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PC USB Oscilloscopes

R

rickman

Jan 1, 1970
0
The DIY thread prompted me to look for attached scopes again. I see
there are a few self contained scopes I hadn't seen before with ATMegas
or ARM processors. Some are very low end, others not too bad. Prices
go up quickly with bandwidth.

The attached units I have found seem to be a few no-name devices of
varying (perceived) quality and then there are the Hantek units. They
have a 20 MHz bandwidth unit for under $100 which seems pretty good.
I'd like more bandwidth, but the price goes up really fast. Anyone have
a Hantek scope? I get the impression their newer units are designed a
little better. How good is the software?

What would others recommend for a 200-300 MHz bandwidth scope? Why do
the prices go up so fast? I am seeing prices in the $1000 range for
just two channels. Oh yeah, I also want 16 bits of logic analyzer
attached, preferably synchronized with the scope.
 
T

Tim Williams

Jan 1, 1970
0
I recently got a 4 channel 350MHz for $400 including shipping. I don't do
much digital so a logic analyzer doesn't matter to me.

Hmm, come to think of it, you pay a premium for analog, too. Tek 485s and
2465s are still up there. 'Course, you quickly pay a premium for digitals
with extra functionality, too.

Tim
 
R

rickman

Jan 1, 1970
0
I recently got a 4 channel 350MHz for $400 including shipping. I don't
do much digital so a logic analyzer doesn't matter to me.

Hmm, come to think of it, you pay a premium for analog, too. Tek 485s
and 2465s are still up there. 'Course, you quickly pay a premium for
digitals with extra functionality, too.

Hmmm, my original post was below your tag line so it auto trimmed... I
like that...

What 4 channel scope, a Hantek? Which model? I'm thinking this was
another brand as I don't see a Hantek with 350 MHz bandwidth. I would
be interested in a PC attached scope at that price. Or is this a stand
alone unit? Still, for 350 MHz, 4 channel that is a good price I think.
 
R

rickman

Jan 1, 1970
0
I recently got a 4 channel 350MHz for $400 including shipping. I don't
do much digital so a logic analyzer doesn't matter to me.

Hmm, come to think of it, you pay a premium for analog, too. Tek 485s
and 2465s are still up there. 'Course, you quickly pay a premium for
digitals with extra functionality, too.

BTW, I am using a *really* old T-935 I bought when I was in grad school
almost 40 years ago. I think I paid $900 for it and I see they are
still fetching $400-$500. Amazing!
 
J

Jamie

Jan 1, 1970
0
rickman said:
The DIY thread prompted me to look for attached scopes again. I see
there are a few self contained scopes I hadn't seen before with ATMegas
or ARM processors. Some are very low end, others not too bad. Prices
go up quickly with bandwidth.

The attached units I have found seem to be a few no-name devices of
varying (perceived) quality and then there are the Hantek units. They
have a 20 MHz bandwidth unit for under $100 which seems pretty good. I'd
like more bandwidth, but the price goes up really fast. Anyone have a
Hantek scope? I get the impression their newer units are designed a
little better. How good is the software?

What would others recommend for a 200-300 MHz bandwidth scope? Why do
the prices go up so fast? I am seeing prices in the $1000 range for
just two channels. Oh yeah, I also want 16 bits of logic analyzer
attached, preferably synchronized with the scope.


Because it's like software, you pay for the rights to use it, You don't
own it.
Scopes are like that, you're paying for the luxury of having it, it's
like paying for your freedom.

Scopes like that drop in price very quickly when one comes out at a
much lower price of equal performance, and even if they drop the price
to equal the competitors, they'll still be making money..

Bet that makes you feel good about free marketing! :)

Jamie
 
R

rickman

Jan 1, 1970
0
The Picoscopes seem to have pretty good numbers and they have models
with integrated logic analyzers.
<http://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope.html>

But, as you say, the price goes up ...

Yeah, the Pico scopes are clearly out of my price range for the moment.
Their product line is hard to understand too, like the big boys, the
talk about "series" scopes before they tell you what they can do. So
you have to click through to half a dozen pages to see what they offer
and if you want to compare across product lines you need to go back and
forth, back and forth. I think they used to put the prices on a
separate page, so at least that is better now, or I might be thinking of
another company.
 
B

Bill Sloman

Jan 1, 1970
0
The Picoscopes seem to have pretty good numbers and they have models
with integrated logic analyzers.
<http://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope.html>

I bought one last year and it works fine - we'd bought a slower unit
when I worked at Haffmans back around 2000, and it had also worked
fine and been easy to set up and use.
 
K

Klaus Kragelund

Jan 1, 1970
0
The Picoscopes seem to have pretty good numbers and they have models

with integrated logic analyzers.

<http://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope.html>



But, as you say, the price goes up ...

I've got a Picotech 12bit scope. 10 years ago the SW was buggy but now it seems pretty stable. I have a 10k USD scope at work (Tek 5000 series), but that scope has a lot of bugs and even HW issues.

Sometimes I find myself reverting back to the USB scope. It even has serial decode, which I would have to pay 1000 USD to get for the Tek scope.

For reports, the USB scope has an advantage, very fast copy and paste from the capture to the word document.

Regards

Klaus
 
R

rickman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Oh there ya go, even better deal:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tektronix-T...77985?pt=BI_Oscilloscopes&hash=item43b9784da1


Tempted to buy it myself, but then, I don't know that I'd sell it at a
profit, and I don't have a need for it either!

At a glance I see T-935s for ca. $200? Still rather a lot for a mere
35MHz. Isn't that one of their "logging" scopes? Living in a town like
"Beaverton" must do weird things to a company's marketing department.

Logging? You must mean in the cutting down trees sense. It was a field
service scope with a handle built into the case. I really like the
shape with the tube above the controls and inputs, uses minimal desk
space... other than the fact that it is two foot long! lol I generally
stand it on its tail and use is next to my chair. But a nice PC scope
would be sweet!
 
J

josephkk

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yeah, the Pico scopes are clearly out of my price range for the moment.
Their product line is hard to understand too, like the big boys, the
talk about "series" scopes before they tell you what they can do. So
you have to click through to half a dozen pages to see what they offer
and if you want to compare across product lines you need to go back and
forth, back and forth. I think they used to put the prices on a
separate page, so at least that is better now, or I might be thinking of
another company.

They certainly have some interesting stuff. Most of it is out of the
price ceiling for me as well. But tabbed browsers take most of the
flipping down to a mild level.

?-)
 
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