Honestly the main reason I couldn't pass it up was the condition. I hadn't seen one before this guy showed me this one, but could tell it was an older scope and of course, quite compact for what I presume is an early 90's unit.. I'm guessing, no idea how old it is though. But for a "portable" scope that was surely designed for electricians or automotive work which would be a tough life compared to a bench scope, I couldn't see any signs that it had ever been used - on a bench or under the hood of a car! Not a single scratch I could see, no burn-in at all on the CRT, tilting bail still completely intact, no dirt or wear on the knobs, and the original lead acid battery is in the darn thing, which I've since discovered is rare. I'm sure the lead acid is way past it's prime but still was cool to see it was still in the thing, and one oddball original probe (I think they came with two though.. and isn't easy to find a replacement so might have to try some homebrew probe projects I've found haha). So the only thing it was missing was the power supply, and since it runs on pretty much everything except wood pellets that wasn't a problem that I could see. My uses for it were limited to begin with, I'm not an EE guy by trade so I have to teach myself as I go, and I figured I do enough automotive work for this scope to be useful since I'm certain you could just solder up some alligator clips to a barrel connector and run it from a car batt'ry as well.
I have to say the thing I really like about this scope is… definitely the design and look.
That Nextel Orange with black rubber bits is just cool to look at, and the quality of the plastics and knobs and such seems very good for an early portable scope where I'm sure every design decision was a compromise.
I guess it's not a bad deal then because I think I paid the guy $25 for it! (21.50€) I did have to deal with Philly traffic though so I figure with a pain and suffering tax applied it probably cost me $40.