Brand new analog scopes from Tektronix/Fluke/Agilent - are they still for sale?

[pascal_sweden]

Probably not an easy find, but would some resellers still have brand new analog scopes from A-brands in stock?

Note that a friend of me bought a brand new Fluke PM3082 a few months ago, which was still sealed in a carton box. The actual scope was sealed in a silver-metal-looking vacuum bag.
The scope works like a charm, and I am a bit jealous now. Note that he only paid like 300 EUR for it.

[PaulAm]

Probably you'll find them in surplus or when a company is cleaning out a lab.  I know a guy who just ran across a number of NOS HP counters still in factory packaging.  You need to be in the right place at the right time and get lucky to boot.  Most retailers probably got rid of their stock once they stopped being produced.

[HighVoltage]

I am not a dealer, but I still have a brand new LEADER LBO-315 Oscilloscope new in a box and never opened.
This is the real small scope with real high quality knobs and controls and ultra sharp screen.
I have two of these scopes in use all the time but this one jewel stayed all these years in its original box.

Not an analog scope, But I also have one Tektronix THS720P brand new in box, just took the battery out a few years ago.

And a third one is a Fluke PM3394B, still sitting in its original holster.

I just heard from my calibration lab, that Philips in my town found 100 pieces of the PM3365 scopes in their storage, all brand new and never used.

[pascal_sweden]

Will they sell the Philips scopes? Through which channel?
I am interested if the condition and the price is right.

[SaabFAN]

Well, it was the age before computers. Inventories were kept on stone-tablets and sometimes they lost a corner and entire stacks of stuff were forgotten 

No, seriously. How does something like this happen (and can I still get one of them for my Philips-Collection^^)?

[HighVoltage]

I will ask about details.

The Philips building(s) in my town are very large and probably have a large basement where stuff can hide.
The last talk was that they can NOT sell them, because by law they would be responsible for any warranty and selling an item that would not be listed in their accounting list would make it near impossible. And then ... to what price would they sell them. I suddenly understood, that this is not an easy task for a huge company and has a lot of legal obligations. Keeping in mind that the PM3365 was sold before Philips merged with Fluke, so technically they belong to Fluke but Fluke does not own this part of Philips. What a complicated nightmare. I suggested to just give them away....
Well, I will ask again, when they are back from vacation.

[SaabFAN]

Well, if noone missed them so far, they could also magically disappear again, while at the same time their holiday/coffee-fund suddenly has huge donations out of nowhere

[pascal_sweden]

Maybe they can sell them for a symbolic price of 1 USD, and just charge the shipping costs?
Then I will order several ones

[EEVblog]

I tweeted a Tek 2465B a few months back on ebay, NOS. Got replies that was quite common.

[EEVblog]

That Leader is a sweet looking little scope!

[Wuerstchenhund]

Probably not an easy find, but would some resellers still have brand new analog scopes from A-brands in stock?

Occasionally that happens, yes (although not from Agilent as they never made analog scopes if I remember right, the analog ones were all HP).

Note that a friend of me bought a brand new Fluke PM3082 a few months ago, which was still sealed in a carton box. The actual scope was sealed in a silver-metal-looking vacuum bag.
The scope works like a charm, and I am a bit jealous now. Note that he only paid like 300 EUR for it.

I'm not sure if it's worth being jealous. If you're a collector then I guess a still unopened analog scope might well be an interesting find. But for practical purposes (i.e. as an EE) €300 isn't that great for an ~20yr old 100MHz 2Ch analog scope, and while it's "new" in that it hasn't been used before, being in a sealed box doesn't stop components like capacitors and even the plastics part from aging. It will also have vastly exceeded it's storage life, which means if the scope is sealed in a bag then the drier (i.e. silica gel bags) will probably be saturated, and depending on the environment it has been stored, there might even be beginning or progressing corrosion damage caused by humidity ingress.

And even if it's in great condition, it's still analog scope, i.e. very limited compared to even bottom-of-the-barrel DSOs of today.

If it's cheap (say less than €150) and comes with some kind of warranty then it could be a decent deal, but for €300 I don't think it is when for roughly the same money you can get a brand new Siglent SDS1102CNL/CML which these days is much more useful than an analog scope.

[pascal_sweden]

Note that the PM3082 is a 100 MHz 4 Channel scope

I witnessed the unboxing of this scope, and can guarantee you that the vacuum sealing was quite impressive. It was packaged like a tank. Those days they really knew how to do proper packaging.
I have never seen any packaging like that before.

The silver-metal-looking vacuum seal around the scope itself, looked like the packaging they use for packaging an individual aspirin
There is 0% chance that humidity has come into the scope. And the vacuum sealing would also prevent the dry out of the caps I believe.

[pascal_sweden]

I tweeted a Tek 2465B a few months back on ebay, NOS. Got replies that was quite common.

