally absurd but fun), etc.. etc..

The flipside is all the Tek plugins I have are worth more. I have 4 1S1s for example. They're difficult to get working correctly since much of the test equipment required per Tek is non-existent. At least with another scope I have a chance of repairing these little monsters and getting them working to be worth selling.

Yeah, we have to try to find some positives - I've been selling off all kinds of RC equipment into the US as I've been hording stuff for years.

[Alex Eisenhut]

Well I put in the order on Sunday with Electro-Meters and Fed Ex missed me today. My mistake for not putting my work address for the shipping... 

Great communication with E-M, super fast and no nonsense.

[PoV]

Yarg! I wish I was looking in to this a year ago, back when our dollar wasn't so awful. 2016's USD->CAD, wow.

I'm totally a hobbyist, but after much homework on scopes, I've pretty-much accepted that I'll only be happy with a Rigol 1054z. Between stores, Amazon, and eBay, this $399 USD scope floats between $550 and $600 CAD, plus tax and/or a border fee (another $70-$80 in Ontario) and shipping ($20+). Nearly $700, ouch. 

Anyway, I'm more just complaining. I've been able to upgrade the rest of my gear for very reasonable prices (from old Radio Shack junk bought a decade ago). Other than my bench power supply, everything has been under $100. But apparently if you want a good scope, you better brace for impact, in the wallet. 

[gardner]

After hemming and hawing for over a year, I have finally pulled the trigger on a DS1054Z from Electro-Meters.
I was trying measure the period of a waveform at 50ms/div on my CRO and just thought "F-this, I'm getting a better scope"