I know and I have also come to realize the prices now will look like bargains in 10 years since they are not making any more. I still recall when B-7971's were quite common and could be had for, adjusted for inflation, about USD$15/each and they were plentiful (paid USD$5/each in 1979/1980 for the 6 NOS B-7971's I have). Then the 25 NOS ZM1022's for USD$4.81/each including sockets back in 2002. I plan to use 4 for the IN-12's with one of the cheap Chinese clock kits (some assembly required LOL). If I like it I might make some additional one for interested friends.
The sad fact is that except for Dalibor Farby, they are not making Nixie's any longer and when the supply dries up, that is it. At least the quality of the Russian tubes is good. The Chinese ones will probably be around for a while longer but with tubes like the QS30's lacking mercury, they wear out pretty fast according to reports. I suspect many will probably get used up as replacements for prematurely burned out tubes. I am amazed that the ZM1022's are rated 200,000 hours and QS30's can wear out in weeks. On Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at 11:32:53 PM UTC-4, GastonP wrote: > > It's really crazy to think that about 10 years ago I could buy a box of 50 > IN-12B for 48 USD or so... "free" shipping and all. > Well, the crazy part is that at that time IN-18s were already expensive, > 7971s were as always, unobtanium and IN-12s were the nearest thing to dirt > cheap. Prices for the IN-14 were starting to rise steeply. > At that time I bought several IN-8s and sockets at a barely reasonable > price and the mentioned box of IN-12Bs. I should have bought IN-18s too > when I still could and they were just expensive at USD 15-20 a pop... > sigh... > > On Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at 2:47:12 PM UTC-3, Robert G. Schaffrath > wrote: >> >> I just picked up a lot of 12 (2 x 6) NOS IN-12 Nixie's on eBay that are >> temporarily price reduced 20% to USD$8.80. Total came to USD$30.00 + my >> local tax. I am really not crazy about the inverted "2" but as they are not >> making these any more, having some on hand for possible future use seemed >> like a good idea. I dug back in my records and found out I paid a little >> less than USD$5/each back in June 2002 for my 25 NOS ZM1022's with included >> sockets. Looking at the prices of those tubes now it looked like a good buy >> so I figure these IN-12's are probably worth getting too. >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/c6746f3e-c8ec-4744-829a-f2c7fa7648bc%40googlegroups.com.
