On Friday, March 25, 2016 at 6:35:32 AM UTC-4, Mark Zacharias wrote:

Couple years back I bought a Micronta 22-206 FET multimeter, virtually "new
old stock".

Well, not quite. While everything looked pristine - Radio Shack branded
batteries had been installed (1975 date code) and just left in there when
the thing was boxed back up.

The batteries, a C-cell and a 9 volt, were totally flat but had never
leaked. Not even a little.

Dodged a bullet on that one.

Mark Z.

This thread lead me to check the battery-included instruments I keep at/near the bench:

B&K LCR meter
Fluke DVM
Transistor Analyzer
ESR Meter
Micronta Digital DVM (travel kit)
RF/AF Signal Injector
Micro Maglite
3D Maglite (AKA "Persuader")

Any one of which could be a significant inconvenience should it fail at a critical time and/or have to go away for a while.

The Geiger counter lives in the closet. It gets used perhaps twice per year.

Ah, well.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA