Recommended Osciloscope

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opacheco

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Mar 16, 2006
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Hi,

I am planning to buy a really good digital osciloscope with generator incorporated, if this unit have computer conectivity and file store and graph options and data store capability, it will be better for me. Few months ago I see a very good option in the forum but I don't remember brand and model!...

Any suggestion?
Thanks,

opacheco
 
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/oscilloscopes/2024903Is an excellent oscilloscope.
I use a Tektronix TBS2104B for specialist and callibrated work and an older Tektronix TDS2014b four channel storage for daily work.
There are many on fleabay from unknown suppliers that are perfect for DIYers and are non professional so cheaper, both new and used. Hantek have a reasonable name for budget oscilloscopes.
 
This was the one that caught my attention from that O-scope conversation. Keysiight 1000 X with generator output
 

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Hi,

I am planning to buy a really good digital osciloscope with generator incorporated, if this unit have computer conectivity and file store and graph options and data store capability, it will be better for me. Few months ago I see a very good option in the forum but I don't remember brand and model!...

Any suggestion?
Thanks,

opacheco


What is a "really good digital osciloscope"?
What parameters are you interested in the most?
What's your budget?

The Siglent SDS2000X-Plus series might be a good choice or their newer 12-bit scopes.
 
The Rigols are quite capable and can be "upgraded"...I got the MSO 5074 and they had a coupon available at the time to allow upgrading it so I licensed the Signal Generators and 4 channels...its a bit overkill for what I need but I've used my analog Tektronix for almost 30 years and I figured I might as well spend the coin once.
 
Few months ago I see a very good option in the forum but I don't remember brand and model!...

Rigol DS1054Z

Although I don't agree that for general audio electronics troubleshooting an Oscilloscope is useful, what I find useful for those duties is a DMM and an Audio Probe.
Audio Probes are really easy to DIY and it's an extremely detrimental tool
 
Rigol DS1054Z

Although I don't agree that for general audio electronics troubleshooting an Oscilloscope is useful, what I find useful for those duties is a DMM and an Audio Probe.
Audio Probes are really easy to DIY and it's an extremely detrimental tool
To suggest an oscilloscope for general use is "not usefull" seems like an uneducated remark.
A quality oscilloscope in knowledgable hands is worth a fortune. A general purpose oscilloscope is not only a tool that shows the waveform but is a DVM that instantly shows the user, any offset or voltage issue may be starting to show.
One cannot watch as a phase splitter starts to distort or the output stage of an amplifier starts to break up with a DVM!

Time saving and takes the guesswork out of fault finding in the audio, video and digital world.
 
Everyone recommends the Rigol scopes, but I haven't personally owned or used one. However, in this case I would say that the voice of the many should be listened to.

Still, my own personal taste and philosophy is that something with less features but from a more reputable company is usually better in the long run. I have a Tektronix digital scope, nothing fancy, it is one of those from the early 2000s; I bought it NOS on ebay. The thing has a low resolution screen and not many features, but it is solid and accurate. On the other hand, around 6 months ago I bought a GW Instek scope; I place it in the same category as Rigol. They are both commercial and reputable Chinese low cost brands. The scope is amazing, it has a 1.5 GHz Spectrum Analyzer, 2 arbitrary waveform generators, the bandwidth goes up to 200 MHz, it has many features, and so on... But there are some caveats, for instance, there seems to be a small off-set in the scope trace, even when set to GND and the probe level is set to zero, the trace won't rest exactly at the center line. Those sort of things usually don't happen with more reputable brands. Granted, with the same amount of money you can either get a Chinese scope with many features, or a scope from a better brand with the bare minimum.

A scope like the one Jon S recommended would probably be my first choice. But I don't think that it includes a signal generator.

You asked for a good digital scope with a signal generator, in my opinion, this is what you want: https://www.tequipment.net/Keysight/DSOX1202G/Digital-Oscilloscopes/?v=0

Of course, the sky is the limit and you can always get something better and more expensive.
 
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Bear in mind that keysoght stoped supporting their products unless you're a company. So, if you're just a hobbyist and something happens to your keysight equipment, good luck...

There's a long thread at eevblog about this.

In my opinion for this amount of money you can get a way way better scope with custome's support.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testg...y-lost-the-plot-dont-buy-if-youre-a-hobbyist/
I didn't know that, that is a shame. I am not used to Rigol or GW Instek support, I hope it is good and not the same story as Keysight. Tektronix it is then. But, to be fair, a Rigol scope with more or less the same specs of the Keysight scope I suggested is not much cheaper so, still, I think the Keysight scope is a good option.

BTW is that official or is it just one employee at Keysight? I shall look more into it. Some people claim otherwise.
 
I didn't know that, that is a shame. I am not used to Rigol or GW Instek support, I hope it is good and not the same story as Keysight. Tektronix it is then. But, to be fair, a Rigol scope with more or less the same specs of the Keysight scope I suggested is not much cheaper so, still, I think the Keysight scope is a good option.

BTW is that official or is it just one employee at Keysight? I shall look more into it. Some people claim otherwise.

It's been a while since I read that thread but I believe it's pretty official.

It's an interesting read.
 
Thanks to everyone for comments and suggestions, I have had very busy time with some electronics audio equipment repairs, but I swear to check each unit recommended for everyone!!…the Rigol DS1054Z look like fantastic but i will have to check the another ones too!

Thanks a lot to all
opacheco
 
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This was the one that caught my attention from that O-scope conversation. Keysiight 1000 X with generator output
fazed,
It look like interesting but it doesn’t have a incorporated generator and it’s 2 channel oscilloscope only!

Thanks for your time
 
it doesn’t have a incorporated generator and it’s 2 channel oscilloscope only!
The 1000x series does have a 4ch and gen out depends on the model ordered. The 1204G has all that. I posted the spec sheet for the 1000 series which have many models.

Warpie’s post however concerns me a bit.
 

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The 1000x series does have a 4ch and gen out depends on the model ordered. The 1204G has all that. I posted the spec sheet for the 1000 series which have many models.

Warpie’s post however concerns me a bit.
gazer,
Thanks for your suggestion and response but this is out of my budget

opacheco
 
Would this be a good one? Found someone selling it for 75 dollars locally.
 

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