The day I had to pick between a used Tektronix and a new Fluke for my bench

Back in 2019 when I was setting up my home shop in Tucson, I had to choose between a beat up Tektronix 465 scope from a retiring tech for $200 or a brand new Fluke 87V meter. I went with the Tektronix because I figured a scope would help more with avionics troubleshooting. Now I kinda regret it since half the time I just end up borrowing my buddy's Fluke anyway when I need a solid reading on a nav box. Anyone else have a tool choice they second-guess years later?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancygrant18d ago

Used to be a Fluke snob myself. Thought nothing else mattered for electronics work. Then I picked up a beat up Tektronix 465 at a hamfest for fifty bucks. It changed my whole view. Now I see both have their place. The Fluke is GREAT for quick checks and portable work. But the Tektronix shows you what's really happening in a circuit. You can't beat seeing a signal waveform when you're hunting down a weird glitch. Honestly, having both tools is the REAL answer.

grant_allen8518d ago

And yeah @nancygrant nailed it - you really do need both. I learned that the hard way when I tried to use my Tektronix to check a simple DC voltage on a power supply and felt like a total idiot wrestling with probe compensation for five minutes just to get a reading. Meanwhile my buddy (who bought the Fluke I passed on) can just poke and get a number in two seconds. For waveform stuff the scope is unbeatable obviously but for day to day sanity checks? Man, I should have just bought the Fluke too and saved myself the embarrassment of borrowing his gear every other weekend.

emma_clark18d ago

100 bucks for a decent multimeter and I still reach for my old RadioShack one with the crusty leads half the time. @nancygrant is right, having both saves your ego and your wallet. I've definitely spent too long trying to tweak a scope probe just to see if a battery was dead.