How is TDS2014 as a starter oscilliscope - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: primitive
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 26, 2020, 02:51:29 pm
content: Is getting Tektronix TDS2014 (TDS2025) a great option now? How do they compare to new options like Siglent SDS1104X-E.I'm just getting into electronics and plan to do mostly digital circuits with Arduino as well as some low frequency analog work. I'll follow some online college lab work, which includes some FM radio projects. As such, I'm targeting a 100MHz 4 channel ones.Used Tek TDS2014 on eBay go for as little as $450 or so. They seem to be solid and durable and Tek is praised for UX, though with much lower memory depth than the modern alternatives.So my question is: how should I evaluate these two options and what aspects should I consider?

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2020, 04:04:34 pm
content: Those Tektronix scopes are a waste of money compared to what you can buy new from Chinese / Taiwanes manufacturers nowadays. Just check the many 'I need to choose an oscilloscope' threads in this section to get an idea on what is out there. For your purpose buy an oscilloscope which had decoding and good FFT.

author: georges80
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2020, 05:35:47 pm
content: I owned a TDS2014 several years back and had a freebee TDS2012. They are very limited in capability versus modern digital scopes and I would consider it wasted money in purchasing one. Sold each for around $800 on ebay and that was a good dayA modern rigol/siglent/etc would provide many more features and modern connectivity and deep memory and protocol decoding and larger high res screen and.... As stated above, spend some time searching previous posts on this subforum.cheers,george.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2020, 05:46:18 pm
content: Don't forget warranty too.Although its very unlikely, what if by the time you just powered it up for once, then on the 2nd time, its dead, will you able to cope with that risk, or at least you able to let go and have a good sleep after that.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2020, 08:28:23 pm
content: Quote from: primitive on December 26, 2020, 02:51:29 pmSome 15 years back when looking for my first DSO USB screenshot save to a USB stick was high on my list of must haves and as well priced 4ch DSO's were not available back then I nabbed a TDS2012B when one appeared on our NZ ebay, Trademe. IIRC I paid some 900NZD for it back then and it was a good scope for its time however after those few years things are very different now and a SDS1104X-E will blow it away in any/all respects.Sure these modern DSO's are more complex to use beyond basic scope needs and they are certainly a more complete tool that you can grow into as your knowledge and skills develop.SDS1104X-E is a good DSO and our best seller now when once it was SDS1202X-E as the 4ch model has significantly more capability despite it being a lower BW DSO.

author: rvalente
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2020, 11:24:40 am
content: You'll give up on them when you realize they've only 2500 points of memory

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2020, 03:20:01 am
content: Quote from: rvalente on December 29, 2020, 11:24:40 am2500 points would not be so bad except that it only has very basic delay time support and no B trigger.Automatic measurements will work on a 16 bit processing record so better than many modern instruments. At least there will be none of that nonsense about measurements changing when the display is changed.Sample rate is independent of the number of active channels.