Tektronix Logic Analyser 1241 reviews?

I am not sure about the 1241, but I have the Tek DAS9100 series logic analyzer that I think was the lab system released about the same time. The 9100 is a pretty nice system, not fast by modern standards, but very usable. The biggest shortcoming of that system was the capture lengths were short. The longest capture configuration that I have is 512 samples.

In my opinion, the nicest of the older Logic Analyzers were the HP 16500 series. They were fast, had great capture depth, good triggering and lots of options. They are regular ebay items.

Good Luck, Bob

Thanks for replying. Yes, the HP16500, trouble I'm finding with those is that the people selling them haven't a clue what they're worth. Offered a guy £250 for one who was open to offers, "Oh I couldn't possibly accept that," quoting one of the reconditioning sites selling them for £1000+. Most put out at the suggestion, such that the companies involved and him will sit on them indefinitely. A new portable Tektronix can be had for £650ish.

Alot of this old kit is worth two for a penny, not what the sellers want to hear but what quite a few of us 'know'. Anyone want to buy a 14" EGA monitor, cost £800 new, yours for £200 kind of mentality going on.

Trouble is I need something that works, the R&S LAS5 is so powerful don't get me wrong but too many unknowns without CP/M disks, pods, documentation etc.;

Thanks again for replying :)

Aly

Hi, The pods on your R&S may be expensive or tough to find. When I bought the first of the DAS 9100's, it came without pods. Pods cost me $500 US for the first 4 of them. After a lot of scavenging I got the next 8 for about $200 total. Docs cost another $200. It was painful.

You might have some luck with Ebay.

Good Luck, Bob

Yes agreed. It seems ok at the moment with short leads which are patched straight into the circuit being tested. The R&S kit is silly expensive although they discontinued their range of LAS machines some years ago, have been in contact with them.

There is that 1241 for sale which I'm toying over. It's about £120 at the moment (about $200).

You guys in the States seem more realistic about the pricings of these things. Actually considering buying in the States and having a 16500A shipped over, even with the shipping likely still cheaper.

Bye for now,

Aly :)

I will soon sell mine on ebay for some 150 euros. I dont use it and dont want to invest more on probes... I dont have any probe but it's full with cards.. You will have less shipping if you live in the uk...

regards.

Go for the HP16500 or the R&S. clearly outperforms the Tek to my experiences I made with it.

just my 2 cts.

Andreas.

Yes acknowledged. The Tek is now upto £225inc which somewhat I feel has gone into silly territory;

The R&S I only paid £28 for, seemingly that today's 'engineers' want things nice n small which shiny switches on them. To give the (old) LAS5 it's due, it's money's worth, and at 40kgs + however I can't carry it or just dump it on the workbench. One huge criticism of the Tek 1241 is the amount of power it draws, 500VA in specs. The R&S takes in about 180VA.

Your 2 cts is influencing me Andreas :) Just mesmorised by all those pods and rom packs with the 1241 up above.

Aly

the

Hi Jean,

Thanks for replying. To be honest it's really the probes and expansion packs that are influencing me with the 1241, without them these old bits of kit can be a bit inoperable especially at high Mhz.

Aly

one 1241 with probes sold recently on ebay uk for some 500 euros ! you can get a probe for some $80 on ebay us from time to time... as you want !

Yep this one I was looking at here went for £336 + £20 P+P, so £350!!

I don't think something 20 years old is worth that much when a new TTI can be had for £650. The beauty of the R&S which I have (still going on about that) is that it appears to take TTL signals reliably without any pods.

A 100Mhz USB 16 channel LAS goes for £200, and that's with no hassle getting the information onto a PC for reproduction.

Call me shrewd, just believe alot of this older kit is having it's value hugely exagerated.

they are quite rare with all these accessories and probes.. you can get cheaper if you collect every piece of the puzzle.. but it takes more time.

I'm looking for the "logicport" : (when I sell my 1241 !)

I aggree !

I'd recommend the Tek DAS9200/SE series (SE means speed enhanced - and well worth it when you have a 128,000 word memory.) Get the 92A96 acq boards, not the 92A90, which is a lot less flexible. There's also the TLA510 series, which is basically the identical hardware in a smaller box. With the 92A96, at 96 channels/board, you don't usually need the big box.

The pods on this system are passive, so you could make your own. The decent acq boards on the 124x and 9100 had active pods, which are great until you can't get enough of them, at 8/9 channels each. The 92A96 breakout modules support 24 channels per cable.

Jon