Rigol DS1102E For First Time Scope Purchase? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: mlapaglia
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 02:41:34 pm
content: I've found a deal on Craigslist for a $300 Rigol DS1102E. It's listed as "only used once".I've never used an oscilloscope before, I'm interested in looking for interference in my electrical system of a quadcopter I am flying. I am always envious of people on youtube who can monitor things like that and want in on the action! I'm a C# web developer by trade and have no problem reading tutorials, instruction manuals, etc to get up to speed on using a device like this.I've read in this wonderful forum that the 1102E is a good entry scope, and the video review on it stated it was made from quality parts and was well made.I'd am interested in this scope for analyzing signals coming from Atmel chips, rf controllers, anything to do with the RC hobby.For $300 would this seem like a sensible buy? I can get the 50mhz version from tequipment for $330 and hack it to the 100mhz version so I'm not surehttp://www.tequipment.net/RigolDS1052E.htmlAny advice for a noob would be appreciated

author: alank2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 02:45:43 pm
content: Hi,For what it is worth, I'd pay the $30 more and get a new DS1052E because you get a 3 year warranty that way. If the one on Craigslist dies two weeks from now, you are out of luck.Good luck,Alan

author: sgkini
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 03:49:50 pm
content: +1

author: Po6ept
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 06:52:39 pm
content: You can buy a used 1052E for $175 to $200 and convert it. You buy a brand new 1102E for $330, so the used price on a 1102E should be in the $250 range. I agree with alank2. Buy a new one.

author: electronics man
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 09:20:17 pm
content: What is the most you would spend

author: cellularmitosis
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 10:20:45 pm
content: Having started with an analog scope for several years and having just acquired my first DSO this Christmas (the same Rigol you were asking about), I would almost recommend you get an analog scope first.An analog scope is much simpler, so you won't be overwhelmed with all of the menus and options, you can probably find one for $80. if you stick with the hobby you will eventually want both a CRO AND a DSO anyway (best to have both), so it wont be a waste of $80. And if you delay your DSO purchase by a few years, you might get a better scope for the same money, whereas the old CROs will still be the same (will not have depreciated).

author: electronics man
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2014, 05:20:13 pm
content: I recently got my first oscilloscope the rigol ds1074z it is realy easy to operate and take no time at all dso are much more multi purpose than analog ones due to the storage abilaty you can debug digital systems better than with a cro and digital scopes take up much less bench space than analog ones that's one reason I decided I didn't want one another thing was bandwidth.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2014, 05:42:21 pm
content: Quote from: electronics man on January 18, 2014, 05:20:13 pmSlow down, take a breath, and try some punctuation on for size.

author: rexxar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2014, 05:53:10 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on January 18, 2014, 05:42:21 pmHe used punctuation, there's a period at the end...OP: I agree with cellularmitosis, you should get an analog scope first. I think you get a better feel for how oscilloscopes work with an analog scope. That said, I just bought a DS1102E, and I think it's a fantastic little scope for a beginner hobbyist. There's other, newer scopes in the same price range, and I'm sure some of them are better, but as mentioned before, you get a 3 year warranty, and Rigol's customer support is pretty good.

author: electronics man
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2014, 05:58:39 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on January 18, 2014, 05:42:21 pmHay I'm dyslexic I'm sorry for any bad spelling or punctuation.

author: Maxlor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2014, 12:41:29 pm
content: Heh I vote for digital as first scope. I'm a software developer who's slowly learning about electronics, and for me, a DSO just fits much better with existing mental models. You get to observe single events, you can zoom in and out of your capture or scroll with in it, etc. So analog scopes might be simpler to operate, but that's only because all the complexity has shifted to the setup. You need some sort of continuous signal, which you might need to create manually with a function generator hooked up to the right point in your circuit... For example, consider the sizing of pull-up resistors on an I2C bus. It's much easier to get a trace on a DSO here.Besides, the DS1000E series is not complicated to use, since it doesn't actually have all that much functionality. It's about as complicated as a scientific calculatorI'm seeing two schools of thinking here. There's the classic EE way of learning about analog electronics then getting into digital stuff to simplify things, and then there's the people coming from the digital world for whom digital electronics is easy to understand, whereas the analog stuff becomes magic really quickly. You know, the people starting with micros and Arduinos, instead of batteries, resistors and lightbulbs, who find multi-master bus communication easier to understand than a Darlington transistor. I know I'm firmly in the latter camp. And from this point of view, a non-storage scope is of limited use.Btw: since deciding to pick electronics up as a hobby in earnest, I've started to hit some limitations of my DS1052E, for example, it's XY mode is so slow I find it just barely usable, and intensity grading or phospor emulation would be really nice to have as well. I'm slowly starting to appreciate what advantages an analog scope might have, but it's a non-trivial process for me.

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2014, 07:45:26 pm
content: Quote from: electronics man on January 18, 2014, 05:58:39 pmDon't worry about it; language is about communicating ideas, not necessarily perfect punctuation or grammar. Nitpickers never think that there might be an actual reason things aren't the way they like them, and assume laziness. This indicates an issue with the nitpicker, not the nitpicked.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2014, 08:31:02 pm
content: Quote from: Rigby on January 20, 2014, 07:45:26 pmI was not nitpicking.