Yeah, that I can totally get... there is very little marketing involved in the production of the sensor heads or the thermistor mount; they're not very exciting. The meter itself is where marketing comes in, so every once in a while a more modern-looking model has to happen.
Where I got on the wrong side of this conversation was the prehistoric analog meter still being kept in stock at HPAK; that's what I was originally talking about, not the thermistor/mount as a separate entity (even tho, as I understand it, the mount and thermistor can actually be used by themselves).
I still suspect the old meter lingers there because TPTB know there is/are some large money customer(s) (be it military, manufacturing, scientific or calibration labs) that still have some need for that particular model. And I still suspect that reason is some standards document (maybe internal, maybe external) that is ultimately referred to again and again in which that meter is a requisite. Or maybe they keep it around because it is used to calibrate/validate subsequent models, and they have enough NOS to be able to offer some for sale to calibration labs etc, I dunno.
But it makes no sense for them to spend the money keeping track of the damn things for 5+ decades if someone who makes these decisions didn't expect to recoup it from somewhere; I mean, FFS, the things outlived that crazy bitch and the HP television years...
mnem
Analog meters still have their place. They are much easier to use and much more accurate in making fine adjustments such as when aligning RF gear than a digital bargraph or display. Much easier to spot peaks and trends. Any RF tech worth his salt will have analog meters on hand including the lowly VTVM.
You and I and most of the old buzzards in here know that. But that's because we know how to use a analog meter because we grew up with them. I bet one in a thousand of the current crop of
*ahem* "EEs" groks that in any significant way. And less than one in a thousand of THEM are going to be willing/able to sell that to their pointy-haired boss.
They're just going to get the single-purpose specialized test set for whatever application they're working on; or trust what they see on the screen of their half-million dollar DSO/MSO and use that for their "certifications".
Case in point... go to the FCC website and pick a few random FCC "certifications" for some pieces of gear that emit RF, either accidentally or on purpose. Look at the test setups used for validation. All are painstakingly well-documented, but the actual test setups are often utterly cringeworthy; enough to make a real EE from our generation cry. And I ain't claiming to be one; while I may cling to the fact of having held the title a few times, I'm at best a jackleg EE with just enough knowledge to grok how little I actually know. Even I cringe at some of what I've seen there.
mnem