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Digital 'Scope Choice

Hi guys,

I finally decided it's time to invest in a digital storage scope for those odd times when I need to examine LF audio waveforms which my

100Mhz and 350Mhz analog scopes are no use for.

I've always been a Tek and HP/Agilent kind of person, but looking at what's available today it seems the DSO scene is now dominated by totally unfamiliar makes to me such as Atten, Siegel, UNI-T, Hantek, Rigol, Owon and GW Instek. Are these new entrants to the market any good? Anyone have any experience of them?

TIA,

P.

Reply to
phaedrus
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I have a Rigol DS1052E and it's a very nice scope. $355 on Amazon.

--

John Larkin, President       Highland Technology Inc
www.highlandtechnology.com   jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com   

Precision electronic instrumentation
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators
Custom timing and laser controllers
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links
VME  analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators
Reply to
John Larkin

Be careful though. That scope puts out a lot of RFI. I have one and if I put it near the GPS antenna of my house clock, it kills the receiver. It is a deal though.

Reply to
tm

Our wooden building is almost in the shadow of Sutro Tower. We'd never notice a little more RF. All these low-end scopes, including Tek, have plastic cases these days, and probably radiate a lot up-close.

--

John Larkin, President       Highland Technology Inc
www.highlandtechnology.com   jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com   

Precision electronic instrumentation
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators
Custom timing and laser controllers
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links
VME  analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators
Reply to
John Larkin

Strange they don't even bother to put foil on the inside.

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Reply to
Tom Del Rosso

You may be closer to the truth than you realize. Back in my GenRad days the insides of the "plastic" case parts were electroplated with some conductive material (can't remember what now).

And there was a metal spring finger from chassis contacting that coating. ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

Yeah, you'd think that would be cheap and help a lot. Has anybody tried it?

3M made (makes?) a metal foil that has acrylic stickystuff on one side that has tiny metallic particles embedded, so is conductive. A good overlap of regular foil tape would work for RF, from the capacitance. I have a foil capacitance measurement around here somewhere... 
--

John Larkin, President       Highland Technology Inc
www.highlandtechnology.com   jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com   

Precision electronic instrumentation
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators
Custom timing and laser controllers
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links
VME  analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators
Reply to
John Larkin

formatting link 

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Reply to
Tom Del Rosso

You know, I find that guy to be intensely annoying. Why does he use that squeaky affected tone of voice, and not talk like a normal person?

--

John Larkin, President Highland Technology Inc

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jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com

Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom timing and laser controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators

Reply to
John Larkin

I realize. :)

Lot's of things I've taken apart have foil and a contact spring.

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Reply to
Tom Del Rosso

This is why.

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But the mod looks good.

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Reply to
Tom Del Rosso

I was just pointing out that no visible foil doesn't necessarily mean no metalization shield... the GenRad stuff had just a dirty flat gray look. ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

Haha... that's just how he was born?

He (Dave Jones) has posted on here occasionally, you know!

Reply to
Joel Koltner

Those are all pretty much "low end" scopes -- most of them are

Reply to
Joel Koltner

The resolution on the A brands usually isn't much better. Some B-brand scopes use a 7" 800x480 wide screen. That makes a lot of sense!

The pricing is not that competetive if you compare the record lengths and other features. AFAIK Tek 2000 and 3000 series have a record length of 2500 points. IOW: useless.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to
Nico Coesel

Were analog scopes useless?

--

John Larkin, President
Highland Technology, Inc

jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

Precision electronic instrumentation
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators
Custom laser controllers
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links
VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro   acquisition and simulation
Reply to
John Larkin

I just meant "more competitive than they used to be," not necessarily "more competitive in an absolute sense." :-)

I was talking about the new (MSO/DSO) versions --

formatting link
-- they have 1Mpt record lengths. I would agree that the old TDS series were very, very limited with the 2.5kbpt memories!

I can see a certain attraction to the TPS2000 series (John Larkin has one) -- while still 2.5Kpts, it has four fully isolated channels, so you can save some money over instead having to purchase a bunch of differential probes (although a differential probe is better if you have high common mode voltages -- subtracting two scope channels mathematically has pretty cruddy CMRR, typically, and suppresses your dynamic range).

Speaking of isolated input scopes... Tek just announced their THS3000 series

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which is clearly just a small update/revision to the Fluke 190 ScopeMeters. The benefits of being part of the Danaher family, I guess...

---Joel

Reply to
Joel Koltner

AFAIK, speech mannerisms are nurture, rather than nature.

The Australian mannerism that I find amusing is the rising intonation at the end of a sentence, sort of turning a statement into a question.

;-)

--
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence 
over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
                                       (Richard Feynman)
Reply to
Fred Abse

Nickel?

More than one finger, I'd prefer.

--
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence 
over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
                                       (Richard Feynman)
Reply to
Fred Abse

And why shouldn't an Aussie always answer a question with a question?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net
Reply to
Phil Hobbs

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