Should I buy OWON SDS7102V firmware 2.7.4?? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: dssence
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2012, 06:19:37 am
content: Hi first of all I want to introduce myself, my name is paul i'm from argentina, and I'm myself a computer engineer and I'm leaned towards reverse engineering.. hacking and modding different devices. I came up it was time to get a digital osciloscope and came across brand known as OWON, I found a direct importer in my country with good prices.So basically I would like you guys to help me out and see which are the goods and bads of OWON model 7102V, but mostly about "OWON" brand in general. I want to buy a scope that would be a good inversion for my research, that I won't regret later. So I will be really apreciatting all your knowledge and savvyness on the matter.First of all I don't know if it's best to buy a 100mhz Owon or 200mhz. I will be doing mostly everything from decoding signals from FPGA's CPLD's PIC's AVR's from different gadgets to doing reverse engineering of anything you may imagine for research and hobby. So that's something to take into account.Secondly I don't have a Logic Analyzer but I know I can buy one from seedstudio called Logic Sniffer here's the linkhttp://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/open-workbench-logic-sniffer-p-612.html?cPath=174I will by doing some power supplpy repair.. notebook repair .. console repair as well. So I would like to know if by using an osciloscope I can be doing testing of digital circuits as well. or it's mostly for analog signals.. maybe Im confusing myself and I should get a logic analyzer.. but I don't think that's the case. To give you an idea of the things I might be doing or actually leaning myself into ..this is one of the sites which lead to reverse engineering. which really called my attentionhttp://spritesmods.com/?art=diskgenie&page=5in that site the guy is checking how secure it's a hard drive enclosure which encrypts information.. and it's doing some decoding to see at what instant the pic mcu saves the password..By the way the SDS7102V i will be getting has the factory firmware 2.7.4.anyways I'm listening to all of you .. thanks !

author: tlu
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2012, 01:36:57 am
content: There are many topics talking about this scope and two other brands on this forum. Look up owon sds7102 vs rigol ds1052e vs hantek dso5062b. These 3 scopes are entry-level scope so judging by what you need to do, all these will not fit your needs. The owon sds7102v does 200Mhz by factory default.I've owned a Hantek dso5062b but had to return it because of lock up issues with the firmware. I'm not going to buy the rigol ds2072 which is 2x the price but 10x more powerful than the 3 entry-level scope. I got these information from the experts on this forum. I'm going to do uC hacking, high speed logic, etc... in the future so I bit the bullet and went with a more expensive scope that can do more.But if budget is tight for you, the Owon sds7102v is an excellent scope as I have owned that one also briefly. The firmware is lacking in features for this dso. Other than that it a nicely built dso with a pretty stable firmware.

author: dssence
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2012, 06:06:49 am
content: Hi thanks so much for your answer, I highly apreciatte your help. I need to ask you two things when you say the SD7102V defaults at 200mhz what do you mean.. cause from what I've read on the specs it's 100mhz you can do some clocking or something to reach 200mhz? can you explain me a little biy more on that. The unit I'll be getting has firmware 2.7.4 , and that was actually making me think on getting the 8202 which is 200mhz and has 1gb sample rate on dual channel mode. Is it worth it ? . Rigol I don't have any chance on finding one cause I shamefuly live in argentina and here evertything is going from bad to wose. import restrictions , freedom is getting locked down. So I just found one provide with owon with decent prices. Just let me know.I also thought about getting MSO8202T which has a logic analyzer .. but didn't find much reviews about it. Is that really worth it ? or it's preferable to buy a logic analyzer aside? ..P.D : By the way when you said you've owned one briefly .. can you tell me why you've exchanged it ? ... There's algo one model which has a logic analyzer integrated.

author: tlu
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2012, 06:21:32 am
content: The Owon sds7102v is advertised as a 100Mhz dso but tests had shown its 3dB cut-off is actually around 200Mhz. This is stated by some of the experts who did extensive testing on this unit. Forum member agph can attest to this. So it has a relatively flat response up to around 200Mhz analog BW.No physical clocking is involved at all. I do not remember which firmware when I got my Owon sds7102v but I do not believe the latest firmware adds any additional features to what the previous one had but I could be wrong. Unless you want the 200Mhz model which I believe can do up to 300Mhz analog BW than the sds7102v is a real good price for the money.I believe the price difference is only $100, at least it here in the states it is. The sds7102v is full 1Gs/s for only 1 channel but using 2 channels it is interleaved at 500Ms/s for each channel. The firmware is IMHO pretty stable as I have not experience any lock ups or crash with this unit.

author: dssence
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2012, 08:35:49 am
content: So you think it's better going with the 200 MHz SDS8202 as it might reach 300mhz (that's on dual? ) or it's worth getting the MSO8202T with logic analyzer which has a faster rise time=1.7ns vs =3.5nson the 7102 and also horizontal2ns/div~100s/div step by 1~2~5on 7102V vs 8202T1ns/div~100s/div, step by 1~2~5how does that actually matter.I'll tell you the price ranges here where I live- SDS7102V U$s 690 |- SDS8202 U$s 1020 |_______> 300 bucks difference for 200Mhz and 1gb sample on dual is worth?- MSO8202T U$s 1350Thanks again. I assume the memory sample width it's the same on all those ones right? something which worries me is aliasing and if it's somehow possible to see ringing ..

author: dssence
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2012, 04:46:28 pm
content: Hi thanks for your complete answer I'm in between the SDS8202 or the MSO 8202 T cause of the logic analyzer .,.. but I did a comparison checking the pdf specs of each device.. and the MSO it's not so good at some features. can you help me out . I'm posting the comparison I did.

author: tlu
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2012, 05:56:58 pm
content: There seems to be a difference in the specs but I highly doubt it as the LA model is most like the same as non LA model but with just the LA pcb added in. I can't believe they would change the front-end of the scope just for the LA. I would trust the specs on the 8202V and just the LA spec on the T model.Most of these overseas company fail to update their specs regularly and are prong to errors during print. It would be best to call up the vendor you plan on buying from and have them clear this up with you. I will tend to believe they would probably say the same thing that the specs is misprinted on one of them. Unless the whole front-end is redesigned I can't see an add-on LA board would affect the specs of the dso and any ways.My opinion is you just get a separate LA and the usb one from Salae are pretty good. Much cheaper and better in terms of features for decoding. I do not think it is worth the extra money to have an integrated one. Furthermore, an LA is good if the firmware that comes with it good. In the end it is your decision and preference.

author: dssence
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2012, 06:05:45 pm
content: Hi tlu thanks so much for your answer, wel yep what seemed strange to me was that there were some things differing from both models, like the SDS reaching to 300mhz bandwidth while the MSO not.. or about the memory record length being 2M fixed on the MSO and 10M on the SDS .. so I think the SDS it's better.. don't know if you checked the comparison table at the end there's the logic analyzer from the MSO and a logic sniffer from seedtudio.. what's best .. I think I should get the SDS and a logica analyzer aside .. do you have any recommendations for a logic analyzer.. I live in argentina.. So things are kind of difficult about import restrictions.. the SDS8202 costs me 1000 U$s.

author: tlu
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2012, 12:07:09 am
content: I do recommend going with a separate LA. If you could afford a standalone unit than it would be great. It should be able to do most of your serial deciding like rs232, spi, I2c, etc.... I have not used the seedstudio but have heard good things about it.The more memory you have for record length the better. Most USB LA are around $100-$150 and can hook up to your laptop making it pretty portable.