Rigol DS2072 For Parts/Expired - Should I Buy?

[james_s]

More than I'd pay, but the model that replaced it costs $529. If you had for example a fully working one that had been dropped and broke the housing or had a broken screen or other fault like that then $254 for a parts mule that has the parts you need is not unreasonable. I'm a fan of the TDS3000 series scopes and I've had to pay much more than that for known defective parts scopes.

[Fungus]

In keeping with the insanity that eBay has become, it ended up selling for $315, plus shipping.   

Somebody's gonna wake up with a hangover a few days from now. 

More than I'd pay, but the model that replaced it costs $529.

But you can buy a brand new GW-Instek for less than that.

[james_s]

But you can buy a brand new GW-Instek for less than that.

What if you don't want a GW-Instek? If you already have an instrument that you like and want to fix and you have the budget, it is irrelevant what a different instrument costs. $254 is not exactly a king's ransom, it's only marginally above my impulse purchase threshold.

[NizNoz]

Holy cow.. 

[Fungus]

What if you don't want a GW-Instek? If you already have an instrument that you like and want to fix and you have the budget, it is irrelevant what a different instrument costs. $254 is not exactly a king's ransom, it's only marginally above my impulse purchase threshold.

a) It's a risk, you might not end up with a working device.
b) A brand new Rigol DS2102A is only about $500.
c) Seems unlikely - there were many bidders.

[james_s]

a) It's a risk, you might not end up with a working device.
b) A brand new Rigol DS2102A is only about $500.
c) Seems unlikely - there were many bidders.

It's always a risk, but it's a risk that I can see reasons for taking. If I needed a scope and was fairly confident I could fix this one, either because I had one just like it with some other fault or because I was familiar with the hardware then I would be willing to pay $250, that's still half the price of buying a new scope, and it just isn't all that much money. Brand new ones are absurdly cheap and broken ones are even cheaper.

Like I said though, these all sound so cheap to me, a known broken TDS3000 will cost you $500+ in most cases.

[bd139]

Difference is a broken TDS3000 will still sell for $500+ if you can't fix it but a broken Rigol will not sell for this offering price.

[james_s]

A broken Rigol just did sell for this price, which is about half the price of a broken Tek. I really don't see the issue here, in the case of either the Rigol or the Tek, a broken one is apparently worth roughly half the price of a working one. Bottom line is $250 is just not all that much money, who knows why someone bought it, but if there were multiple bidders then clearly several people thought it was worth it. You can argue over someone's asking price being too high, but the sale price of an item that has multiple bidders is by definition a fair price that the buyer agreed to pay. Maybe the next one will go for less, who knows.

[tv84]

Or the ad is misleading. A working used unit can usually go for half price. A broken one should be lower.

$250 is a big amount for many people.  But, if someone bided, good for the seller.

[bd139]

A broken Rigol just did sell for this price, which is about half the price of a broken Tek. I really don't see the issue here, in the case of either the Rigol or the Tek, a broken one is apparently worth roughly half the price of a working one. Bottom line is $250 is just not all that much money, who knows why someone bought it, but if there were multiple bidders then clearly several people thought it was worth it. You can argue over someone's asking price being too high, but the sale price of an item that has multiple bidders is by definition a fair price that the buyer agreed to pay. Maybe the next one will go for less, who knows.

Yes agree. Market is insane at the moment so it's based on demand mostly. Prices here are off the scale for rancid old broken stuff. We're seeing hooky TDS210's go for 225 GBP when you can get a new DS1054Z for 360 GBP  .

Nothing wrong with a bit of arbitrage - that's my supplemental income

[TurboTom]

I'm more than curious if a good-used but in completely working condition DS2000 scope would fetch more than this (doubt it). On Rigol's clearance sales (Europe), similar scopes (DS2102E), including 2 years of warranty, are offered at ~350EUR. DS2000A models are available as well, slightly dearer.

I get the impression that there are certain folks who are specifically looking for the challenge to repair an item, assuming they are on to a bargain and forgetting about the price over all of this... just like the hunter who's got the "tunnel view" on his prey.

IMO, 250 USD is a lot for an impulse purchase -- for my own part, the limit for this kind of "no worries" deal would be maybe one fifth of that (depending on the item of course), and I'm pretty sure there are loads of folks who wouldn't easily spend one thenth of my "limit" for items not absolutely necessary for daily life.

Whatsoever, I guess the seller got lucky and probably didn't expect to score so much for a dated, broken Chinese "B" brand scope. Though it's not the worst scope if the buyer's able to fix it, I've got to add... 

[Fungus]

Though it's not the worst scope if the buyer's able to fix it, I've got to add... 

