are all these oscilloscopes made by the same factory in China? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: playboy_shrek
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2021, 11:27:48 pm
content: feels like every oscilloscope in the low-end range has the same weight, looks and general specifications. feels like a huge factory in china just makes oscilloscopes for all the brands and just slaps a couple different logos and colors to differ them. which is the case with many products really

author: med6753
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2021, 11:51:44 pm
content: I suspect Rigol and Siglent would disagree with your assessment.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2021, 11:55:40 pm
content: Quote from: med6753 on September 02, 2021, 11:51:44 pmAnd not only them.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2021, 12:01:42 am
content: Lower end oscilloscopes converged on a set of features that works well and reasonably cheap to make. So on a surface all of them look more or less the same. You need to invest a bit of time and you will see that there are differences, and you can pick the one that fits your needs.This is exactly the same thing as cars. On a basic level all modern cars (sedans) are interchangeable.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2021, 12:42:12 am
content: Quote from: playboy_shrek on September 02, 2021, 11:27:48 pmExamples? There is some rebadging going on, but if you know your brands you know which ones are not manufacturers.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2021, 01:08:56 am
content: There are lots of rebadges, especially considering regional brands. But, as others have said, the basic settings (tied to the availability of parts in the mass market, such as 1GSPS ADCs) allow for the production of equipment with the same features. Similarly to DMMs using widely available 2000 (ICL7106) or 6000 (DTM0660) count chipsets.

author: ebclr
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2021, 04:28:04 am
content: Have several Scopes factories there, I already visited, some do for other brands, some for yourself only, But the competition is huge, No monopoly on anyway shape or form

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2021, 04:43:55 am
content: If they were all the same, there wouldn't be so many debates raging on over which one is best.As somebody else mentioned, most of the entry level scopes have a lot of the same features, but some do a better job at some things than others.Now if you mean the little sub-$100 toys, a lot of those probably are either made by the same factory or more likely are copies of each other.

author: Inside21
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2021, 03:22:42 pm
content: Hantek, Voltcraft, Darkwire, Protek, Acetech = QINGDAO Hantek Elelctronic Co.

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2021, 04:28:06 pm
content: Rebrands definitely exist (and aren't limited to Chinese manufacturers), but there isn't a factory large enough to supply all of them anywhere and they do generally have differences. You end up with very similar features/look/form factor because of industry competition, imitation, and practical design and price limits of parts. UIs will try to imitate good examples and they are generally easier to adopt when they use a style that's similar to other brands the customer is familiar with. Performance specifications are similar because they use similar architectures and because if they didn't, they wouldn't stack up on the spec sheet. Form factor is similar because you want your new scope to generally fit where your old one was, and because the current default benchtop form factor is both pretty practical for usage and fairly small for what it needs to do.There are more things that come into play, but basically you're just seeing the market converge on a set of features and a look that works instead of trying to do the extra work to do something differently without really knowing if that extra effort and parts in your design will actually be worth much to the consumer.

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2021, 05:13:17 am
content: I now own several of these Chinese scopes and don't see the same dimensions nor feel the same weightSpecifications, sure a lot are the same, but for some also fake, since they don't match the device at all.(FNIRSI!!!)More interesting question would be where are the circuit boards made for these devices. Do some of them use in house facilities? Because there is a big risk in having information about your design being leaked. With the PCB fabrication files you basically have the schematic, especially when they include the bill of material and pick and place information.

author: tv84
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2021, 07:46:13 am
content: Quote from: playboy_shrek on September 02, 2021, 11:27:48 pmCyberdyne Systems

author: kcbrown
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2021, 10:26:47 pm
content: Even if they were being made by the same factory, the real question is whether or not there are design differences. And to determine that, all you have to do is crack them open and compare the motherboards.If the BOM is notably different then you know right then and there that the scopes are different designs.Well, teardowns of these various scopes have been done by a number of people and so the overall design is there for all to see. And while the basic components will be of the same class (you have an FPGA, an LCD controller, front end amplifiers, A/D converters, etc.), they'll differ in the details, and different details necessitates different designs.So while it may feel, on the surface, that different scopes in the same class are actually the same scope, that's really not the case at all.