Fluke 87V eBay Purchase

[SgtRock]

Greetings EEVBees:

--W. C. Fields also said "My first wife drove me to drink. Something which I will always be grateful to her for" Likewise, DJ turned me on to Fluke, & Hakko, something for which I will always be grateful to him for, the expense being similar but the headaches less so.

--Please see below my latest eBay Purchase for $221 with shipping included, a Fluke 87V with more or less full kit, which required the recycling of many a TV and Microwave in order to obtain the funds, trolling through sometimes questionable neighborhoods at the crack of dawn, armed. I realize it is not the most astounding eBay grab, but nonetheless, I feel it is a dollar well spent. And, I thought you fellow Fluke aficionados might want to have a gander at the kit and tear down.

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people."
William Claude Dukenfield, W. C. Fields 1880 - 1946

Best Regards
Clear Ether

[BAM5]

Aw I'm jealous. I'm in the process of starting to buy some electronics equipment myself and the 87v is one of the multimeters I've been looking at.

Could you elaborate on how recycling t.v.s and microwaves funded you to buy this? (I'm assuming going through questionable neighborhods was to search for discarded microwaves/tvs.)

[Lightages]

Looks like you got a really nice clean meter with a great lead set for the price. Definitely a good buy.

[SgtRock]

Dear BAM5:

--Please send me a PM and I will comment further, I have enough competition already, but as a fellow EEVBee I will share some of my accumulated knowledge of the business with you on a "under your hat basis". Getting the stuff is relatively easy, it is how to market it that is the tricky part.

 "The only relevant test of the validity of a hypothesis is comparison of prediction with experience. "
Milton Friedman 1912 - 2006

Best Regards
Clear Ether

[lewis]

Good buy! Excellent.

"Merry enjoymenting of a non-specific ongoing sequential annual event or events which relate specifically to that event, hereafter known as "the event", of birth in as much as a specific time or instant of time shall be attributed to the event as previously determined in accordance with the regulations which refer to the event in question, being wholly or in part the event under discussion, to wit and pertaining to the non-specific event to which it has already been certified that contains a time reference appropriate to the yearly period which it is desirous to refer to as the event as specified above in all its exactitude and finite detail apropos the intended date reference and celebrating time."

Lewis Abel, 1984 - present

[tom66]

I don't know how SgtRock does it, but my modus operandi is to buy faulty TVs and other home entertainment electronics (amplifiers/AVRs, DVD/blu-ray, etc.), fix them, and then sell them, at typically 60~70% of their original value, and 200~500% of the purchase price plus parts. Not much money when all things considered (maybe less than £600/month) but it certainly helps as a student! I keep the really good stuff for myself, like the Panasonic plasmas, I have one 46" 1080p which cost £80 total (loose cable internally), and one 42" 1080p which cost £65 total (cold solder joint.)

[blasto9000]

Good score!

I just bought an 87-V through my employer (a major automobile manufacturer), who offers Fluke discounts to employees.  Still paid $370 for it... Amazon price is $330.  But, the gal in purchasing already went through the trouble of putting together the purchase order so I didn't want to cancel.

Gotta keep the office politics intact. ;-)

[SLJ]

You will like it.  Bought my 87V kit in December.  Added a couple of sets of different test leads to the kit along with some adapters and a Fluke thermocouple K type adapter so I can use any K type thermocouple I want.  The case is large enough to add several items.

[EEVblog]

I don't know how SgtRock does it, but my modus operandi is to buy faulty TVs and other home entertainment electronics (amplifiers/AVRs, DVD/blu-ray, etc.), fix them, and then sell them, at typically 60~70% of their original value, and 200~500% of the purchase price plus parts. Not much money when all things considered (maybe less than £600/month) but it certainly helps as a student!

I used to make a fair bit buying and reselling test gear on ebay.
I know the price of what something is worth, so it's not hard to know a bargain when you see it.
Add to that the fact that Oz buyers will pay a lot more than the US prices, and are generally quite hesitant to buy from overseas sellers, it's almost trivially easy to find good US test gear deals with reasonable postage and then resell them locally for a tidy profit. I've bought Fluke 80 series meters for around the $100 mark for example, you just have to be patient, and occasionally get the odd one that isn't labelled correctly (so less people find in the search).