WTF Overpriced shitty DMM

[Watth]

Why? How? ... Why?

FYI: € 29.90 = US$ 37.19

[Bassman59]

Why? How? ... Why?

FYI: € 29.90 = US$ 37.19

Why?

Because if you really need a DMM, and it's the only thing available, you buy it.

[taydin]

Why not? Last I checked, France has a liberal market economy, which means, you can sell something for whatever price you want. Whether somebody buys it or not is another consideration.

[james_s]

That looks remarkably like the ones you can get for like $5.99 at Harbor Freight, but yeah, they cost that much because sometimes people who don't know any better pay that much.

[ogden]

Why? How? ... Why?

FYI: € 29.90 = US$ 37.19

Milk in petrol stations (at least in my area) also is hugely overpriced. - How? Why?

- Don't buy multimeter in shop which does not offer best multimeter prices. Why we even have this discussion?

[metrologist]

LoL, that looks like the one Harbor Freight gives away free... I got a handful of them

[Ice-Tea]

The exact same one was in the rack of my local hardware store... twice. Different color, different brand, about 10€ price difference between them 

[Ampera]

I'm embarrassed to say that cheapie style of OEM multimeter is my own meter.

From a point of absolutely no comparison, it appears to do all the basics, and for a cheap price (normally) is something that isn't too bad, despite the screws being stripped to shit and the battery about to die...

[bd139]

Bloody hell. I bought one of them a few years ago on CPC because it was cheaper to buy it at £2 than pay the small order handling charge and delivery fee.

Wasn’t too bad for the money. If it had a 10M input impedance it’d be pretty good for low voltage stuff.

[raptor1956]

Reminds me of this...

8 Function Electronic Multi Tool

Best if used WITH the Moron Lamp!


Brian

[bd139]

Hahaha that’s hilarious. 

[JoeN]

Looks like what they sell at Walmart for about $13-$15.  You can always try to sell it for more, though, there are stupid people out there who have no idea.

[Mr. Scram]

The exact same one was in the rack of my local hardware store... twice. Different color, different brand, about 10€ price difference between them 

There's a lot of research that indicates that people value a more expensive item more.  You're selling a good feeling, not just an item.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Because sometimes people just don't know what these things cost elsewhere.
Big-name high-street electronics outlets still charge ridiculous prices for USB and other cables that can be found for a tenth of the cost elsewhere.

[grumpydoc]

Tools do just seem very expensive in France, though this is ridiculous.

[Electro Detective]

Those meters keep well in the packaging,

no 'use by date' to worry about,

easy to dust off,

look very 'pro' to the uninitiated (suckers)

and the price goes up every year whether it gets sold or not

i.e. it costs the shop $2 to buy and in a few years it will sell for $29.99,
if it sells earlier at $15.99 and a restock costs $4 you are still cruising 
try and do that with bank interest and lousy shares BS 


I'm in the wrong business   

[grumpydoc]

PS is contrôleur the usual translation for multimeter?

[GK]

Well the French are a bit strange.

[Mr. Scram]

Those meters keep well in the packaging,

no 'use by date' to worry about,

easy to dust off,

look very 'pro' to the uninitiated (suckers)

and the price goes up every year whether it gets sold or not

i.e. it costs the shop $2 to buy and in a few years it will sell for $29.99,
if it sells earlier at $15.99 and a restock costs $4 you are still cruising 
try and do that with bank interest and lousy shares BS 


I'm in the wrong business   

What do you think floor space costs each year? A product that sells that infrequently means losing money.

[grumpydoc]

They're even 15.15 € in Castorama (not that Casto is especially cheap)

https://www.castorama.fr/multimetre-1er-prix-19cal/3454976899354_CAFR.prd

[fubar.gr]

The text in Greek translates to "8 function digital charge controller device"

Maybe that's a fair price for a charge controller after all

[xrunner]

LoL, that looks like the one Harbor Freight gives away free... I got a handful of them

LOL yea I got a couple, one in the car one in the shed. But maybe that one is worth more because it's black. Might be a custom color. 

[bd139]

Could be on to something there! From CPC here in the UK:

[IanMacdonald]

They're not too bad actually, reasonably accurate and quick to settle. Limited AC ranges, that's the only thing. Going rate is between £2.50 and a fiver, though.

For that kind of money or less you could have a VC97 or an AN8008, which are vastly better.

[Mr. Scram]

They're not too bad actually, reasonably accurate and quick to settle. Limited AC ranges, that's the only thing. Going rate is between £2.50 and a fiver, though.

For that kind of money or less you could have a VC97 or an AN8008, which are vastly better.

Where do you get an AN8008 for that kind of money?

[bd139]

Indeed. Not seen them for less than about £12.

You can actually slice the entire top half of the cheap DT830 DMMs off, hard wire the range and use it as a panel meter if you want. See: http://www.hanssummers.com/radiopsu.html

[james_s]

I have to wonder why go through the trouble though when you can buy panel meters from China for about the same price.

[bd139]

If you want to wait a month.

