Fair price for an Agilent 34401A

[NaxFM]

So, i decided to buy my first serious multimeter. Of course my dream would be a DMM6500 or even a DMM7510, but i don't swim in money and the budget is very limited.
They offered me an agilent 34401a for 350 euro. The conditions are good and the display is bright. What do you think about this price?
It's the best i can find by far, all the other ones are more than 500 euro.

Granted that it's old and discontinued, but 350 euro doesn't seem bad for a 6 1/2 digit industry standard multimeter, am I right?

[Momchilo]

If the device is in good condition, the price is fair. Taking into account that prices have increased extremely in the last 18 months.

[bdunham7]

As long as it actually says 'Agilent' on it, as opposed to an early version HP, then that's well within the going rate at the moment. 

[dorkshoei]

So, i decided to buy my first serious multimeter. Of course my dream would be a DMM6500 or even a DMM7510, but i don't swim in money and the budget is very limited.
They offered me an agilent 34401a for 350 euro. The conditions are good and the display is bright. What do you think about this price?
It's the best i can find by far, all the other ones are more than 500 euro.

Granted that it's old and discontinued, but 350 euro doesn't seem bad for a 6 1/2 digit industry standard multimeter, am I right?

Get the serial number and firmware revision. Read this thread. Later revisions, especially of the display processor, are more desirable  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/agilent-34401a-revisions/

For 350e you're unlikely to get a current calibration but I would want it to be pass tests against basic voltage, current and resistance references.

I just sold this one for $325:  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/trade-hp-34401a-multimeter-for-siglent-sds1104x-e/

There is a seller on the Keysight/Agilent/HP group.io who sell units with current cal for $425 and older cal for $350 plus obviously tested to be in spec by seller.

As long as it actually says 'Agilent' on it, as opposed to an early version HP, then that's well within the going rate at the moment.

A better distinction is you probably don't want a HP with the older serial number format.    The ones with the newer format (made in USA, Malaysia and Singapore) are equivalent to the Agilent units.

[NaxFM]

Yes, it's Agilent, not HP. That's also one of the reasons i thought the price was fair.
Well, it really seems this will be my first serious multimeter, now time to save for a few years to buy a DMM7510 or even a 3458A...

If the device is in good condition, the price is fair. Taking into account that prices have increased extremely in the last 18 months.

Yeah, i noticed, the average price is something like 650 euro...

There is a seller on the Keysight/Agilent/HP group.io who sell units with current cal for $425 and older cal for $350 plus obviously tested to be in spec by seller.

The problem is that i live in Europe, and the prices are generally higher than that of the US.
I saw on ebay many many test equipment from US that i would have bought, but with shipment, taxes and duties the price gets ridiculous

[dorkshoei]

Yes, it's Agilent, not HP. That's also one of the reasons i thought the price was fair.
Well, it really seems this will be my first serious multimeter, now time to save for a few years to buy a DMM7510 or even a 3458A...

If the blue shift button is oval that's a later Agilent unit.  The earlier ones (and all HPs) had a rectangular shift button.

But it's fairly academic as I'm pretty any Agilent will have the -02 display pcb (parts to repair the -01 are no longer available).

Seems like a good price if it's in decent shape but again, it needs to verify against voltage/current/references.  eBay is full of units that could not be brought into calibration due to a fault.

[dorkshoei]

The problem is that i live in Europe, and the prices are generally higher than that of the US.
I saw on ebay many many test equipment from US that i would have bought, but with shipment, taxes and duties the price gets ridiculous

I deduced that from the euro :-) The groups.io group is full of people refurnishing TE as a retirement sidegig so I was just suggesting it if you needed one with cal as there may be folks in Europe on the group who do the same.

But the price sounds good to me, again, as long as it works

[NaxFM]

Yes, it's Agilent, not HP. That's also one of the reasons i thought the price was fair.
Well, it really seems this will be my first serious multimeter, now time to save for a few years to buy a DMM7510 or even a 3458A...

If the blue shift button is oval that's a later Agilent unit.  The earlier ones (and all HPs) had a rectangular shift button.

But it's fairly academic as I'm pretty any Agilent will have the -02 display pcb (parts to repair the -01 are no longer available).

Seems like a good price if it's in decent shape but again, it needs to verify against voltage/current/references.  eBay is full of units that could not be brought into calibration due to a fault.

Unfortunately I can't personally try it, so I can only rely on the self-test. Do you think that's not enough?

[NaxFM]

I deduced that from the euro :-) The groups.io group is full of people refurnishing TE as a retirement sidegig so I was just suggesting it if you needed one with cal as there may be folks in Europe on the group who do the same.

But the price sounds good to me, again, as long as it works

Never used group.io, i'll give a look to that group. Thanks!

