I need to purchase a new rockwell hardness tester for my shop. I'm not too familiar with the different brands, so I was hoping someone could provide some recommendations for a brand that would provide accurate readings, but not cost a fortune.

I would be using this on a weekly, or bi-weekly basis, not daily. I mostly need to test heat treated tool steels for small molds and other tooling that I build.

I looked through several catalogs and seen some that cost several thousand dollars and some that cost less than $1000.

One particular model that I've seen appears to be sold by Enco, MSC, Grizzly, etc for about $800 - $900. It has a silver hammertone finish. Does anyone have one of these, and is it of acceptable quality?

Would I be better off looking for a used name brand model?

Thanks in advance for any input.

you might buy a used one this is one of the tools that sit on a bench and does not wear out from over use try this page
http://www.machinetools.com/MT/machines/index.tmpl?page=Listview&MachineID=3760&lvt=group&MachineClass=used

I bought one of those silver rockwell hardness testers in 1995 from Harbour Freight for about $800 and have used it continuously since then with no problems. Still reads accurate using three different hardness test blocks and never needed recalibration. The model is HR-150A. The best part was that when purchased HF had free shipping which was great since it weighed plenty.