Test equipment legal or stolen

There was a seller a couple of days ago selling HP 3458a 8-1/2 digit Multimeter on Ebay with a starting price of circa $100, no reserve. Meter looked almost new.

There was something making even a complete idiot to suspect that something's fishy with that -- either that the seller was registered a couple of days before trying to sell this item, with zero feedback of course, or that bidders IDs were kept private, or such a great price with no reserve for a unit of this class...

It hasn't ended. I watched it out of curiosity when it had something like 5 bids at $200+ but it vanished well before end time...

I'd assume Agilent(HP) to be the ones to ask.

Rene

Years ago, when I had a lab, TEK's monthly newsletter included serial numbers of stolen gear.

...Jim Thompson

I see laptop manufacturers are now offering "LoJack" for their products. It calls home whenever it finds a network connection.

Jim Thompson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

That was the old TEK,they aint there anymore,gutted.

We used to call into TEK Security when instruments came in missing their serial number slug,sometimes we found the hidden s/n,sometimes TEK Security just sent us a special replacement s/n slug with a new s/n.

Keith wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@News.Individual.NET:

What is "home"?

Is it your home,or the manufacturer/dealer...?

I have a Celestron telescope that has no serial number, thanks to a repair (done at the factory) that removed the only part on which the s/n was engraved. I hope nobody ever steals it...

And the problem with etching your name on the inside of the tube is....

That I'd have to take the corrector plate off and have a devil of a time getting everything centered and aligned again. This is a 5-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.

If I *do* have to open it up for any reason, I'll keep that suggestion in mind.

"mc" wrote in news:VL8ag.24044$ snipped-for-privacy@bignews1.bellsouth.net:

Find a hidden spot(under something not usually removed) and etch the s/n and/or your name there.

the factory should not have allowed the telescope to leave the shop without a s/n. Save your paperwork on the repair.(does that have the s/n listed?)

LoJack.

It's a subscription service ($100 for three years from IBM/Lenovo on a ThinkPad).

Hello Jim,

Ask E.T. :-)))

SCNR, Joerg