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LeCroy or Tek scope?

K

Klaus Bahner

Jan 1, 1970
0
It's time for a new scope at work. My budget allows for either a Tek
TDS5054B or a LeCroy Waverunner 6050, however I have a hard time to make
the final decision. Both scopes are certainly very good ones and both
seems to be well suited for my purposes according to their similiar
specs. I do "general" design work with quite different objectives (e.g.
uC, analog, mixed-signal stuff) which does not emphasize a single key
feature, which would make a decision easy. I'm looking more for a
"Jack-of-all-Trade type" scope.
I were able to play with both scopes for half an hour, but this didn't
really help me, because naturally in this time frame you can only
scratch the surface of the feature set or the user interface. Does
anyone like to share his/her comments on those scopes - subjective
opinions are welcome.

Thanks in advance
Klaus
 
T

The Al Bundy

Jan 1, 1970
0
Klaus Bahner said:
It's time for a new scope at work. My budget allows for either a Tek
TDS5054B or a LeCroy Waverunner 6050, however I have a hard time to make
the final decision. Both scopes are certainly very good ones and both
seems to be well suited for my purposes according to their similiar
specs. I do "general" design work with quite different objectives (e.g.
uC, analog, mixed-signal stuff) which does not emphasize a single key
feature, which would make a decision easy. I'm looking more for a
"Jack-of-all-Trade type" scope.
I were able to play with both scopes for half an hour, but this didn't
really help me, because naturally in this time frame you can only
scratch the surface of the feature set or the user interface. Does
anyone like to share his/her comments on those scopes - subjective
opinions are welcome.

Thanks in advance
Klaus

I've worked with a waverunner and some TEK scopes but found that the LeCroy
was faster with changing the timebase and it reacts faster when pressing the
buttons. For the rest it are good scopes.

Al
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
It's time for a new scope at work. My budget allows for either a Tek
TDS5054B or a LeCroy Waverunner 6050, however I have a hard time to make
the final decision. Both scopes are certainly very good ones and both
seems to be well suited for my purposes according to their similiar
specs. I do "general" design work with quite different objectives (e.g.
uC, analog, mixed-signal stuff) which does not emphasize a single key
feature, which would make a decision easy. I'm looking more for a
"Jack-of-all-Trade type" scope.
I were able to play with both scopes for half an hour, but this didn't
really help me, because naturally in this time frame you can only
scratch the surface of the feature set or the user interface. Does
anyone like to share his/her comments on those scopes - subjective
opinions are welcome.

Thanks in advance
Klaus

I have my own reasons for disliking LeCroy, so I can't comment on
their scopes. But I have a TDS5052, and everybody here loves it. The
DPO stuff gives it a very nice "analog scope" feel. Their 1 GHz FET
probes are very nice, too; get them if you can.

John
 
F

Funky

Jan 1, 1970
0
Klaus Bahner said:
It's time for a new scope at work. My budget allows for either a Tek
TDS5054B or a LeCroy Waverunner 6050, however I have a hard time to make
the final decision. Both scopes are certainly very good ones and both
seems to be well suited for my purposes according to their similiar
specs. I do "general" design work with quite different objectives (e.g.
uC, analog, mixed-signal stuff) which does not emphasize a single key
feature, which would make a decision easy. I'm looking more for a
"Jack-of-all-Trade type" scope.
I were able to play with both scopes for half an hour, but this didn't
really help me, because naturally in this time frame you can only
scratch the surface of the feature set or the user interface. Does
anyone like to share his/her comments on those scopes - subjective
opinions are welcome.

Thanks in advance
Klaus

Don't forget to check the guarantee period and how much it costs to repair,
minimum.
Funky
 
P

Paul Burridge

Jan 1, 1970
0
I've worked with a waverunner and some TEK scopes but found that the LeCroy
was faster with changing the timebase and it reacts faster when pressing the
buttons. For the rest it are good scopes.

Who/what the hell is LeCroy? Never heard of 'em. :-|
What's wrong with Anritsu or HP?
 
S

Stefan Heinzmann

Jan 1, 1970
0
Paul said:
Who/what the hell is LeCroy? Never heard of 'em. :-|
What's wrong with Anritsu or HP?

There's nothing specifically wrong with Anritsu and HP except they don't
make scopes.
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
There's nothing specifically wrong with Anritsu and HP except they don't
make scopes.

I'm certainly not current on 'scopes, I have a 20-something year old
Leader and a several year old Tek TDS210. But hp for sure made
'scopes back in the '60's thru the '80's. I know, because when I was
in a position to influence 'scope purchases I forbade the purchase of
hp 'scopes because of their poor triggering.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty-four?
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm certainly not current on 'scopes, I have a 20-something year old
Leader and a several year old Tek TDS210. But hp for sure made
'scopes back in the '60's thru the '80's. I know, because when I was
in a position to influence 'scope purchases I forbade the purchase of
hp 'scopes because of their poor triggering.

...Jim Thompson


We demoed an HP scope that had, like, 4 buttons. The menus were so
complex we couldn't get it to do much of anything.

I think the current-generation Agilent scopes are pretty good... lots
of knobs and buttons like God intended.

John
 
K

Klaus Bahner

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm certainly not current on 'scopes, I have a 20-something year old
Leader and a several year old Tek TDS210. But hp for sure made
HP scopes are now Agilent - so strictly speaking HP doesn't make any
scopes anymore, although I guess most of us still regard Agilent and HP
as the same thing, when it comes to electronics instruments.
'scopes back in the '60's thru the '80's. I know, because when I was
in a position to influence 'scope purchases I forbade the purchase of
hp 'scopes because of their poor triggering.
Agreed! The scope I'm going to buy will replace one from HP, which I
really learned to hate during the recent years :-(

Klaus
 
G

Georg Acher

Jan 1, 1970
0
|> There's nothing specifically wrong with Anritsu and HP except they don't
|> make scopes.

