As a student volt-nut, my basic 34461 punches remarkably above its weight in my studies (yet to be published) of about 12 ltz references of various constructions (TiN and Dr Franks pcbs different resistors and different temp settings 12k 13k etc) looking for long term stability /accuracy. This has been going for about 2 1/2 years now. The reason for so many ltz is so that if my meter/s drift, all my ltzs results will drift the same amount.
I have an old and calibrated (just out) 3458 and the 34461 is and has been remarkably close for a fraction of the $. The 34465 would be better than the 34461 I suspect. The specs 3458 is 8ppm/yr, the 34461 38ppm/yr, 34465 30ppm/yr.
My rough impression is that the 3458 is good for 1-2ppm/yr and 34461 about 10ppm/yr but I am relying on averaging the better ones of the multiple ltz as a 'true' reference - quite a bit of a 'dodge' but I can't afford a Josephson Junction array.
The user interface of the 34461 is excellent, it did have an early bug re continuity - but a software upgrade fixed that.
In a round about way - I am saying I think a 34465 would actually be a good reference - especially considering the $.
Rob
Thanks a lot Rob, appreciate your detailed response.
I agree, I am also quite happy with ease of use aspect of the Keysight firmware; in terms of menu options etc, it is similar to the software on my Keysight E36313A bench PSU.
One thing I do appreciate, over the long term as well, is being really familiar with my equipment so that when I'm working the instrument aids me in whatever process I'm working on rather than being a further barrier to progress etc.
I'm hoping to get my hands on a PDVS2mini but the order list is "email only". The advantage of having this is that shipping the unit-back/forth for re-calibration would be quite handy, plus it is calibrated on a reference that
has ~0.1 ppm/year drift.
Update: see next post for correct drift specification.