Actually the 277 was an interesting piece of kit. Although it must be said that I only got to play with one on a single occasion ... checking it out to see if it was worth shipping (donating) to Africa ... where it is hopefully still being put to good use.
I seem to recall noticing how easy it could be to accidentally switch it off when plugging-in (or un-plugging) the DUT (although that may have been just me being ham-fisted). But you could save results for later downloading to the master PC back at base. Quite advanced stuff at the time.
But did you get to use the "Brain Cell" accessory (scanner, wand ... whatever)? I think it's a pity that didn't catch on (that is, didn't become widely adopted), and that the 277 itself wasn't developed further (to cater for IEC-62353, for example). Hand-held devices (such as the 288) are all very well, but sometimes a more hefty piece of "traditional" test kit may be more appropriate ... not to mention less likely to get "lost"!
The first image illustrates what I was driving at earlier (post #77146) about manufacturers broadening their range with products originating from "others". Otherwise, note that the 277 appears at the left. The second image shows data from a "Brain Cell" (similar to a modern RFID tag) being scanned into the 277. The third image shows the early Bio-Tek 601 Pro that I alluded to in an earlier post (#77132).
