Still, it was built for SOMETHING. This is actually THE Tricorder that is featured on the box art for the Mark VII tricorders that are (or perhaps "were", by the time you may be reading this) being offered over at www.roddenberry.com. Ed was commissioned to build up one of each of the kits of his that they were selling. After they were built and photographed for both the box art and the instruction manual, they were left in Ed's hands.
Ultimately, the various tricorders ended up on ebay. They actually went for very reasonable prices, though I only snagged the science one. I suppose if I had it all to do over again, I'd have gotten the medical tricorder too, but the way I see it is that Ed's already got enough of my money :)