Good price on Rigol scope

[Ptownkid]

Thought people might be interested

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001VKCJ0M/ref=pe_457200_112139480_em_1p_0_ti

 

[Ptownkid]

Rigol is selling it direct for the same price...guess this is the new normal price.

The 50MHz version is only 329 now...damn, that's cheap.

 

[Jidis]

The 50MHz version is only 329 now...damn, that's cheap.

The first of those Amazon comments claims they are the same, and you can tell the 50 that it's a 100 by changing the model number somewhere. What's that all about??

Have you (or anyone here) got one, and do you like it?

Thanks!

 

[Ptownkid]

Yeah, there's a whole bunch of info out there regarding that. It's apparently true.

I have the 50 and have never had any problems with it.

 

[Ptownkid]

http://hackaday.com/2010/03/31/update-50mhz-to-100mhz-scope-conversion/

 

[Jidis]

Thanks Ptownkid. So I guess you like it. 

Reading through some of that eevblog stuff, it looks like there's a ton of them out there. I'm going to read up on it tonight, but I'm thinking about getting it.

George

 

[anjing]

I'm on the market for a scope, i'm wondering what makes someone choose a digital scope over a second hand old fashion scope?

Regards,

Pierre

 

[Andy Peters]

I'm on the market for a scope, i'm wondering what makes someone choose a digital scope over a second hand old fashion scope?

Triggering can be more interesting on a digital scope (counting the number of edges, logic triggering, etc).
With a digitizing 'scope, the waveform memory can exceed what one can display, so you can capture a large buffer and zoom in on it.
Most digital 'scopes let you save and print waveforms (no more polaroids).
Some even let you remotely control the operation and let you put the display on your computer.

-a

 

[BR]

What do you guys think about this?


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/751733865/smartscope-reinventing-the-oscilloscope?ref=discovery


I was thinking about getting a scope, even though I wouldn't use much.  I haven't done much DIYing lately.  But this looks interesting enough.

Gil

 

[Andy Peters]

What do you guys think about this?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/751733865/smartscope-reinventing-the-oscilloscope?ref=discovery

That it's open source is its prime benefit, in the sense that it's the host software that's always the issue with this sort of thing. There are too many commercial products like this that either don't support your favorite operating system, or the manufacturer comes out with next year's model and stops supporting the older kit on newer operating systems.

That said, while 100 MHz sampling and 45 MHz analog bandwidth has little use when your processor's clock runs at 100 MHz, the kit is $179 with two probes, waveform generator, 8 channels of logic analyzer (which decodes SPI and I2C) and 4 bits of digital pattern generation. I'd say that's it's a no-brainer, so I pledged. Ships in July; I'll report after playing with it.

It shouldn't be too difficult to adapt their host software to other digitizer hardware. For example, something that sampled a lot faster, and has a lot more memory, and maybe even does 12 bits instead of 8 (they don't specify, but that's my guess). The 2048 sample buffer is simply how much BRAM they allocate to that function. The 100 MHz sampling is probably a trade-off between cost and also ease of interfacing to the Spartan 3A FPGA (I've done 200 MHz DDR in them; it's not hard but it's not simple).

-a

 

[Brian Roth]

Back in 1982, I paid "full pop" for a new Tek 2215 scope, which I still use to this day for all my work which is typically audio/analog.  It's been a great box that does all I need for my studio servicing, analog design projects, occasional guitar amp repairs, etc.  Of course, it's been great when chasing down "static" logic problems in Studer/MCI/Ampex/Otari/etc. trqansports.  I've even used it to poke around/troubleshoot older microprocessor-based things like console automation, autolocators on recorders, digital delays and so forth.

Never had to/don't want to poke around in the guts of a 3 GHz Mac or PC <G>!

That being said, I've never used any of the new-fangled <g> digi-scopes, be it a high end Tek or one of the inexpensive Rigols.

How useful are these boxes when "squinting at" audio signals, compared to the green traces from Ye Olde School CRT scopes that I've used all my life?  I sure like the compact size of the digi-boxes compared to my 20/25 pound Tek. All of the added bells and whistles sound great, but I am so used to "looking for stuff" in an audio signal with my CRT unit. 

The portability of the compact digi-boxes attracts me, since much of my work is out in the field (a bit tough to drag a mixing desk or 2" 24 track back to my shoppe!).

Bri,  the analog dinosaur

 

[Jidis]

it's the host software that's always the issue with this sort of thing. There are too many commercial products like this that either don't support your favorite operating system, or the manufacturer comes out with next year's model and stops supporting the older kit on newer operating systems.

Looks like they've got some sort of standard for test instruments, but I'm not sure how far that takes you, or if the manufacturers still need to keep their SW up to date to use it.