The power supply seems OK and the screen seems OK so that rules out the easy fixes.

All that's left is:
a) The analog front end - fiddly and you really need to know what you're doing, or
b) The main PCB, which is highly integrated - if one of the big chips has been zapped then forget it.

The sort of person who can do (a) probably doesn't need a Rigol 2000 so where does that leave us? A repair challenge? Surely there's cheaper challenges out there.

OTOH there were a lot of bidders so what do I know? 

[nctnico]

I guess the bidders assume the scope just works and that the seller has no clue what he/she is selling.

[james_s]

Or the ad is misleading. A working used unit can usually go for half price. A broken one should be lower.

$250 is a big amount for many people.  But, if someone bided, good for the seller.

I recently looked at sold (as in actual sold prices, not asking prices) Rigol scopes on ebay and found that in most cases they fetch almost as much as the cost of a brand new one from Tequipment, in several cases I've seen them sell for MORE than the cost of ordering a brand new one. Why? I really have no idea but that's reality, maybe it's people who don't know what they're buying, maybe it's people who are not aware of some of the cheaper dealers, maybe they get caught up in bidding, maybe it's something else, I really don't know. What I do know is that I have never seen one sell for a price that I would consider a bargain.

I understand that $250 is a lot of money for some people, certainly when I was a kid in the 90s that was more than I could scrape up in a year but things are different now, I have a good job, dual income with no kids, I paid cash for my cars years ago and I have no debt except for my house which will be paid off in just a few years. Having prioritized and lived within my means for years I'm in the enviable position of having plenty of disposable income and I'm well below the median income of the region I live in. With Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Vulcan and several other tech companies within a few miles of here there are a LOT of people who have a LOT of money and $250 is peanuts to them. Whether those are the same people who would buy a broken used scope I don't know, but a lot of them are engineers.

[bdunham7]

It's not affordability.  I can buy any Rigol or Siglent scope I want to (Keysight has a few models I can't write the check for....) but I would pay maybe $50 for a broken mystery model like that, maybe $100 if I had a known working one with broken parts where I was 100% assured of a fix.  This is a two-generation old scope with no eBay sales other than the one here.  Some guy also wants $2000 for a hacked 2072A.  It's just a crazy time.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=rigol+ds2072&_sacat=0

[james_s]

There are a lot of people who WANT crazy prices for things but this thing SOLD for the price it did, with multiple bids. What you would pay is clearly not in line with what others will pay, look at sold items, you just don't see ANY modern compact DSO in ANY condition for under about $200 unless it's a low end model that is completely trashed. Any item is worth exactly what somebody is willing to pay, and in this case numerous somebodies were willing to pay more than you are. Why is anyone's guess but I'm sure they had their reasons.

[egonotto]

Hello,

if the buyer give a feedback we know more.

Best regards
egonotto

[tv84]

  I'm thinking in opening a bricked scope shop...  I'll go rich! 

[BrokenYugo]

I recently looked at sold (as in actual sold prices, not asking prices) Rigol scopes on ebay and found that in most cases they fetch almost as much as the cost of a brand new one from Tequipment, in several cases I've seen them sell for MORE than the cost of ordering a brand new one. Why? I really have no idea but that's reality, maybe it's people who don't know what they're buying, maybe it's people who are not aware of some of the cheaper dealers, maybe they get caught up in bidding, maybe it's something else, I really don't know. What I do know is that I have never seen one sell for a price that I would consider a bargain.

Gotta be caught up in bidding, the deals on new ones are impossible to miss. If you Google "ds1054z" the first result is an ad for Tequipment, first actual result is a Tequipment amazon listing priced at the usual $349. The same search on ebay gives the first result as a sponsored listing from Tequipment, $349 BIN, seems they bank on volume and advertise accordingly. Used scopes are far from the only used thing that sells on ebay near or even above readily available retail prices, I'd get it if there were an actual shortage of the item in question, but there usually isn't.

[TurboTom]

I'm thinking in opening a bricked scope shop...  I'll go rich! 

Would you tell me your source for broken scopes?? 

[bdunham7]

Any item is worth exactly what somebody is willing to pay, and in this case numerous somebodies were willing to pay more than you are. Why is anyone's guess but I'm sure they had their reasons.

That saying should be modified to say that an item is worth what a fully informed, rational person is willing to pay in an arms-length transaction under normal circumstances.  The reasons someone might pay more are really the item of interest here.  Just because they 'have reasons' doesn't mean they aren't crazy reasons. 

[tv84]

Would you tell me your source for broken scopes?? 

As you can imagine my own hands are an inexhaustible source...