Low end 'scopes

I'd check how well it triggers on fuzzy signals. Teks are usually pretty good in that domain.

However, 100MHz BW is quite marginal these days even for digital work. I bought a 200MHz 4-channel GW-Instek many years ago. They'd probably call that a toy but it sure isn't. Triggering is seriously less reliable that Tek but it beat them in the noise domain back then, big time. Instek splurged and put some high-class Analog Devices converters in them.

As for the 0.5mV/div I just use an external EMC kit amplifier for such jobs. It has rechargeable batteries which is kind of needed because every little SMPS on the lab bench will otherwise contribute to the parade.

George Herold wrote

No price either. I stay with my multimeter.

Re TEK: absolutely do NOT buy one of these.

The triggering seems nice, but I may be less fussy than you. Here's a 4mV 50 ns pulse from my Rigol.

George H.

Price is ~$500, but the one I've got is higher end ~$800 I think. They have these designed so you can pay later to upgrade the 'scope software for more features.

GH

We bought two of them, have become real fans. The onboard 50-ohm signal generator, including a Bode plot to 20MHz is very useful. Only two channel, but trigger BNC serves as 3rd channel.

Agilent/Keysight have been rebranding Chinese scopes for decades now. They roughly double the price, which I guess is OK if they give good support.

Huh, OK I haven't played with the built in sig gen.

GH.

Right, this seems like a new offering. If Rigol or someone is selling it for cheaper I'd like to know. (It's much nicer than my low end Rigol.) It's also heavy, I'm wanting to open one up and look inside. (I don't think I should do that with a loaner.)

George H.

Ahh EEVblog has a tear down.

I don't know this series but ever since the TDS2xx series I never considered a budget scope from Tek again for me or my clients.

That is very good. So "check" in that category.

I have the dso2024, I like it alot. But I wish they do a software upgrade to include the bode plot for the 2xxx series.

Cheers

OK now I 'have' to check out the bode plot function... Will it plot out my (SV) filter response? That would be awesome! Does averaging 'add more bits'? (in some sqrt(N) manner.)

George H.

Also instructions of sorts for hacking the 1000x to add additional features and upgrade performance:

What's the input noise like?

It would be nice if Squeaky Dave could build himself a little audio filter so his voice sounds more bassy. I'm sure it wouldn't be beyond him.

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Looks nice, with 50 ohm terminator* on input ~400uV p-p on 500 uV scale (with some BW limit) and ~800 uV p-p on 1 mV scale.

both are a little fuzzier on longer time scales.

I got the bode plot working... That looks nice too. Though I have to play with it more. (I wish I could make the frequency resolution a bit finer.. I always want more. :^) Dang this is a lot of 'scope for the money. (Game on Rigol!)

George H.

Don't watch if you don't like it. I've got a nasally Buffalo accent. (Though I don't notice it. :^)

George H.

Hmm OK, I mostly against hacking the software.. maybe if I was a student with little money. I didn't hack my Rigol 'scope, though I saw how to do it.

George H.

y)

Of course you can get a TDS 744A (500 MHz, 2 Gs/s, 4 channels) for $300ish from Sunnking, right in your neighbourhood, and in an hour you can convert it to a TDS 784A (1 GHz, 4 Gs/s). It does FFTs and such as well. If you f eel flush, you can put in a Newscope LCD kit from Simmconn Labs, which is _ beautiful_. (I have two like that.)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs