Higher end USB DSO's

[Joseph Davis]

Hi, guys. I'm looking for someone who has a little experience with the portable PC-based scopes to provide some feedback before I buy anything.

I'd dearly love to get in and out in the $700 or a little higher priced range, because that's what I have to spare right now, but I can go higher. I'd really like to have some top notch performing gear, and while spec sheets tell you what a scope will do sometimes a poorly laid out software interface kills off any and all usefullness.

I really only need dual trace ~100 Mhz, I deal primarily with slower 8 and 16 bit MCUs but am leaving room to grow a little. I am stuck on a USB based PC-instrument because portability is an absolute must - I already carry about a metric ton of gear with me wherever I go, and lugging a full sized bench unit with me is not an option.

So far I'm looking closely at:

DSO-8202/DSO-8502 found **broken link removed**.
GAO 2902(512) - although the 2904 is giving me a chubby - found here.
The Bitscope 310U looks competitively priced, **broken link removed**, needs probes and a logic pod for another $100 or so.

Frankly, I'm a bit out of my depth, and am looking for a reality check, constructive advice, or failling that just good old fashioned verbal abuse.

Thanks.

 

[JimB]

I have a USB scope made by a Dutch company TiePie Engineering.
It cost me a lot of cash, and I dont use it very much, I prefer my old analogue scope for general use.
When I do use it, i find some of the controls a bit confusing, probably because I dont use it much!
However, it does have a lot of useful features, and if I was "out on the road" it would be with me.

Have a look here:
https://www.tiepie.com/uk/home/

They do have a dealer in the USA, have a look on the website, they are listed.

JimB

 

[Dean Huster]

Don't forget that "high-end" PC-based scope have similar specifications to "really low-end" stand-alone digital scopes. When you check the specs, most PC-based scopes won't have the sampling rate to cover the bandwidth. Consider that a low-end Tektronix DSO with a 60MHz bandwidth has a 2GHz sampling rate. Compare your intended "scope" specs with that before you waste too much money.

Dean

 

[Joseph Davis]

Yeah, I approached one of my instructors about the subject, he shot me in your direction, Dean. At school students take out 1-2 of the analog Hitachi/Tektronics scopes a semester, but the TDS-1002 and 1012 digital scope they've had for several years with zero failures. Pretty robust unit, and it weighs under 5 lbs - still portable as hell, even has a handle on top, and for ~$250 I can get a CF memory module with a RS-232 port for uplinking to a PC.

I'm finding refurb TDS-2012 for $1200 with warranty, dunno what I can get through school yet. It looks like I'm going that route, and a whole hell of a lot better off for it.

Hey, thanks guys, I do appreciate the input!