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Anybody try the new Agilent 3000X yet?

Hi:

I'm going to spend the next three years of my allowance on a DSOX3024A

200MHz 4-ch variety and 33522A dual channel 30MHz arb. for home use (sorry John Larkin, I just prefer an easy front panel user interface).

The 33522A I found a whole bunch of bugs in at work, but I think the new firmware update will fix them. I have a EE intern starting Monday and his first job will be to observe all the bugs that I described in a long bitch email to Agilent, and then install the new firmware and see how much better it gets.

At work I recently acquired a 70MHz 4-ch DSOX2004A variety which will be used as a "strip chart recorder" to look at the control signals of a Nd:YAG laser injection seeder.

And a 350MHz 4-ch+16 MSOX3034A for my electronics lab main scope, to replace the older 6000 series MSO that I used to use.

I've only played with the new scopes a little bit, since my office where I do most work has a 500MHz MSO7054B, which I'm very happy with.

I also keep a LeCroy 1GHz thingy with kick-butt data analysis capabilities.

My least favorite scope is the Tek MSO4000. Horribly slow with deep memory turned on. You get conditioned by the Agilent scopes to expect multi-gazillion waveform updates per sec., so whenever I move to the Tek it really takes me by surprise.

For my hobby work 9 years ago I bought a 100MHz 4-ch Tek TDS3014 at about $4400 with a slight discount for being a hobbyist. That had only

10kpts sample memory and can do about 3600 waveforms/s.

Now with the Agilent I will get 200MHz and 2Mpts memory, plus simply ridiculous 1 million updates/s, for $800 less than the Tek cost 9 years ago. Plus the option to later upgrade to 4Mpts, add logic channels and a bunch of trigger/decoder applications, and upgrade even bandwidth!

Thank goodness for capitalism!

I have developed a close relationship with Agilent over the years. Recently the marketing/development manager for the 3000X line and one of the firmware engineers of this scope have been taking my input on how to enhance the statistics and data analysis capabilities.

I have been very happy with their level of willingness to listen to me (though buying a lot of gear probably helps). I expect that the same would be possible with Tek, but since I'm fading out on my use of Tek, I might never find out.

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_____________________
Mr.CRC
crobcBOGUS@REMOVETHISsbcglobal.net
SuSE 10.3 Linux 2.6.22.17
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Mr.CRC
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Sure. Our market is multi-channel arbs, for simulating mechanical systems mostly. There are lots of 1-channel arbs around, and a few duals. We can do hundreds of synchronized channels, definitely a niche.

Interns, aka scutt bunnies, are great for this sort of thing.

Agilent is our biggest customer, since they acquired Varian. NMR stuff.

My everyday scope is a $400 Rigol. Works fine.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

Oh, I see. That would be something that works better with a PC UI.

Once he's done with that and the Eagle tutorials, I'm hoping to have him actually work on meaningful boards. With a lot of pointers and look over his shoulder, of course.

That's interesting. With Agilent having plenty of design teams, will they continue contracting out the design of NMR electronics?

My grandparents worked and saved very hard and though they had the means, they afforded themselves few luxuries. I tend to do likewise. But a very nice scope is one of the things that makes electronics very much fun, particularly during the few hours I can get the time to work on my personal projects.

At work, a high quality scope is definitely a productivity booster.

You put out a lot of stuff with extremely tight (ps) jitter and timing specs. Surely you have some higher end instruments that are critical to your success besides a $400 Rigol? I mean, a value scope is certainly useful, that's why I just added the 70MHz 2000X. But even in a value scope, I'm hesitant to go with the Chinese brands. Perhaps in time that will change. I have at least given them a look.

That said, the bugs in the new Agilent signal gen. are something I would expect from a Rigol or other Chinese knock-off. So go figure!

Good day!

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_____________________
Mr.CRC
crobcBOGUS@REMOVETHISsbcglobal.net
SuSE 10.3 Linux 2.6.22.17
Reply to
Mr.CRC

Well, we have an embarassing number of huge Tek 11801 and 11802 samplers. Various heads cover 12 to 50 GHz bandwidth. Most of these were ebay buys.

We also have a Tek TPS2024 (4 channels, all isolated), a TDS3052 (500 MHz), and a heap of 2002s and 2010s and 2022's, mostly mounted in test racks. I'm planning to use Rigols in test racks in the future.

We still use one analog scope, a Tek 7104.

I mean, a value scope is certainly

Most Tek, and I think some Agilent, scopes are made in China nowadays.

We demoed one Agilent scope that nobody could get to work. The UI was just too obscure.

My Rigol DS1052E is very well-behaved. It has stuff the low-end Tek scopes don't, like USB and digital filtering. It would be a great home/hobby scope.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

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