[dorkshoei]

Unfortunately I can't personally try it, so I can only rely on the self-test. Do you think that's not enough?

Passing self test doesn't guarantee it's working.  It just eliminates major sources of faults.  I have a unit on my bench that passes self-test but the voltage always reads < 0.5v.

So is ensuring it passes self-test all the seller is willing to certify?   Short of testing against an accurate reference source one can use a standard power supply, 1% resistors etc to provide some level of assurance.

It may still be a great deal at 350 euro,  I don't follow Euro pricing.     All I can say is that in the US I would expect it to be tested against a reference source for $350.

They're easily repairable.  Plenty of assistance here.

https://groups.io/g/HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment

[NoisyBoy]

Don't get hung up on features and functions of current designs, a calibrated 34401A is perfectly adequate for most use cases.  It boots up faster, operate in perfect silence, stable, easy to read at an angle, and it is a time proven model.  If it is a working unit with recent calibration, you may come to appreciate its quick and direct operation instead of the menu driven approach used in the 6500. 

When you are ready to upgrade to a better DMM, if you take care of your 34401A, the odd is you will pay minimal to zero depreciation.  But then again, you may also decide it meets your need and you can use the money to expand your test equipment portfolio.

[NaxFM]

When you are ready to upgrade to a better DMM, if you take care of your 34401A, the odd is you will pay minimal to zero depreciation.  But then again, you may also decide it meets your need and you can use the money to expand your test equipment portfolio.

Well, I'm extremely interested in high precision stuff, and my final goal is to be able to design and characterize ultra precise components (you know, voltage references with lm399, ltz1000 or even the new ADR1399), this for me is the main reason for wanting keithley DMMs. Their fast update display with graph capabilities is invaluable for stuff like that.
I don't even have one keithley test gear, but after all the reviews I watched i guess I'm a bit of a Keithley fanboy

[HighVoltage]

Be careful ...
Soon you will have 2 or 3 of the 34401A, they seem to multiply, especially at a great price of 350 Euro

[coromonadalix]

loll  look who's talking     loll

Is it you highvoltage who had more than enough stuff  to last a life time of jealousy  lolll

 

yep  i have 3x 34401a  meters,   gossen metrahit 28/29, flukes 189, and yes  you will think you dont had enough 

Keysight on a thread here has lost fanboys / clients in some area

Keythlei  seems to have a good support

Siglent   seems to

And the list goes on and on,  and thanks to some brand representatives here on eevblog

Juste check the related equipment feedbacks you can find ...


Just seen  used fluke 189  gone over 300$ usd  and some of them topped at 650$ usd     way too much

Some 34401a   topped at 800-900$ usd   uncalibrated    that's crazy

[HighVoltage]

loll  look who's talking     loll

Is it you highvoltage who had more than enough stuff  to last a life time of jealousy  lolll

That is why I am saying it, personal experience. 


Well, the 34401A are selling in Europe also for about 50% more than a few years ago.

But Keithley gear has climbed even higher. I would say they have increased at least 100% in the last years; and that even when broken or dead!!!  There used to be fun in buying a broken Keithley instrument but since the prices have increased so much, I have not been pursuing this hobby.


So, 350 euro for a working 34401A is a no-brainer, even if you decide to sell it, you can make money on it.

I still have 2 x 34401A brand new in a box, will see for how much they will sell in a few years down the road.

[NaxFM]

Just arrived!
Exterior needs a bit of cleaning, but overall it's quite nice.
I checked it against one of those cheap voltage references from china (which was measured at the factory with a 34401A) and the accuracy is down to the uVolt.
The resistance seems a bit off, i have two precision decade resistor boxes (one 0.05% and one 0.03%) and it gives me weird readings (off even by 0.7% in two and 4 wire), so it may need a bit of adjustment there, however i really don't know if the problem are the resistors or the multimeter.
For current i really have no way to test it, i just connected the 10V reference to one of the decade boxes and it seems fine.
Later I'll try to test small AC voltages with a function generator.

So far i'm happy with this purchase, it also has the newer firmware, so if anything goes wrong it sould be easier to repair!

Edit: I measured the resistors of one box one by one and they are bang on down to the uOhm except for a couple of outliers way out of spec. So the multimeter was measuring correctly both resistance and current. I didn't know if the problem was the multimeter just because Murphy's law wanted that the first resistor to be bad was the 2kohm one, which requires a range change so i could not compare it to the previous readings while being 100% sure.
I'm really super super happy! Glad i decided to buy it!

[dorkshoei]

Congrats!!

[RogerThat]

Just a small hint, the GPIB output have more resolution than the display. If you hook it up to a PC you can see the logged value move while the display stays constant.