HP is now called Agilent ;-) They have also some nice scopes, a few of them have
have also digital inputs with logic analyzer functions.
 
J

Jim Yanik

Jan 1, 1970
0
There's nothing specifically wrong with Anritsu and HP except they
don't make scopes.

When did HP stop making scopes?
I believe you're wrong with this statement.
 
J

John Fields

Jan 1, 1970
0
We demoed an HP scope that had, like, 4 buttons. The menus were so
complex we couldn't get it to do much of anything.

I think the current-generation Agilent scopes are pretty good... lots
of knobs and buttons like God intended.

---
Another one of HP's many claims to fame (which has always struck me as
one of the slickest tricks ever) was the invention of the internally
deposited graticule, which totally eliminated parallax. Can you
imagine the OMIGOD!'s at Tektronix when it hit the street (as I
recall...) in the sixties ?
 
C

Chris Carlen

Jan 1, 1970
0
The said:
I've worked with a waverunner and some TEK scopes but found that the LeCroy
was faster with changing the timebase and it reacts faster when pressing the
buttons. For the rest it are good scopes.


I am regularly frustrated by slowness of older Tek scopes. But I have
been using the DPO TDS3000 series for some time, and they don't have
this problem. They are even more responsive in the newer TDS3000B
series, so hopefully the TDS5000 series that the OP is considering is
peppy as well.

Good day!
 
M

Mac

Jan 1, 1970
0
Who/what the hell is LeCroy? Never heard of 'em. :-|
What's wrong with Anritsu or HP?


Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you just post a couple of months ago
at which point you had never even heard of Anritsu?

--Mac
 
R

Robert Lacoste

Jan 1, 1970
0
I've never used the newest Tek 50xx series, but I'me using a quite old
Lecroy scope (9350) for years, and when comparing it even with TDS30XX
scopes I will never accept even a swap : The Lecroy used to have far more
sophisticated triggering modes, as well as a very high reactiveness. To be
checked of course with the new models...

Friendly,
Robert
 
D

ddwyer

Jan 1, 1970
0
John Larkin said:
I have my own reasons for disliking LeCroy, so I can't comment on
their scopes. But I have a TDS5052, and everybody here loves it. The
DPO stuff gives it a very nice "analog scope" feel. Their 1 GHz FET
probes are very nice, too; get them if you can.

John
Aged scope user with recent experience of Tec & LeCroy.
I still prefer CRT analog for analog use, digital scopes still are
"challenged" by the need for a/d that has lots of bits and GHz bw , this
is not easy and the result is noise of 1mV or so on a channel with 10V
max signal.
Anyone disagree?
 
T

Tilmann Reh

Jan 1, 1970
0
ddwyer said:
Aged scope user with recent experience of Tec & LeCroy.
I still prefer CRT analog for analog use, digital scopes still are
"challenged" by the need for a/d that has lots of bits and GHz bw , this
is not easy and the result is noise of 1mV or so on a channel with 10V
max signal.
Anyone disagree?

Depends on what you're doing.

For repeating signals at reasonable high frequencies, analog (i.e. true
analog) is good.
But for slower signals, especially at unregular repetition rates, and
for "single shot" ovservations you really need a DSO.

I am using a analog/digital scope, and most of the time I have the
storage turned on since it's better for the signals I deal with.

--
Dipl.-Ing. Tilmann Reh
Autometer GmbH Siegen - Elektronik nach Maß.
http://www.autometer.de

==================================================================
In a world without walls and fences, who needs Windows and Gates ?
(Sun Microsystems)
 
A

Active8

Jan 1, 1970
0
We demoed an HP scope that had, like, 4 buttons. The menus were so
complex we couldn't get it to do much of anything.

Their logic analyzers may have been just as complex, control wise,
but I have nothing to compare to. The HP Calan sweep system was a
complicated menu system in comparison with Wavetech Stealth.

I was impressed with LeCroy. I had a 700 MHz LeCroy and a 1 GHz HP
DSO at my disposal. Aside from the HP's storage capability, which
did come in handy once or twice, the LeCroy blew the HP away.

And the HP wasn't as easy to figure out as the LeCroy, either.
I think the current-generation Agilent scopes are pretty good... lots
of knobs and buttons like God intended.

God? Good ol' design?
 
F

Fred Bloggs

Jan 1, 1970
0
Klaus said:
It's time for a new scope at work. My budget allows for either a Tek
TDS5054B or a LeCroy Waverunner 6050, however I have a hard time to make
the final decision.

Well- I don't- the models you refer to are too new for any direct
experience- but I do have the very high end of both Tek and LeCroy. Tek
is absolutely right in saying their GUI is intuitive- you can start
using that scope right away, the performance and features always work as
advertized, they are usually shy on acquisition memory so that 8Mb they
advertize will cost you extra, and the glitch capture, programmable
logic triggering, and direct compatibility with their logic analyzers
makes this scope the best choice for digital and mixed signal. LeCroy
oscilloscopes, on the other hand, are an evolution of their CAMAC crate
digitizer mentality and are not optimized for this kind of
application. Another constant with them is that their internal control
"ROM" will be in a state of upgrade flux throughout the product
lifecycle- they will only tell you about this when you run into a
problem. The packaging does not seem to be as durable as Tektronix- we
shipped a LeCroy via UPS once, in a really rugged box bolted into a
shock spring mounted 19" half rack- the LeCroy internal power supply
came loose and smashed the CRT. Tektronix and Agilent do not seem to
suffer problems like this.
 
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