[james_s]

There are local resellers that have them for a bit more, I've rarely had to wait a month, maybe a couple weeks at most typically but I tend to plan ahead so it's not a big deal.

[Mr. Scram]

If you want to wait a month.

The trick is ordering it a month ago.

[bd139]

If you want to wait a month.

The trick is ordering it a month ago.

That's ok if you remember

[GreyWoolfe]

Reminds me of this...

8 Function Electronic Multi Tool

Best if used WITH the Moron Lamp!


Brian

I want the 16 ton hydraulic nail unbender.  Handy to have when I don't want to fire up the compressor to use my air nailer. 

[Electro Detective]

Those meters keep well in the packaging,

no 'use by date' to worry about,

easy to dust off,

look very 'pro' to the uninitiated (suckers)

and the price goes up every year whether it gets sold or not

i.e. it costs the shop $2 to buy and in a few years it will sell for $29.99,
if it sells earlier at $15.99 and a restock costs $4 you are still cruising 
try and do that with bank interest and lousy shares BS 


I'm in the wrong business   

What do you think floor space costs each year? A product that sells that infrequently means losing money.

It's not a product you would rely on to pay the rent, it's just an accessory like you would have at a petrol/gas station for example

an extra bonus if one gets sold every 10 years lol

I've seen stuff like this on show for years with 3mm of dust, in places that are still trading strong.
Think store eye candy that may or may not sell,
and a stocktake item the accountant can play the numbers with yearly too

[Mr. Scram]

It's not a product you would rely on to pay the rent, it's just an accessory like you would have at a petrol/gas station for example

an extra bonus if one gets sold every 10 years lol

I've seen stuff like this on show for years with 3mm of dust, in places that are still trading strong.
Think store eye candy that may or may not sell,
and a stocktake item the accountant can play the numbers with yearly too

That sounds like sloppy business owners more than anything else. The yield for every square foot is pretty much sacred. It's okay to lose money on items sometimes, but they need to bring business in the door. Having stale stock is so bad that properly businesses rather sell it at a loss than have it on the shelves indefinitely.

[Electro Detective]

In a perfect world or main street hub with continuous walk-thru it is sloppy biz practice,
but in many places some business models won't work, I've seen too many new stock bling shops go under within 6 months 
and the mixed bag ones go on for decades

For some owners there is the 'variety' factor too, even if there is some apparently stale stock, they like to 'fill it up' and move it about,
whatever it takes to get the people in for a looksee, address their queries, and hopefully drum up a mutual transaction     

A lot of places here mash it up with the old and new, and SALE time usually equalizes the situation, to either cull off old stock and or new dud stock
 

I personally don't shop where the stock is just all new, be it electronics, tools, cars etc

Most new stuff is shiny, boring breakable designed crap, churned out of modern sweatshops

I'd rather score a 10 year old unloved working Fluke and take my chances, than cross fingers on a new overpriced chFluke


A wrecking or scrap yard would giggle at this, they embrace all stock, new, old, vintage, stone age... 


 

 

[hwj-d]

The stupidity commits please not the seller, but the buyer!
And only the buyer decides for himself whether it's stupid for him or not.

[janoc]

Come to think of it - are these meters even legal to sell in EU? No CE marking (no chance in hell for it to pass any relevant tests), no CAT marking, etc? EDIT - the OP's meter has both CE and CAT marked on it, but most of these don't.

I have seen similar meters (not the DT830s) at the local Leroy Merlin, but I think those at least had CE on them (whether it means much is a different thing).

What I find shocking is that the hardware stores typically sell these things right next to wires, switches, fuse boxes, etc - i.e. mains installation stuff, not in the "domotics" (doorbells, door cameras, home automation - i.e. mostly low voltage) section.  And people may think it is meant to be used (or safe) for that.

[bd139]

The ones from CPC are. They are CE marked and have HRC fuses in them.

I think they are made to different grades depending on the buyer.

[hwj-d]

Come to think of it - are these meters even legal to sell in EU?

These thoughts are out of focus. If they are illegal to sell, makes the seller punishable. That's a completely different topic.

You can not assume flat-rate something like that. Especially not, just because the price seems subjectively exaggerated.

[janoc]

Come to think of it - are these meters even legal to sell in EU?

These thoughts are out of focus. If they are illegal to sell, makes the seller punishable. That's a completely different topic.

You can not assume flat-rate something like that. Especially not, just because the price seems subjectively exaggerated.

I am not assuming it because of the price but because those meters are universally crap and many are dangerous. I believe in Germany they had to pull many of these from the shelves recently after they have been actually tested.

[janoc]

The ones from CPC are. They are CE marked and have HRC fuses in them.

I think they are made to different grades depending on the buyer.

Could well be, I know that e.g. Uni-T meters are made and sold like that (buy from eBay/China, get an unsafe meter with wildly inflated BS ratings. Buy it from a German reseller and the ratings are much more sensible and it actually does have input protection installed ... Same model!)  But I haven't seen a DT830 variant that wasn't a deathtrap yet.