[time-nuts] Re: Frequency counter recommendation wanted

[Bob Camp]

Hi

So, a quick look at eBay right now, by search keyword:

5334.      one at $111, others same as 5334a
5334A:    several at $150 or more
5334B:    several in the $80 to $150 range
5335:      same as 5335a
5335A:	several at $150 to $160, some free shipping 

53131A:	parts, from overseas: $249.   working $450
53132A:  working $510
53181A: $269 with hefty shipping from overseas

5345a:  parts, from overseas $299.  working $299 (both no plugin) 
5360a:  none
5370a: parts $200
5370b: parts $500 working $650

SRS620: $2,200 and up

53220A: $2,400 and up

Shipping is not included in the prices above. On some listings, that would substantially change things. 

Let’s assume I needed to buy one today. As noted in other messages, “shop for quite a while” is a much
better approach. Let’s also ignore shipping and assume these are delivered costs (which they most 
definitely are not). Many have “make offer” options, again, let’s ignore that for now. 

First we cross some things off the list for various reasons:

The SR620 is a fine device. For near the price of a much newer 53220 …. nope, cross it off. For 4X the 
price of the others, cross the 53220 off as well. 

5345, 5360, 5370 in “parts” sort of shape, probably not. Even if they ship as “works fine” you will have
a bit of a chore with some examples. For more than the price of the 5313x’s …. nope …

5334a for more than a 5334b? Rick might hop in and correct me but, I’ll risk the thought that an a is not
worth more than a b. 

53181 is always the oddball in this “race”. Can you get by with one input? If so maybe it’s for you. I’m
very partial to dual inputs so I’d cross it off.  If one input is ok, they do show up cheap (for what they 
can do). 

The 53132 has significantly better resolution than the 53131. I would not buy a non-working example
of either one. For the $60 price difference, the 53132 is the obvious pick in that series. 

So what’s left and why:

The 5335 is (to me) the obvious one to dig into. It has better resolution than the 5334 and there are
a bunch to pick between. There are sure to be minor details in this or that listing that raise a flag.

The 5334 is indeed the low cost option, but based on a quick look at “likely good” listings, you are 
comparing $110 to $150. That’s not enough to make it attractive to me. 

The 53132 is still there. It’s just over 3X the pice of the 5335. It has a serial port, so no need to
play with GPIB. If you have to go out and buy GPIB cables and an interface, that (as mentioned in 
other comments) could cost more than the 5335. 

Again, my real answer is to shop for a while. I’ve bought examples of most of these counters for
much less than the numbers above ( and that *was* delivered price). When I did, the “see what’s 
up today” numbers didn’t look that much different than what I’ve shown here. 

Could you do a better job searching than I did? You most certainly could. This was a quick run to 
grab some numbers. A real search would be an all afternoon sort of thing with a dive into shipping
and other grubby details. 

Another “grubby detail”: Keysight does indeed sell the 5323x series used on eBay. They sell them
with a factory calibration cert and full checkout. They also typically provide a warranty. Their prices
on the “base model” counters can be much less than what’s shown above for that series. If the term
“known good” is what rules this decision, that could be a factor. 

Fun

Bob