B&K Precision bench multimeters, good?

I wouldn't buy one.

Waaaay back when I first got into hi-tech in SV, I worked for a company requiring skills in both mech and elect. Us techs were hard overworked and ALL tools took and unbelievable beating. I soon noticed all the MMs were pretty much hosed, including the few B&Ks I found in a junk bin. All the B&Ks electronics still worked, but the test lead sockets on all of them were trashed beyond repair, and so useless. This is 30 yrs ago, when B&Ks were considered a quality instrument. In fact almost all other brands we had lying around, except Fluke, had trashed test lead sockets, also. This included a new Simpson DMM. The only useable MMs I found were all Flukes and one ancient Simpson lunchboxed-sized analog meter. I've stuck with Fluke ever since.

nb

I don't pay full price. For new stuff you can always find a sale somewhere on the web.

:-)

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Strange: The price is clearly marked on this page yet one must submit for quotation. Really strange. Well, I'll see what they answer.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

The digits are about 22mm high.

There is not much inside:

I wouldn't count on the CAT rating being accurate but that is only meaningfull if you connect a multimeter to a source which can deliver a substantial amount of energy by means of arcing (IOW mains).

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply 
indicates you are not using the right tools... 
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) 
--------------------------------------------------------------

2831E:

Oops, that looks just like the Uni-Trend meters. I think I'll buy the HP from Spehro's link then unless they fail to honor their web price.

Sometimes I have to stick my probes into rather high-cost stuff so the meter can't cause a meltdown there.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Something is a bit fishy about that. I've also asked for a quote.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward" 
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com 
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

So let's see if they treat you as a Canadian and me as a US customer the same :-)

Beats me why they don't just provide an order button like everyone else.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

About 8 years ago I bought a logic analyser from Teknet. No problems and well packed even though it only cost $66!

That seems to be normal these days for equipment dealers. They like to get you to call them (or allow them call you) for their sales pitch. Ofcourse they can't compete with prices on Ebay.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply 
indicates you are not using the right tools... 
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) 
--------------------------------------------------------------

Be prepared for an annoying whirring fan. Adding a Zener in series with the fan (5V IIRC) helps a lot.

Also, my 34410A powers up in 1000V DC mode about half the time, for no apparent reason. So I have to hit the "DC V" button or the "Autorange" button to get any usable precision.

Overall the 34410A is fine, but the 34401A has some ergonomic advantages. Don't spend extra money on a 34410A unless you need it to do something the 34401A can't do.

-- john, KE5FX

I've asked for a shipment to a US address as an option, just in case they like padding their shipping costs.

Yes. Maybe they don't have them in stock.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward" 
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com 
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

They should be able to- they're not paying eBay's rather substantial cut and probably getting a better deal on the CC cut than PP.

The small guys are sometimes better on shipping- I paid one nice fellow in North Carolina $50 to make a really secure crate for an olddly shaped machine that had to be shipped freight (hundreds of pounds).. I think there was $40 worth of lumber and screws in it, and at least an hour's hard work. He probably had the bits lying around so it was mostly labor, but a real business couldn't operate that way.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward" 
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com 
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

Ugh, that is not so nice. Why can't they get it into their heads that a fan can be temperature-controlled?

That's a bit odd. Wouldn't bother me but it does not instill confidence.

I wure won't. If they honor the web price of $949 it won't cost more than the old one. The cap sensing feature is nice, on a 6-1/2 digit meter I should be able to see 0.0-something picofarad trending in capacitance if I make the wiring super-quiet (and don't move ...). AFAIK the 34401A can't do that.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

The 34401A kicked a hige bunch of spikes out of its input terminals, apparently coupled from the VF display.

--

John Larkin                  Highland Technology Inc 
www.highlandtechnology.com   jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com    

Precision electronic instrumentation 
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators 
Custom timing and laser controllers 
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links 
VME  analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer 
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators

apparently

Yikes. I hope they fixed that.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

The problem is that many equipment dealers think they sell gold. Some buyers still fall for NIST traceable calibration and 'waranty'. In reality you are buying old equipment that usually isn't even cleaned.

And there is also a lot of equipment for which equipment dealers want insane prices while there are several Chinese manufacturers with similar instruments which cost about 1/3 of the price brand new.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply 
indicates you are not using the right tools... 
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) 
--------------------------------------------------------------

2831E:

text -

Amazon has got them for $932 plus tax, free shipping:

But the bummer is 3-5 weeks leadtime. Didn't they make enough? Don't they know that much of such gear has to be shipped before Dec-31?

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

That's very nice but i will stick with my Keithley 196 thank you.

?-)

same

(now

more

They so were never similar. The US based B&K is third tier most of the time, sometimes worse sometimes better. Kind of Muntz or similar. Bruel and Kjaer has never produced crap as far as the very little i do know about them.

?-)

can

limited

but

is

the

ohms

An interesting thing to note. Below about 100 Ohms they (Kelvin clips) become essential for 6.5 digits, and favored below 1k. Of course for some meters and resistors the on/off current for 6.5 digit measurements disrupts the reading. I was involved with solutions to this issue for

7.5 digit measurements where the resistor self heating during measurement wiped out proper repeatability beyond 5 digits. Had to go to a massively expensive mercury wetted latching relay system and full Standard resistor based ratiometric 12 terminal measurement. The DUT as well as the standard resistors were kept powered at operating current at all times (other then relay switching times (about 2 milliseconds).

?-)