I worked at this for weeks after seeing the last thread about buying Flukes on ebay. The 180 series was just too expensive for me. I wanted a 175, 177, or 179. In the first week or two, I saw a couple of 175's and 177's go for around $100 new, in-the-box. That got me excited. Try as might, though - I lost every bid for one in the last 30 seconds (that's no exagerration!) by as much as $50.
I also kept an eye on the Fluke 73-III's -especially since reading that Tangent had used a 73 for years. By the way - Tangent's articles on DIY toolkits are priceless. He has three sets of prospective tool selections - Beginner, Journeyman, and Expert ... or something like that, and his meter suggestions are a great starting point.
Anyway, for a long while, I saw that the 73's were going for almost $150 new, and $75-$100 used! One finally came up that ended on a weird time - about 10 AM on a weekday morning - and I won the bid at $51 for a new, in-the-box Fluke 73-III!
So what did I learn?
* Flukes are high demand items, bidding wars are common and frequent!
* Don't get married to a single model,
* Stay disciplined - don't get caught up in a bidding war for a used meter - there are always NEW ones if you remain patient, and
* Finally, because of their high demand, look for Fluke listings that end at some other time than prime time.
Oh - that last one may not hold, either - multiple listings on a Sunday night will divide the available bidders, so that you may still get a good price. That's what happened on that first night I started looking when the new 175's and 177's went for around $100. Prime time during the week is probably the worst deal.