Buying an oscilloscope, need some advice.

[asgard20032 9]

Budget: Max around 1000$ (but it dont mean i want to spend that amount)

 

Looking for something around 100 Mhz and more (70 mhz may be ok)

 

Here some model i found out:

 

DS1102e, 100 mhz, 400$ : http://www.rigolna.com/products/digital-oscilloscopes/ds1000e/ds1102e/

 

Picoscope 2207A, 100 mhz, 658$ : http://www.picotech.com/entry-level-oscilloscopes.html

 

 

 

Also want some advice on what to choose.

 

What i like about Picoscope is the fact it can decode some protocol. But do i need to buy "firmware/software" upgrade to be able to decode those? From most scop manufacturer, i need to buy some "decode" package, around 200$ each. It also has arbitrary waveform generator... but again, does it come with it, or a software "upgrade"? Cons: No external trigger.

 

First scope. I also intend to get an old analog scope.

 

Also, when a scope say max 300 V, does it mean that it cant mesure more than 300v, or it mean that with included probe it cant mesure 300V, but with 500v rated probe, we could?

[enl 227]

I went through this a few months ago. I can tell you what I bought, and why, but can't really make a recommendation without knowing more about what you will use it for.

 

Background: I replaced a 50yr old vacuum tube HP scope, 500Khz bandwidth analog scope. It was usable, with a little care, to about 10MHz, but required gain compensation and had significant distortion for non-sine wave forms.

 

I looked at used and new, including Rigol, Siglent, Agilent, Tektronix, GWInstek (GW-122 portable), and a bunch of others, including ultracompact types like the Nano, even some single channel.

 

*****

 

I ended up going with the Rigol  DS2072 (rather than the 1052/1102). For me, the features and specs are a decent fit. 70MHz, upgradable (software), with a good suite of standard options, and pay-per for other features. All enabled for limited time, and by the time they run out, I will know what I use enough to be worth paying for, if any.

 

I considered the 1052/1102 with the logic analyzer option, and, after reading reviews and looking at the features, decided that it wasn't worth the money to me. I have a decent plug in for the computer that is at least as good. If I didn't have other options, and the reviews had been better, I might have gone for one of these.

 

I strongly considered the GWInstek, as it is battery powered and can be used with the ground floated and as a portable, but the price and low feature count worked against. I don't need to float ground that often, and don't need the bandwidth when there isn't an outlet.

 

Several other battery units went off my list for the same reason.

 

There are a couple Siglent users here. It was a later one to leave my list. I don't recall the review that pushed it off.

 

The used Tektronix mainframe units were fairly price competative, bulletproof, with swapable features, but physical size, power use, and age were the stike out for me. If the prices had been lower, might have gone there.

 

Turned out that one of the Agilent I was looking at was made by Rigol, and essentially identical, for more money. Never was clear as to differences, if any.

 

I will mention that of all of the units I looked at that do FFT, none of the FFT tools are very good (by review) or very well documented. I use software to grab the raw waveform and FFT on the computer. If I had realized how poor the FFT tool  really is for the Rigol, I might have looked at others.

[asgard20032 9]

I considered the 1052/1102 with the logic analyzer option, and, after reading reviews and looking at the features, decided that it wasn't worth the money to me. I have a decent plug in for the computer that is at least as good. If I didn't have other options, and the reviews had been better, I might have gone for one of these.

eral other battery units went off my list for the same reason.

I didnt knew that the ds1052e and ds1102e had a logic analyzer option

[Fred 453]

The logic analyser versions are the DS1052D/DS1102D. I initially got quite excited about these but then decided against it. The DS1052E was the go-to low end scope due to price and hackability, but I think this title now falls to the DS1074Z which I went for in the end. It has lower performance that the DS2000 series but I figured that 4 channels would be more useful to me that pure high end bandwidth. Your requirements may differ. (The DS1074Z is also "unofficially upgradable" to 100MHz and with SPI/I2C/UART signal decoding, etc.)

 

I'd love to give you a detailed opinion but I've been really busy and then on vacation so haven't really used it properly yet.

 

I found this thread helpful: http://forum.43oh.com/topic/1733-oscilloscope-or-logic-analyser/

[asgard20032 9]

Well, i mostly do digital, but can sometime do some analog. So its why i target around 70-100mhz and more, and that a decoder could be useful. But i will also get a logical analyser later. But its alway good to have a decoder in an oscilloscope, so we can decode signal outside voltage range of a logical analyzer. Also, faster to use the same tool, than having to plug in another tool.

[pabigot 355]

Look at the Saleae offerings. If you mostly do digital, their Logic8/Logic16 might do what you want. If you also need analog, they have a new integrated solution that's just coming out that might be tempting. https://www.saleae.com/

[asgard20032 9]

I will maybe by Saleae by the end of the year, but i really need a true oscilloscope. Even if i mostly do digital, i need true analog way of analyzing thing, because at school, its not alway digital. I also want to learn my analog better, so soon enough, i will start to work a little bit more the analog side.

[oPossum 1,083]

Rigol DS1104Z - it's in a whole different class than the old DS1102E/DS1052E. Amazing performance for the price. It surpasses the 2000 series in some ways. Four channels so you can look at all the popular serial digital buses.

[asgard20032 9]

Except having 16x more memory and 2 more channel, and the possibility to upgrade, what does the ds1000z serie has better/more in its base configuration(so no $$ upgrade applied) compared to the ds1000e serie??

 

Also, a comparaison of the 1000z and ds2000a would be nice

[oPossum 1,083]

DS1000Z series has intensity grading ('digital phosphor'), faster screen updates, ethernet, serial decode options, optional function generator. It is comparable to the Agilent 2000 series in many ways. It has the look and feel of an analog 'scope - something very difficult to do with digital.

 

The E series was great 5 years ago, but today it's like a toy compared to the Z series.

 

[jpnorair 340]

I have a Tek scope with "Digital Phosphor."  The digital phosphor feature is definitely nicer to look-at when catching fast-moving triggers because the signal can appear less noisy, and your eyes will catch the value more easily.

 

I also have an Intronix PC-based logic analyzer, which I find to be vastly superior to the Salae models.  I never use the scope for logic analyzing, but that's mostly just because I think the PC interface is much nicer for configuring relatively complex logic triggers.

 

Everyone seems to love the Rigol scope, so get one of those.  Maybe my Tek scope is better, but it's not apparent from any of Dave's videos.  Therefore, my advice is to avoid trying to get one piece of equipment to do everything.  It will end-up doing everything kind-of poorly.  With the price of Rigol scopes, you can probably buy the scope in addition to a decent logic analyzer and still come out having paid much less than you would for a Tek scope.

[asgard20032 9]

We use Intronix logic analyzer at my school, but I don't like it (the pc interface) and there is no linux binary.

[Lgbeno 189]

I was in the same situation last year and bought a Rigol DS2072 I like it but do at times wish it was 4 channel. The are also "cost effective ways" to upgrade the bandwidth and digital decode options if you do a little googling. With that I'd say the rigol is far and away the best choice for ~$800

[jpnorair 340]

We use Intronix logic analyzer at my school, but I don't like it (the pc interface) and there is no linux binary.

 

Please tell me you want this equipment because your school don't have it.  I would say you should use the school's equipment and save your money.

[asgard20032 9]

The problem is I want to be able to work outside school... I don't live next door to school. Also, its now summer time, today is my last exam, I want to be able to do electronic project this summer.