[volt-nuts] Ye Olde HP3458A

[Marvin E. Gozum]

I looked into this a few years ago when units came into eBay between 
$1K-3K.  Currently, they are in 2-3x that range.

Consider its maintenance cost too, you can track the past discussions 
on volt-nuts.  For a 20 year old design, there have been changes in 
newer production models through the decade:

http://litstation.marketing.agilent.com/litapp/SearchSN.do?method=openExternalSNSearch&prodNum=3458A

Geller Labs has a summary of various vintages:

http://www.gellerlabs.com/HP%203458A%20DMM.htm


I don't think there will be a new 8.5 DMM model any time soon, as the 
number of players in this sector is very small, daresay tiny, and the 
few reviews that compare what little exists against each other 
suggests the 3458a remain tops.  From a Chinese website in 2008, not 
sure I posted this before:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://www.eefocus.com/stupid/blog/10-06/192076_15e3c.html&ei=Q7Q6TqTKCMHngQfG_YjPBg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CE0Q7gEwAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Deefocus%2Bstupid%2Bblog%2B3458a%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3D42K%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Divns 



At 02:47 AM 8/4/2011, John Devereux wrote:

>Greetings volt-nuts,
>
>My first post to the list...
>
>I am considering buying a HP3458A, possibly new, but am hesitant about
>forking out so much for such an old design. I suppose I am used to
>picking up 1980's gear on ebay for <5% of its list price :)
>
>What are peoples opinions on the likelihood of a newer model coming out
>soon? Surely they can't keep making it for much longer?



Sincerely,



Marv Gozum
Philadelphia, PA