Kikusui - should I buy it? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Mrelektrik
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 15, 2014, 11:19:36 am
content: Hi, I am looking for a good oscilloscope. I was told, that I need at least 100Mhz oscilloscope for fixing electronics. I want to fix some dashboard car cameras and other stuff.I recently missed 150 EUR deal on Tektronix 2235. Now I have an opportunity to buy 100Mhz dual Kikusui COR5501U.Here is manual with specs -http://www.kikusui.co.jp/kiku_manuals/C/COR5500U_60_100_E2.PDFSeller is asking 200EUR, but I think I can make him go 150 EUR for it.So is this scope worth 150 EUR? How does it compare to Tek 2235? What is your advice?

author: Wuerstchenhund
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 15, 2014, 11:55:28 am
content: Quote from: Mrelektrik on June 15, 2014, 11:19:36 amFrom a very quick glance over the manual the Kikusui COR5501U seems to be a combi scope (analog + digital), but I'm not sure spending €150 for a (according to the date in the manual manual) roughly 17 year old 100MHz scope with a lowly 20MS/s single-shot sample rate is really such a good buy. The low sample rate makes the digital part practically useless for really any signal over say 5MHz. The analoge part isn't that bad, but I with some patience and luck you might get a purely analog scope with similar specs for a lot less money or even for free.Kikusui scopes aren't bad scopes, but nowadays when you can get a new DSO like a Siglent SDS1102CNL or the old Rigol 1000 Series for not that much more I would think twice before sinking that much money in what essentially is a very old scope with outdated specs.

author: Mrelektrik
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2014, 12:03:47 pm
content: Hm. Thanks for reply. I thought, that it's OK price for that scope.

author: raphrath
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 21, 2020, 11:29:10 pm
content: I have just bought that exact model of scope for $100 AUD or ~50 euro.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2020, 12:06:56 am
content: I had a Kikusui analog scope for a while, it was not a bad instrument, nicely made and it worked fine but it was still just an analog scope and I liked my Tek 465 better.I think it can be beneficial to play around with an analog scope at some point and there are a rare few niche tasks they still excel at but I agree with the other person here who suggested just buying one of the modern low cost DSOs. Rigol, Siglent, etc, for ~US$350 you can get a very capable modern 4 channel instrument or if you are on a tight budget there are cheaper 2 channel versions. I'm not sure how useful a scope is even going to be for repairing dash cams but that depends on what's wrong with them, either way a DSO is going to be a lot more helpful than a vintage analog scope. The latter would be better than nothing but I would only bother if it were very cheap or free. The modern low cost DSOs have just gotten so cheap for what you get that it's harder all the time for me to find reasons to recommend an old scope to hobbyists.

author: tkamiya
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2020, 04:10:45 am
content: Kikusui, Meguro, and one other I forgot were the first tier test instruments maker in Japan in 1980s. Leader, Kenwood, and few others were mostly targeted for amateurs.One thing about Japanese make is that they almost never release user manuals and service manuals to whose who didn't originally buy the instruments. When something goes wrong, good luck in finding parts and manuals.Personally, I stick with HP and Tektronics.