Buying a oscilloscope - ideas?

[Rfreire]

Hi there Board! o/

 

This is me again tapping from your infinite wisdom.

 

I will be emptying my pockets in the Canada trip and another item that I have in my shopping list is a Oscilloscope. And I'm flirting witha Rigol 1054Z (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012938E76/)

 

Far from being a Engineer (my major was in chemistry, heh), but some times I do feel the need to check out some waveforms.

 

And I like bench stuffs - I'm not considering some software-defined oscilloscope that would do the same for half the price. Because I'm cranky :-P

 

What's your opinion? I aim to stay behind the USD450 bar.

 

Eager to hear your opinion!

 

Happy Sunday;

 

- RF.

[TonyMac32]

Oh dear, well, I'd have pointed you toward a PicoScope, but you're cranky. 

 

This will sound terrible, but I've never spent any real amount of time with a bench scope under 100 MHz bandwidth, and only have experience with Techtronix, LeCroy, and HP/Agilent/Keysight (<--- might be a new name by the time you read this)

 

Do you truly need 4 channels?  https://www.amazon.com/Rigol-DS1102E-Digital-Oscilloscopes-Bandwidth/dp/B0039N9ZBA

 

I didn't see an external trigger on the other one, something I use a good bit.

[Rfreire]

Hey @TonyMac32!!!

 

First of all, HUGE thanks for your output: I was expecting you to pour something here ;-)

 

Well. I don't really really need 4 channels. Matter of fact, initially it will be more like a luxury multimeter, while I don't get more well versed in the possibilities and usage.

 

I don't envision myself in a medium term tinkering with more complex electronic circuits (read: > 20 MHz), so...

 

Well, I see that I could save around 50 bucks and get the double bandwidth with the 1102E. However, the 1054Z does have a bundle (from where I have a open RFP) which also includes a I2C, SPI and UART protocol decoder, where I do see myself tinkering with (would have helped me a lot when I was writing a LTC2990 I2C python driver...). Datasheet here.

 

And the 1054 sports a larger screen :-P

 

Any extra thoughts?

 

Ah, FWIW, HP / Agilent / Keysight; I got somewhat acquainted with it, hehe. Last year I bought one of those software-defined VNAs (PocketVNA) and was observing the alternatives. I was stunned by the pricing of a old, 2nd hand VNA.

 

What for? A fancy Antenna Analyzer to test VSWR and impedance ;-P

 

Oh well. ;-)

 

EDIT: Check this out, contains pricing (in CAD): https://www.rigolcanada.com/products/digital-oscilloscopes/

Edited May 6, 2018 by Rfreire
Added models and pricing

[TonyMac32]

Well, remember that bandwidth and frequency are different, probably some Wikipedia time would help, it's a bit too much to get into here.  Also, for all that serial work, you can use a $20 logic analyzer (has evil PC software though) look up "24 MHz logic analyzer" and "sigrok"

 

 

[Rfreire]

1 hour ago, TonyMac32 said:

Well, remember that bandwidth and frequency are different, probably some Wikipedia time would help, it's a bit too much to get into here.  Also, for all that serial work, you can use a $20 logic analyzer (has evil PC software though) look up "24 MHz logic analyzer" and "sigrok"

 

 

 

[chwe]

@TonyMac32 you should write your recommendations as Amazon affiliate links... 

 

There's a 16 channel (log. Analyzer) saleae rip-off (100 mhz @3 channels or 50mhz @6 channels etc.)  which can be found on aliexpress for ~30-40$. As long as you use the open-source (and not saleas one) software it should be okay (in terms of your 'conscience')... 

[Rfreire]

@chwe @TonyMac32

 

Well, in the end I have bought the 1054Z. And it made its debut sniffing the phone line voltages in order to ensure if is my carrier providing "voltage reversal" upon disconnect. It was not :-P

 

Tony, you might love the discussion (bottom) at https://hackaday.com/2016/10/05/choosing-a-scope-examining-bandwidth/