Somebody hates Tektronix! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 12:47:15 am
content: Or is there a reason to do this to perfectly good oscilloscopes?https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F283597841086(Not my ad)

author: maginnovision
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 12:49:17 am
content: Maybe this guy found them and didn't realize the original owner smashed them to deter people from picking up garbage(BER).

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 12:53:27 am
content: Probably the usual "Has to be shown as destroyed before it can be written off for tax purposes" stuff.

author: maginnovision
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 12:55:22 am
content: That's possible. Some looked like they were destroyed even before screen smashing.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 01:19:33 am
content: I thought it was going to be that Israeli scrap dealer again... but this time the seller has an amazingly appropriate name: sell_anything. Indeed.The bottom middle one appears to have an intact display. Some of the others have a "fail" sticker on them, in Spanish(?) What are the chances you can make one working one out of the 10...? Still not worth it for the price.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 03:48:19 am
content: Quote from: Rerouter on August 31, 2019, 12:53:27 amThat's what it looks like. I once bought a big box of HP-71 calculators from Ft Bliss and someone had smashed the display in everyone of them. But they hadn't bothered to take out the custom made,plug in, US Army ROMs that were used to compute artillery fire solutions.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 04:44:34 am
content: Gibson commands to destroy hundreds of their new guitars, the Firebird X model retailed for $5,500 and it was a total flop! Kind of a heartbreak to see such waste, just over stupid management claiming they were "unsafe" or "unsalvageable".

author: snoopy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 04:57:47 am
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on August 31, 2019, 12:47:15 amSad and very frustrating to see this.I have the exact same scope and have optioned it up to 500MHz bandwidth and it is a fantastic scope !!It's ironic because perhaps if they had not been smashed up they could be worth the money that he is asking ! Now it is not worth much at allcheers

author: factory
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 11:58:06 am
content: QuoteSeller clearly has no idea what a CRT is.

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 02, 2019, 07:20:06 pm
content: Quote from: factory on September 01, 2019, 11:58:06 amSeller does have two other listings with destroyed Tek scopes, including a lot of two TDS420 with smashed CRT. $100 + ship. I almost put in a low ball offer for those.

author: D. Head
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2019, 07:34:01 pm
content: Looks like school-equipment.Just bored students who molest the scopes. (most of the time they have no idea what the new retail price of the stuf is).I remembered at my school when they had white tower-computers, students drew on it all the time. And the teacher said a million times not to do it...

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2019, 08:10:56 pm
content: It looks way too methodical to be random vandalism, almost certainly they were deliberately destroyed and dumped in an e-waste bin. It's a real shame the way that happens, I'll never understand the mentality of destroying something useful just to make sure someone else doesn't manage to profit off it.

author: MadTux
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2019, 09:27:05 pm
content: Probably still worth a penny to some people.The unobtainium ASICs are probably still fine and usually the first thing that makes them unrepairable, if the magic smoke escapes.So at the right price, like $20-$50 a piece, it might be worth to buy them for parts.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2019, 09:45:11 pm
content: Worth something yes, but knock a zero off the price they're trying to get.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2019, 11:07:14 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on September 02, 2019, 09:45:11 pmAgree. The seller most likely bought these things for scrap plastic price or found them in a dumpster and now thinks that he discovered a gold mine.The US (and other governments) could probably pay off a significant portion of the National Debt if they required the military, universities and other government subsidized agencies to stop destroying surplus equipment and to sell it at PUBLIC auctions instead of smashing it and then selling it to select "dealers" at .001 cents on the dollar. OTOH that would probably put E-bay and Government Liquidation out of business.The problem with buying one of these for an ASIC or other specialized part is that,frequently, somebody in the surplus line has opened them up and removed every spec of anything resembling gold. High End test equipment brands like HP and Tektronix are thefirstto get ravaged. Before I even consider buying something like this on Ebay I contact the seller and ask if anyone has attempted to repair the item, or if it has been opened or if the seals are intact. And I also ask for photos of the rear or what ever portion of the case that opens up. Without knowing the answers to those questions, I wouldn't pay more than about $50 for one of theseincludingthe shipping costs.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2019, 11:13:43 pm
content: PS I just took a closer look at the pictures and it looks like MOST of them have notes on them listing hardware failures even before they were smashed. Unless there was a part that I needed and that I could SEE was intact, I wouldn't waste my time on one of these.