Do you mean that you sold one on Ebay, or that you were looking for one on Ebay?
Or did many distributors still carry this unit in NOS? Which distributors?

How much was the asking price? I like to have a brand new analog scope with 4 channels.

Does Tektronix also pack their scopes in a silver-metal-looking vacuum seal, or was only Fluke going to these extremes?

[anotherlin]

If you guys have analog scope "new old stock" for sale, I'm definitely interested!

[oldway]

I do not see what is the benefit of buying an oscilloscope that has remained for 20 or 30 years without having been properly powered on and used.

For electrolytic capacitors, it is very bad.

With regard to the cathode ray tube, its lifetime is very large.

I repaired a lot of analog scopes and I have had only one time to replace a CRT (It was a Tektronix 465, bad internal metallization of the screen).

For switches and contacts, they are more subject to oxidation if they are not used.

As these old scopes are no longer guaranteed, it is best to purchase a little worn oscilloscope than  one who has never been used nor powered on as you are sure that it works.

The scope in his original packaging may fail at the first power on.

[pascal_sweden]

Regarding the raster on the PM3365. Is it correct that there is a 10% and 90% line?



This is the first time that I see this. Not that standard I guess?
It seems to make the reading harder. Why do they have this in the first place?

Are the inputs floating? Or why can one provide connection with ground externally?

[oldway]

It's standart on analog oscilloscopes ...It is intended to measure rise time. (between 10 and 90% of amplitude)
Input BNC's connectors are grounded, not floating.
4mm ground connection is usefull to make good ground connection with others instruments, as function generator for example.

[mikeselectricstuff]

No box, but unused :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2004-Tektronix-465M-100Mhz-2-Channel-Dual-TB-Oscilloscope-USM-425-V-1-NOS-/181669170536?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a4c538d68

[tautech]

Regarding the raster on the PM3365. Is it correct that there is a 10% and 90% line?
This is the first time that I see this. Not that standard I guess?
It seems to make the reading harder. Why do they have this in the first place?

Much more common than you might think.
These really helped to position a waveform for accurate risetime measurements back in the days of Analogue CRO's.

[pascal_sweden]

Thanks for the provided information!

Anyhow, let's move the discussion back to the original subject.

If you have, or know somebody who has, one or more brand new analog scope(s) from an A-brand, still factory sealed, please comment here in this thread with more information.

All brand new analog scopes, that are from an A-brand (Tektronix/Fluke/HP/Leader/Hitachi/etc.), and which are still factory sealed, are welcome

[anotherlin]

I do not see what is the benefit of buying an oscilloscope that has remained for 20 or 30 years without having been properly powered on and used.

From a purely rational point of view, a little used, well taken care of, analog scope would be just fine.
It's just a matter that in my case, I want to buy "new".
I already have a digital scope, but if I can get my hand on an analog one for cheap, I would be happy.

[dom0]

Regarding the raster on the PM3365. Is it correct that there is a 10% and 90% line?
This is the first time that I see this. Not that standard I guess?
It seems to make the reading harder. Why do they have this in the first place?

Much more common than you might think.
These really helped to position a waveform for accurate risetime measurements back in the days of Analogue CRO's.

It gets even easier with a delayed/dual TB scope, you just position the main sweep so that it crosses 10 % on a vertical, then you delay the delayed until it crosses 90 on the same vertical. delay time = rise time.

[tautech]

Regarding the raster on the PM3365. Is it correct that there is a 10% and 90% line?
This is the first time that I see this. Not that standard I guess?
It seems to make the reading harder. Why do they have this in the first place?

Much more common than you might think.
These really helped to position a waveform for accurate risetime measurements back in the days of Analogue CRO's.

It gets even easier with a delayed/dual TB scope, you just position the main sweep so that it crosses 10 % on a vertical, then you delay the delayed until it crosses 90 on the same vertical. delay time = rise time.

Nice, never knew that trick, must try it when I have one of the old girls fired up. 

[Wuerstchenhund]

I do not see what is the benefit of buying an oscilloscope that has remained for 20 or 30 years without having been properly powered on and used.

From a purely rational point of view, a little used, well taken care of, analog scope would be just fine.
It's just a matter that in my case, I want to buy "new".

But the point is that you don't really get "new" if you buy a still sealed analog scope from the old days. You get "unused" but normal detoriation and ageing doesn't stop just because the scope was sitting in its box instead of a desk for 20+ years.

In fact, chances are good that what you get with "new old stock" will actually be inferior than a well cared for used scope of the same type that has seen somewhat regular use.

I already have a digital scope, but if I can get my hand on an analog one for cheap, I would be happy.

If it's a brand name scope then "cheap" isn't often an option, if only for the number of clueless foolsthat bid ridiculous amounts on anything with the name "Tektronix" or "HP" on it on ebay.

[pascal_sweden]

The vacuum sealing does a good job in preserving the scope, and results in a very high chance that all parts will be in working condition.