5 ms·

Nearly all engineering instrumentation is expensive. Why? Is it disruptable?

juiceandjuice 16y ago
Specifications and reliability. Industrial vs. commercial spec parts, wire wound resistors, temperature compensation devices, 5ppm oscillators, lots of reasons. Some of the old tektronix wiring really is a thing of beauty. The tektronix 360 modules are so lovely.
- tesseract 16y ago
  And low volume.
- mechanical_fish 16y ago
  A few years back I managed to buy a cheap digital voltmeter that was actually wrong. As in: consistently off by 20% or more when measuring voltages in the range of volts. (!) Ever since I've been trying to figure out how much to spend to get a voltmeter that is guaranteed not to suck. I figure it probably still needn't be very much, but I still haven't chosen one, because I've managed to spook myself. I tell you, on the day after you catch your test equipment giving you egregiously bogus misreadings it is hard to resist the impulse to spend the money on a Fluke or Textronix.
  - blacksmythe 16y ago
    >> Ever since I've been trying to figure out how much to spend I have had pretty good luck buying voltmeters for $10 on eBay.
  - bcl 16y ago
    You really can't go wrong buying Fluke.
    - tesseract 16y ago
      Apart from the accuracy, build quality, etc. one of the reasons I bought my Fluke DMM is that I was working with some high power circuits (like 600VDC at 60+ amps) and I trust the Fluke more than a random cheap meter not to blow up. There's a reason the fuses for a good multimeter cost more than the average discount instrument.
  - gallerytungsten 16y ago
    I was in the same boat. Bought a Fluke. Good stuff, problem solved.
  - juiceandjuice 16y ago
    I bought a $50 microcontroller based DMM (much better than "dumb" dmms) from circuit specialists forever ago here: http://circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/9455 http://circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/9455 It works really good. Comparable to fluke handhelds but not in the same league as the fluke 4/5 digit bench DMMs. Keithley stuff is great too, more science based though. I've used everything from their picoammeters to their general purpose DMMs.
burgerbrain 16y ago
The same reasons medical equipment is expensive. More or less boils down to "because it can be".
- aparadja 16y ago
  That is only a part of the story for medical tech. The stuff would be expensive even if sold at cost. In my experience, medical devices cost a lot to make because a lot (if not most) of the hardware is custom, the amount of required testing and documentation/traceability is stupendous, and the sales volume is comparably low. The high manufacturing cost (per unit) combined with the high fixed cost (per product) drive the prices up pretty quick.

Specifications and reliability. Industrial vs. commercial spec parts, wire wound resistors, temperature compensation devices, 5ppm oscillators, lots of reasons. Some of the old tektronix wiring really is a thing of beauty. The tektronix 360 modules are so lovely.

tesseract 16y ago
And low volume.
mechanical_fish 16y ago
A few years back I managed to buy a cheap digital voltmeter that was actually wrong. As in: consistently off by 20% or more when measuring voltages in the range of volts. (!) Ever since I've been trying to figure out how much to spend to get a voltmeter that is guaranteed not to suck. I figure it probably still needn't be very much, but I still haven't chosen one, because I've managed to spook myself. I tell you, on the day after you catch your test equipment giving you egregiously bogus misreadings it is hard to resist the impulse to spend the money on a Fluke or Textronix.
- blacksmythe 16y ago
  >> Ever since I've been trying to figure out how much to spend I have had pretty good luck buying voltmeters for $10 on eBay.
- bcl 16y ago
  You really can't go wrong buying Fluke.
  - tesseract 16y ago
    Apart from the accuracy, build quality, etc. one of the reasons I bought my Fluke DMM is that I was working with some high power circuits (like 600VDC at 60+ amps) and I trust the Fluke more than a random cheap meter not to blow up. There's a reason the fuses for a good multimeter cost more than the average discount instrument.
- gallerytungsten 16y ago
  I was in the same boat. Bought a Fluke. Good stuff, problem solved.
- juiceandjuice 16y ago
  I bought a $50 microcontroller based DMM (much better than "dumb" dmms) from circuit specialists forever ago here: http://circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/9455 http://circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/9455 It works really good. Comparable to fluke handhelds but not in the same league as the fluke 4/5 digit bench DMMs. Keithley stuff is great too, more science based though. I've used everything from their picoammeters to their general purpose DMMs.

burgerbrain 16y ago

The same reasons medical equipment is expensive. More or less boils down to "because it can be".

aparadja 16y ago
That is only a part of the story for medical tech. The stuff would be expensive even if sold at cost. In my experience, medical devices cost a lot to make because a lot (if not most) of the hardware is custom, the amount of required testing and documentation/traceability is stupendous, and the sales volume is comparably low. The high manufacturing cost (per unit) combined with the high fixed cost (per product) drive the prices up pretty quick.