Author Topic: Oscilloscope Opinion(s)  (Read 2619 times)

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Offline Neophite_404Topic starter

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Oscilloscope Opinion(s)
« on: October 08, 2009, 10:12:41 AM »
I'd like to take a second the say Hi to everyone, as this is my first post on these forums.

Now, I've been shopping around for my first O-Scope. I'm leery though because I have absolutely no experience with this type of equipment and the cost is rather steep (for a hobbyist). So, I'd like to poll your opinion on the scope that I've come to decide on purchasing.

As seen on http://www.saelig.com/PSBEB100/PSPC016.htm , the DS1052E seems like the best mix of: Usable now (for viewing the signals surrounding MCU operations like PWM outputs, UART, I/O pin activity), not too oppressive $$$-wise (~$500 isn't bad compared to the $1000+ that can be spent on these things), and it seems that it would be fairly easy to learn how to use. (Also the ability to digitally capture waveforms seems like an important thing to me because they would probably be invaluable when I come back on these forums and yell for help :-D).

Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated. 

Offline waltr

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Re: Oscilloscope Opinion(s)
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2009, 01:11:29 PM »
Looks pretty good for $600.
It is fast enough for check IO ports, serial com, PWM and lots of other circuits.
Digital capture is nice to have also, it allows you to trigger on an event and have it frozen on screen (great for debugging serial transfers).
Once you get used to have a scope you'll wonder how you lived without one.

I've never heard of the brand so can't say anything on that particular scope.
Hopefully someone will have experience with this one.

Offline Neophite_404Topic starter

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Re: Oscilloscope Opinion(s)
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2009, 05:01:45 PM »
When it comes to the brand, Rigol is an Asian manufacturer that actually also produces the hardware for the HP/Agilent branded O-Scopes. So in my thinking about all of this I tend to put a good bit of stock in them.

And another thought that just came to mind is that after the holiday season there should be a few of these out on e-bay for nice prices b/c folks will be upgrading. (You know a "merry xmas to me" sort of thing).

Thanks for your input though Waltr. It helps to have my opinions validated a little bit ya know? (Makes me feel better about spending so much money).

Offline kd5kfl

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Re: Oscilloscope Opinion(s)
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2009, 09:09:53 AM »
found this at a ham radio web site:

Oscilloscope Tutorial Part 1

mine is a Tektronix 454. old school quality.

Offline chelmi

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Re: Oscilloscope Opinion(s)
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2009, 10:07:52 AM »
found this at a ham radio web site:

Oscilloscope Tutorial Part 1

mine is a Tektronix 454. old school quality.

Featuring the Axon!

Offline Neophite_404Topic starter

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Re: Oscilloscope Opinion(s)
« Reply #5 on: October 10, 2009, 05:37:16 PM »
Thank you kd5kfl ... That little series of vidTuts was incredibly useful to me when I first decided to learn about O-Scopes. Very educational, but after watching them I was still at a loss about determining quality and what features/specs are required for the work we do with MCUs.

This man Dave has a nifty little E.E. vid blog thing going on. And in this:
EEVblog #13 Part 1 of 2 - Digital storage Oscilloscope Tutorial

He talks about how the different specs relate to each other. Very very useful. (And it was helpful for me because his demo model was the very DS1052E that I was looking at getting.

 


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