Oscilloscope recommendation?

[fovea1959]

looking at buying myself a cheap portable scope for use when teaching and troubleshooting a bot. Was originally thinking about eBaying an old HP or Tekt, but buying one sight unseen is giving me the heebie-jeebies.

Keep seeing some of the ARM based scopes (agptek, jyetech, others): does anyone have any experience with anyone of these? Should I bypass these and just get an OWON or something similar?

Requirements are 2 channels, < $200, no PC needed, fast enough to watch PWM outputs going to servos and/or motor controllers, ability to trigger (as opposed to freerunning).

(or does anyone have a good working HP or Tekt looking for a new home?)

[MrForbes]

wait till you find one on ebay that's close to home?

I got my Tek 2215 at the swap meet for $50, although it was a gamble. I got lucky, it works fine. It's not their best, but it is rather light weight for a dual channel 60 mhz CRT scope.

[ferret_guy]

People have said good things about this Oscilloscope alternatively there is this one witch i will hopefully be able to review soon

[Foster]

You missed the summer hamfest season, but check out ARRL Hamfest search page and put your zipcode or state in. There are indoor swap meets across the winter, you may find something in your price range. Hams are pretty good about explaining what you are looking at. But as always, if it seems to good to be true, it isn't.

[DonRotolo]

If you can find a tektronix 465B oscilloscope, that is probably the best scope ever made. Yes, you are possibly taking a risk if you buy it online. And you might not find one for under $200.

There are plenty of computer based digital scopes for less than $200, do a Google search. I don't have a specific recommendation but there's several dozen options out there.

[David Doerr]

Meet the 502 - I had to replace the high-voltage rectifier tube but it's worked fine since I did that.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by David Doerr

Meet the 502 - I had to replace the high-voltage rectifier tube but it's worked fine since I did that.

I have a 535 when I need to heat up the shop. About 500 watts. And not very portable.

[Nathan]

Although it's a bit above your budget, I highly recommend the Rigol DS1052E. The DS1052E is considered by many to be the best oscilloscope in it's price range. It's a 50MHz scope, but can easily by hacked to operate at 100MHz

I have some pics on my website: http://www.foxytronics.com/blog/1/en...boxing-review/

Dave Jones' EEVBlog review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdjpb...layer_embedded

I would suggest buying directly from Rigol, however, and not DX as tsaksa linked to.

[Michael Hill]

Originally Posted by Nathan

Although it's a bit above your budget, I highly recommend the Rigol DS1052E. The DS1052E is considered by many to be the best oscilloscope in it's price range. It's a 50MHz scope, but can easily by hacked to operate at 100MHz

I have some pics on my website: http://www.foxytronics.com/blog/1/en...boxing-review/

Dave Jones' EEVBlog review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdjpb...layer_embedded

I would suggest buying directly from Rigol, however, and not DX as tsaksa linked to.

I recommend this as well. Unfortunately, it's nearly $400, but it's a great scope for the price. The current revision of hardware is hackable to 100 MHz (I did it with mine I just got for Christmas).

I was also given my grandpa's Tek 475 for Christmas.

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

I recommend this as well. Unfortunately, it's nearly $400, but it's a great scope for the price. The current revision of hardware is hackable to 100 MHz (I did it with mine I just got for Christmas).

I was also given my grandpa's Tek 475 for Christmas.

I 3rd the Rigol if you are buying new. I've got one of their fancier models with the local analyzer functions and it was tough to beat for the price.

I also have an older HP 100MHz DSO, 2 HP older 300MHz oscilloscopes, 5 Tektronix scopes and I sold my old dog house scope complete with cart and vintage accessories to someone with the spectrum analyzer module out in Dayton in 2000 (funny part was I drove the rig to Dayton, OH and sold it to a guy that lives really close to me in NJ just by chance...could have saved the cart and put up an ad at the supermarket). I got the FFT function in the newer Rigol scope but I have all the crazy modules (including the microwave modules) for my old HP mainframe spectrum analyzer (cell phones sort of fix the need for the old scope cameras).

[solopilot]

I have a PicoScope 2204 that I like. Google it.
If you get one, make sure you get 15% off at Newark.

[tsaksa]

If you have a bit more cash and need more bandwidth or want more traditional controls I have a friend who bought this scope and is quite happy with it.

http://dx.com/p/rigol-ds1052e-5-6-tf...lloscope-30573

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

If you can find a tektronix 465B oscilloscope, that is probably the best scope ever made. Yes, you are possibly taking a risk if you buy it online. And you might not find one for under $200.

I am more partial to a 453. But that is because it had a better TV sync.

[Michael Hill]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

I am more partial to a 453. But that is because it had a better TV sync.

*insert jab at Al for working on TVs this day and age*

[apples000]

I've found that buying an older scope off eBay isn't as bad as it sounds. You can find a 50MHz scope (much higher bandwidth than is needed for FRC robots) for about $80-$100 from a seller with a return policy. I have a tek 2230 just like jspatz1 (100MHz dual channel) that I bought w/ a refurbished power supply for $200. It also came with a service manual and two 100mhz probes. It's interesting because it has a completely analog mode where you can see the dot move across the display when you have set a slow sweep speed and it's just like an old scope, and it has a digital storage mode, which lets you perform measurements.