Continue to Site

Welcome to our site!

Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

  • Welcome to our site! Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

Ideas On Oscilloscopes

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hi guys-
I am in the market for my first oscilloscope. I need something i can use at my bench at home that will get the job done that doesn't have to be too extravagant.
I am a bit confused on what specs i should be looking at for a general unit, i am guessing bandwidth. At first i was looking at the BK Precision 2120b unit @30mhz and a cost of 350$, but then i was asking myself if i should spend the money and buy a a nicer digital unit like the Tektronix 1001b which is closer to 900$.

As a college student cost is important but i would rather buy something that will work well and last so i don't have any regrets.
Any thoughts ideas , is it worth it ? Are there other brands that i should be looking at.

THanks
pete
 
At a school I used to go to they'd ocasionally get rid of their old o-scopes for cheap (sometimes even replacing their digital scopes). See if you can find something like that going on. Otherwise E-Bay is your friend too. Depending on what kind of things you plan on building 30mhz is probably fine, even though by today's standard's thats quite low in the BW dept.
 
On the cheap you can get a used unit for 1/4 or better the price you could for a new unit. Anything over 20Mhz is going to last you a long time. My first/current scope cost me 30 dollars. 500khz. Still useable for many things.
 
Ok, so the cutoff for a decent unit is 20-30mhz, thats good to know.
What would be the advantage other than size for a digital vs analog unit.

Are the digital units justifiable ?
Brands i should look in to ? Models ?

Pete
 
hi pete,
IMO an analog CRO is better value for money, in the 30meg BW range.

You need dual channels, with a Y axis sensitivity of at least 5mV/cm.

Looking thru the forums you can see some horror stories from members buying secondhand CRO's from eBay.
If you can buy a used CRO from a local dealer or from a company auction sale, at least you will get the chance to power it up
before you part with your gold.

You can contact a local auctioneers, who will send you a catalog for their company auctions.
There are lots of other goodies you can buy this way.
I used to buy used equipment from Plessey and other companies.

There are also companies that specialise in the sale of reconditioned equipment

Also, very important, buy a pair of decent scope probes, *1/*10 switchable.
 
Are the digital unit bad in any way ? I like the fact they take a much smaller space and have USB functionality , but if coarse you pay for it ?

Any models/brands in both analog or digital you think i should look at ?

pete
 
If I were in your position, I'd probably look into something like a Tektronix 465. They're quite rugged and you can get them pretty cheap, usually about $100US from that big, online auction place. Sometimes, they include the probes and manuals too.
Jeff
 
I too feel that a good used Tektronix analog dual channel scope it the best bang for the buck. There are some great buys on E-bay and if you can limit your searches for more local sellers you can save on shipping costs. Some people hate the risks of buying used, but I've had only good luck on quite a few vintage test equipment purchases. For $100-200 you can get a scope that costs thousands new and the build quality of Tek scops was second to none. After you have gained more experiance you would be in a better position to purchase new in the future with a better idea of what features and specifications are best for your use.

Lefty
 
Digitals have quanitzation issues that need to be understood. No necesarily bad but you have to know that under certain circumstances (very high frequency signals) the signal you see may actually be a product of the real signal.
 
Hi.
I purchased a whizbang 4-channel Philips scope for $2K two years ago off Ebay. It could do both analog and digital work; had more functions and math features than you could shake a stick at; and had 200MHz BW with up to 2GS/S under the right conditions. Just one tiny problem: there was only the scope, no manual or probes. The manual I got online, the probes... were only available from Europe, for $300 APIECE!! This suddenly wasn't the deal I thought I had. It took me a year and a half of careful searching on Ebay to get four functional probes for this (number five was kaput) at reasonable prices. So much for Ebay.

Last year I purchased a Tektronix 4-channel scope, 200 MHz BW, 2.5GS/S etc. My main attraction was the color LCD and it's USB port for downloading screens and data to the PC, which the Philips couldn't do. That was $2200 at Fry's, but EVERYTHING was there in the box. I only get to spend like this because I sold a house two years ago. I can afford to be a LITTLE stupid, but regular people have to pay rent and feed the family.

Just last month I got an email for this OWON scope:
https://www.tequipment.net/OWONEDU5022.html

It's digital only, 25MHz BW, 100 MS/S (adequate for the bandwidth), has two channels, a color LCD and a USB port. For $370 you get everything you need in the box.
An impressive feature is digital phosphorescence. This is present on both expensive scopes mentioned earlier. Basically, it shows multiple traces, the old ones and the latest ones. The old ones get dimmer over time, while the latest are shown full brightness. You can set the delay in the "dimming" effect. This is a very handy feature for tracking irregularities in an otherwise stable signal.
The special touch is: this unit is capable of portable use, and they include the optional battery in this sale.
However, on the down side, the manual stinks and there is precious little said about the capabilities or usage of the USB port.

I myself as a bench technician wouldn't/couldn't use this, but I can recommend it for the serious hobbyist or student. I gives you some of the same math features and the color LCD screen (and more storage?!!) then the pricey bench-only Tektronix mentioned before.

I think you should check this special and start saving your latte money.
kenjj
 
I got a MADELL CA8016 mini-scope, and it's awesome when you have to travel with it. But it's only 10MHz, so it will not be my last. It will do for now with most of my projects being analog and far less than 10MHz.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest threads

New Articles From Microcontroller Tips

Back
Top