TDS-1002b Any good? Comments?

Feb 27, 2007 83 Replies

Well, your close. I'm not Intronix, and I don't work for anyone. I'm retired. You may have already guessed this by the fact that I was using logic analyzers 25 years ago.

With regards to my connection to Intronix, I started out as just an enthusiastic customer/user of the their product. I became friendly with, and have had many conversations with the designer of the product. For a short while we even had an arangement where I was paid to do some of their tech-support (before they hired someone to do it full time). That's one reason I'm so intimently familiar with the product. And yes, I do still have certain privelages with the company - including email.

I came across this thread while looking for feedback on the Tektronix TDS1002B. I'm a bit of a test-equipment junky, and I saw a TDS1002B for sale cheap. I was considering buying it, though obviously won't after reading what users have said about them here.

When I saw a blow-hard self-appointed expert like yourself condemn a product which you hadn't even tried, one which I happen to know very well and am very impressed with, I couldn't resist taking you on. In the brief period that I did tech support for Intronix I talked to many happy users of their product. I was amazed at just how loyal people are to it. Some large companies have actually purchased dozens of them. There is something about the product which people seem to fall in love with. It's friendly to use and all of that, but I think the real reason might just be that for once, a PC-based test instrument meets its specs, and actually does what it says it will. My observation in the past has been that many don't.

So now you know where I'm coming from, but you've also revealed your motivation. In a word, it's jealousy. You *almost* did something meaningful 10 years ago, but you didn't have the where-with-all to put anything into production so you put it into the public domain instead. Now you resent anyone who has had commercial success in that market. I could tell from your comments that you just couldn't stand the thought of another soul buying that product. Darn the people at Intronix anyhow for following through on their efforts, and for being successful!

Don't feel bad though. I don't have the where-with-all to put anything into that market either. But I don't resent those who have.

So you can let the bee out of *your* bonnet now ;-}

Jim

Nope, didn't guess, sorry. I used my first logic analyser 20+ years ago now, and I am nowhere near retirement age, probably got another 30 years to go in fact.

Ok, cool.

And you kept up all the chest-beating after I admitted I hadn't noticed the Intronix unit used transitional sampling, which of course puts it into an entirely better and more useful category, and I said as much. And I have said at least a few times that I am not bagging the Intronix unit.

Very true, many don't.

Nope, you couldn't be further from the truth.

Nope, you couldn't be further from the truth again. I never had any ideas of turning it into a commercial product, it did it just for fun like I did with all my published projects (almost a dozen of them), it's one of my hobbies.

Utter mis-interpreted rubbish again. I based my original post on the (incorrect) point that it only had 2K (of non-transitional) memory. Since then I have not bagged the Intronix one bit.

Give up trying to read people, you aren't very good at it :->

Dave.

Hello all. I own a GDS-2000 series scope from Goodwill / Instek. A GDS-2062. I did a straightforward features/price ratio, and ordered it immediately. It's well built, feels solid to use. Looks nice. They haven't finished it yet. You can collect 25K points (total, 25k * 1 channel or 12.5k * 2 channels), but only zoom in (0, 1 or 2 levels, as far as I can see) on the centre of the sample window - no panning. The extra detail at either end isn't available. After I calibrate the scope (well, go through the prescribed motions) the two channels report 10% different values for the same testpoint (both probes attached to the same testpoint, at the same time). It locks up from time to time, requiring switch off - switch on. Switch on takes a while - I think it's loading the FPGA inside. Sometimes you get a BSOD that says something reassuring about the FPGA, but it still needs the power switch to get it to start again. There are little niggly problems all around with it. I think it has all the hardware it needs to be a good scope, it just seems like they haven't finished writing its firmware. I've just given up on a project that should have been straightforward if the scope worked, but it doesn't. If you can afford one of these, you should find 8 friends who want one too, and then you should go and buy one Agilent, and pass it around between you. A firmware upgrade was mentioned by one of their staff, in the only reply I got to numerous emails and messages using their web-based contact forms. If they produce one, I may switch the thing on again. If they don't, I'm going to give the scope to my 16-month-old daughter. She'll really, really like it.

Make your own minds up, maybe I'm a bit over emotional about my purchase. Regards Sean

Wow, that really sux and I'm sorry to hear that. :-( That's almost the exact opposite of my experience with the Rigol I bought. The firmware has been very stable and seems pretty much finished. I do see a fair amount of drift the first few minutes while it's warming up, but if you turn the auto-cal button off and on to force an instant auto-cal, the baseline centers right back up. Accuracy seems fairly decent and I seem to be able to view all the data in the capture buffer. It crashed a couple of times when I was hot swapping a memory stick, but after doing one reload of the factory settings it hasn't flinched since. I corresponded with the tech support people in China over a couple of things (pc software key and memory stick crash) and they were very responsive. And yeah, my two year old really wants one for herself too. ;-) MOUNTAIN!!! PICTURE!!!!

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