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Do you guys have GAS or you buy only the gear you really need for your job?
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bob91343:
I can sum up my situation easily.  I buy whatever is a bargain.  I worry later if I can use it.  I even buy multiple instruments if the price is right so I can have a backup or at least a standard of comparison.

I very much enjoy test equipment.  I like using it and just playing with it.  I makes me feel good.
Berni:

--- Quote from: bob91343 on August 15, 2020, 09:50:20 pm ---I can sum up my situation easily.  I buy whatever is a bargain.  I worry later if I can use it.  I even buy multiple instruments if the price is right so I can have a backup or at least a standard of comparison.

I very much enjoy test equipment.  I like using it and just playing with it.  I makes me feel good.

--- End quote ---

Yep i do this a lot too.

If i see a cool piece of equipment for a really good bargain price i tend to buy it even if i don't really have an immediate need for it. Eventually when working on just the right thing you find a use for it.

This is pretty much how i ended up with a 300A 7V or 10kV 10mA lab power supply. Didn't have a need for it, but turns out the 300A supply is really nice for testing high current shunt resistors. and the 10kV supply i nice for calibrating multimeters since it goes to +/-1000V in small steps. Yet both of them so cheep that i think shipping cost more than the actual PSU.

Then there are other cool things like Electrometers that can measure down into the femto Apmeres or use that to measure resistance into tera Ohms. High freqency equipment like synthesizers, spectrum analyzers, or sampling scopes that reach 20 GHz. Stuff that back in the 80s and 90s cost a fortune to get into, but is now accessible to home hobbyists since all that fancy gear was thrown out and picked up by the used market. Sure sometimes the super cheep bargain piece of equipment bought sight unseen might end up to be broken and not even power on at all, but fixing it and making it work again is part of the fun. You get excellent service manuals to help you do it, the old gear uses mostly standard parts and its feels really satisfying when you get it working again.
EEVblog:

--- Quote from: ercapoccia on August 15, 2020, 08:34:29 pm ---If i buy an used 34401 i imagine i'd need to send it for calibration just to be sure it is still accurate. I have no other high end gear to compare it with.
But adding the price of a calibration to the cost of the meter it would be almost as expensive as a new meter that came already calibrated.
Am I missing something?
--- End quote ---

These meter rarely drift out of specification. If you buy one and it reads the same as your other (lesser) meters, then you can be pretty confident that it works and will be within specification.
And a 6.5 digit meter has many uses just by nature of it's resolution. It could be out of specs an still be incredibly useful.
You can buy really cheap voltage references on ebay, which whilst not good enough for serious calibration, are good enough to give you confidence it's within spec.
e.g. if the unit measures 10.000xxV then that gives you reasonable confidence it's good to at least 0.01% and likely meets spec. i.e. the odds of the unit being out by say 0.1% and the meter just happening to read out by the same 0.1% to give you a reading within 0.01% of 10.000V is bordering on zero.
A couple of different references might only cost $50.
ercapoccia:

--- Quote from: EEVblog on August 15, 2020, 10:27:34 am ---You've come to the right place for group therapy  ;D

You don't need an expensive bench meter for a repair lab. An old 2nd hand 34401 will only cost a few hundred.
This seller in China has 30 of them for $260 each.
https://www.facebook.com/sherry.li.313371

--- End quote ---

I ask for a price and a 34401A shipped is $530 + customs fees. I'm not sure it is a good deal. I'm not an expert but i think i'll not be able to deduct all taxes with the reverse charge.

A brand new DMM6500 would be around $670 out of my pocket because i can deduct all taxes and lower the taxable amount (not sure how to translate)
Mr. Scram:

--- Quote from: ercapoccia on August 17, 2020, 01:15:23 pm ---I ask for a price and a 34401A shipped is $530 + customs fees. I'm not sure it is a good deal. I'm not an expert but i think i'll not be able to deduct all taxes with the reverse charge.

A brand new DMM6500 would be around $670 out of my pocket because i can deduct all taxes and lower the taxable amount (not sure how to translate)

--- End quote ---
The 34401A is a wonderful piece of kit but at those prices the DMM6500 is a no brainer.
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