Brand new Agilent 34401A in Europe (France) (all gone now)

[bdunham7]

(Not my auction, I just noticed it.  Shipping is expensive to US, but for our European members these might be a deal.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/256738725639

[pac1085]

I saw that too and want one since its got the oval buttons that match my current one. 
Too bad on the shipping. I just had a Rhode and Schwarz upl shipped from Belgium to ny and they only charged me 70 euro so this $250 is pretty high.

[TobyG]

They quote 60$ to Germany, which is rather high, unless it's 24 hour express 

Should be a third, maybe half.

[Swake]

Shipping in France is more expensive than in Germany, but not this expensive indeed.
Somehow when I add one to my cart the shipping becomes 250$.

These meters are only available from the ebay.com site in $, they're not listed on the French, German or Belgian Ebay sites while are other items are offered by the same company. I guess it is a way to circumvent the VAT. As these are offered as 'new' normal VAT applies and according to European law this VAT must be included in the price. In case of sales to a company within the EU the intra-community rules apply, which means that this VAT must then be reduced from the sales price. I guess they don't want to lose another 20%.

These meters are offered on their site at 690€ as 'demonstration product in mint condition'. In my opinion this is not the same as 'new'. In the picture you can see that the packaging is missing the protective plastic sleeve around the instrument itself.

There is a listing on leboncoin.fr (French equivalent of kleinanzeigen.de) with the same pictures as the ebay listing for one of these meters at 450€: https://www.leboncoin.fr/ad/accessoires_informatique/2910403531

The company seems legit when searching for information through the VAT number.

I suggest you contact them directly: https://axitest.com

[Sorama]

So i contacted this company by mail whether they can make an invoice without vat and adapt the price likewise.

No reply as of yet.

[Sorama]

Damned.

I bought one.

 

[Swake]

 

It is a good price at 400$/€ for a nearly new one. 
What was the shipping cost for you?

[Sorama]

60€.
For once, Belgium was like the rest of the world 

But you were right…they ain’t (brand) new…but “as good as new”.
The seller is allright.
He did reply my mail saying he’s on holiday and won’t be able to ship before Friday if that would be a problem.

[pac1085]

He never replied to my question about the $250 shipping to the USA. So I just ordered a new DMM6500 instead, lol.

[Sorama]

They do seem to sell well: 11 pieces were sold in less than 24h.

[Kleinstein]

Normally the prices for used testinstruments are higher in the EU than in the US. So it makes relatively little sense to ship from the EU to the US. The price looks good for the EU, but not especially good for the US. The "new" should be read as not use and new old stock. The 34401 are no longer produced for quite some time and can well be 10 years old. So no more HP warranty.

[Sorama]

They are (way) better priced than most of the offerings you find on Ebay that are well used.

I've been using my Fluke 45 for almost 35 years...still doing what it has to do.
Although when repairing radio's, this DMM is annoying because of the high EMI it radiates in this particular FM range.

Wondering if this 34401A will have the same issue or not.   

[HighVoltage]

Typically, in Europe, a used and well-worn item is offered at this price.
Therefore, this represents an exceptional opportunity!

[AVGresponding]

They are (way) better priced than most of the offerings you find on Ebay that are well used.

I've been using my Fluke 45 for almost 35 years...still doing what it has to do.
Although when repairing radio's, this DMM is annoying because of the high EMI it radiates in this particular FM range.

Wondering if this 34401A will have the same issue or not.   

Highly unlikely, the 34401 power supplies use linear regulation, not an SMPS like the 45

[Sorama]

They are (way) better priced than most of the offerings you find on Ebay that are well used.

I've been using my Fluke 45 for almost 35 years...still doing what it has to do.
Although when repairing radio's, this DMM is annoying because of the high EMI it radiates in this particular FM range.

Wondering if this 34401A will have the same issue or not.   

Highly unlikely, the 34401 power supplies use linear regulation, not an SMPS like the 45

Welk, this buy is getting better by the day!

[bnz]

Schipping excludes "Belarus, France, Russian Federation, Ukraine" 

[coromonadalix]

use shipping forwarders ??

[Swake]

Schipping excludes "Belarus, France, Russian Federation, Ukraine" 

VAT evasion.... If they sell in France they have to make an invoice detailed with VAT. The price on EBAY must be VAT included. That means they would only get 400$ - 20% (standard vat rate in France).

[Freddy15]

If anyone want's to know how old they are: On last picture you see the certifacte of calibration and a barely readable Date of Calibration: 31May 2014.
You may guess the rest.....

MT
 

[nctnico]

It still is a lot of money for a DMM with very few features. Unless you really need the 6.5 digits (which I doubt in most cases), there are more modern meters with LAN connection, USB storage, capacitance measurement, higher current ranges, continuity beeper, bigger display, etc available in a similar price bracket although these will have a lower number of digits but are far more useful in a modern day lab.

[Sorama]

It still is a lot of money for a DMM with very few features. Unless you really need the 6.5 digits (which I doubt in most cases), there are more modern meters with LAN connection, USB storage, capacitance measurement, higher current ranges, continuity beeper, bigger display, etc available in a similar price bracket although these will have a lower number of digits but are far more useful in a modern day lab.

It does have a continuity beeper, even with selectable threshold (1 Ohm - 1000 Ohm).

[krish2487]

It still is a lot of money for a DMM with very few features. Unless you really need the 6.5 digits (which I doubt in most cases), there are more modern meters with LAN connection, USB storage, capacitance measurement, higher current ranges, continuity beeper, bigger display, etc available in a similar price bracket although these will have a lower number of digits but are far more useful in a modern day lab.

My thoughts exactly.... I was able to snag a KS 34460A for a little more money than asked in the listing..
Granted.. I might have gotten lucky.. but it came with the complete kit.. box... and all..
However, I must add, the listing was in the US and I got it delivered to a relative of mine.. and picked it up when I visited them a few months later..

[Hydron]

You'll be able to add a few extra features to these late-model ones: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hp-agilent-34401a-hidden-menu/msg4559242/#msg4559242

Agree that there are options out there with a lot of very useful upgrades over the classic 34401A, but they normally go for way more money, especially recently (e.g. DMM6500 costs about 4x this new and price went up at least a third in the last couple years, not sure about KS though you don't get any support/repair/calibration with them as a private buyer). My 34401A gets quite a bit of use alongside my DMM6500, and is even prefered for some stuff (e.g. long term logging when I want to use the DMM6500 for other tasks or don't want a fan running, or a quick non-critical measurement where it boots a lot faster than anything modern).

[bdunham7]

It still is a lot of money for a DMM with very few features.

Whether it is the meter for you or not depends on what you think is important, but I can't agree that it is a lot of money for what it is compared to anything else that would give you high-impedance inputs, better than 50ppm (or even 100ppm) basic accuracy and 4W ohms.  Connectivity will not be modern, but with a USB adapter cable the serial port is certainly good enough.  The main issue with bench convenience is the nested menus that you need to memorize (or have a printed guide) to use many of the advanced features.  These are later models so you'd be able to add in a temperature function and some other odds and ends.

[Sorama]

One better hurry if interested : 36 pieces were sold in less than 3 days.
14 are still available.

Today I got confirmation from ups that mine is shipped.

A bit of a mister Bean scenario: I got myself a present and actually don’t know what I am going to get for real.