Rented a fancy oscilloscope for a week vs buying a cheap used one

I grabbed a rental Fluke for a tricky 737 nav issue, but ended up wishing I'd just bought a beat-up Tek on eBay for $200 after the rental fees hit $180 in 5 days. Anybody else feel like renting tests is a trap for stuff you'll only touch once?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane_morgan3d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, but did your Fluke rental come with a calibration cert and a support number when things went south? I'd rather drop the $180 on a guaranteed tool than gamble on some crusty eBay scope that drifts mid-diagnosis and costs me billable hours. Renting is for when you absolutely need it to work right now, not for saving a few bucks.

bell.jessica3d ago

My buddy rented a $4000 Lecroy for a week and it cost him almost as much as buying a used one outright, so I get the frustration. But for something like that tricky nav issue where you need guaranteed accuracy and support, renting can save your butt if the cheap used one flakes out. Your mileage may vary, but I'd rather pay a little more for certainty than gamble on a mystery box scope when the job is on the line.

faith273d ago

I mean, is it really that serious though? Like, yeah, if you're doing some super critical nav repair on a military boat or something I get it, but for most shop work a used scope that's a little crusty is probably fine. @shane_morgan makes it sound like every eBay scope is gonna drift apart mid-diagnosis, but I've grabbed a beat-up Tektronix for like $200 and it's been rock solid for years. Unless you're billing by the hundredth of an hour, I think people overthink this whole "guaranteed accuracy" thing for a lot of routine jobs.