Mr. Neontube - Good reputation? Thinking about buying a clock

[Dman777]

I was thinking about buying this clock http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nixie-Clock-IN-12-Six-Digit-TubesTube-Clock-with-smoke-case-remote-RGB-Leds-IN12-/271174922160?pt=US_Digital_Clocks_Clock_Radios&hash=item3f2348efb0. Has anyone ever bought from mr.neontube before? Are his tubes and clocks good?

[Dman777]

Just of follow up - I got my clock in today. It is exceptional high quality. The tubes, plastic, and buttons are all high quality. 

-Darin

[Dman777]

Just  a follow up if anyone ever considers buying one of these specific kits....

About 3 months into the clock, I had 2 separate issues with it that eventually led to me giving up on the clock and replacing it with a different kit.

Initially, for the first issue the seller was kind and offered to replace or refund the clock. But, I didn't feel like shipping it to the Ukraine from the US. 

On Saturday, July 5, 2014 12:39:16 PM UTC-5, Dman777 wrote:

[gregebert]

A clock is only as good as the tubes it uses. Although I dont use 'ZM' tubes, I've seen several people in this group say good things about them so I would start searching for a clock that uses those tubes.

I have not seen any clocks for sale that use Burroughs 5092 tubes; if you find one you should consider it as well because those are very reliable tubes.

[David Forbes]

The Philips and ITT ZM10xx tubes were available 10 years ago, before the
industry sprang up; they are getting as hard to find as teeth in hens these days.

I'm still making nixie watches with B5870 tubes, as I have managed to secure a
bunch of these tubes. They do not look good in clocks, as they are too narrow,
being designed for calculators with a dozen or more digits.

I'm interested to learn if anyone is making clocks these days using anything
other than Russian tubes.

[jb-electronics]

> I'm interested to learn if anyone is making clocks these days using
> anything other than Russian tubes.

Sure, Dalibor's tubes :-) He is making amazing progress!

Jens

[michael ohara]

FWIW the clock kit I bought from www.pvelectronics.co.uk was great, with the sole exception that the caps in the crystal oscillator circuit ware crazy large. 33pf? more like 6pF is the right value. My clock lost 2 minutes a day until I corrected that flaw, but the rest of the clock design is reasonably solid. (key debounce is a little lacking too but not annoyingly so)

[gregebert]

The irony here is that the best nixie clock designs are probably from various members of this group, but we dont have the time or resources to make them available in kit or assembled form.