Panicking  (Hantek DSO4102C I bought doesn't have a single review on youtube) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Andy-In_over_my_head
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2016, 10:35:52 am
content: I just bought my first oscilloscope (HANTEK DSO4102C) that shows 200MHZ, 100MHZ, 70MHZ on specs. I bought it because it had a waveform generator in it as well. I figured I would play with it and learn it all real good then then buy the 2 separately when I knew what I wanted and needed. Well no one has any "how to" or review videos on this. I really should have looked first.Did I just blow $288 bucks?

author: MrWolf
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2016, 10:45:28 am
content: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hantek-dso4102c/It's normal. Buying cheap tech is emotional thing. First you are very happy you got it so cheap. Then you discover it's sort of crap compared to 10x more expensive stuff. Then you are sort of confused for a week. After that your mind clears, you sell you car, kids or whatever you got, and buy proper tech. After another week or so you discover you did not actually need proper tech and cheap crap was just fine (for occasionally turning it ON/OFF to make sure it works) but its too late...

author: Andy-In_over_my_head
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2016, 10:54:29 am
content: That was super helpful. Thanks! At least I'm not going to get a cardboard cutout in the mail. Now I just have to figure out what to do will all this garbage I bought ignorantly before I even wired up a breadboard.

author: alsetalokin4017
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2016, 11:22:57 am
content: Quote from: Andy-In_over_my_head on November 24, 2016, 10:35:52 amWell, in a pinch you could always try RTFM.It's too bad you didn't buy a classic analog scope full of vacuum tubes. Then at least it could keep you warm this winter!

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2016, 02:08:54 pm
content: "Does it matter that I'm in america where mains is at 60MHZ to need 60+MHZ oscillator?"Can you run that past me again?

author: Daruosha
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2016, 02:18:07 pm
content: Quote from: vk6zgo on November 24, 2016, 02:08:54 pmWell, amateur questions... Let's be kind and suggest he needs more time to understand and learn basics...

author: MrWolf
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2016, 03:22:35 pm
content: Here's another ending to my original story:...After that your mind clears, you sell you car, kids or whatever you got, and buy proper tech. In great joy you start poking all the holes you find. Small explosion follows after sticking ground lead into mains live. After that you discover that a) it feels good to be alive b) in a blown up state Agilent is much worse scope to have than HantekSo in general. You did the right thing! And please dont poke the wrong holes...

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2016, 09:44:38 pm
content: QuoteThe specs look similar. Just the fact that 4102C is a newer model would tell me its probably better.There may be other better choices available, but its past that point now.QuoteMains is at 60Hz. No it doesn't matter.Seems to be alright from these reviews:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hantek-dso4102c/https://www.amazon.com/Hantek-DSO4102C-Oscilloscope-Arbitrary-Generator/dp/B015O8YVES

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2016, 09:27:01 am
content: Any Oscilloscope is better thannoOscilloscope,& good work can often be done with a less than stellar instrument.The specs quote a "40k record length".This is a lot smaller than,say,a Rigol DS1054Z,but is larger than many older DSOs from major companies,which people happily used for many applications.It can be a limitation,though,if you are looking at signals with a wide frequency range,such as analog TV video,or Amplitude Modulated RF.You can run into aliasing problems due to the reduced sample rate,which normally occurs at longer time/div settings in instruments with small memory depth.

author: TAMHAN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2016, 06:43:34 pm
content: Hello,chillax. I did lots of work with an Iwatsu DS6612 which had but 16 kpt. If you find yourself doing lots of SPI and I2C decoding, a cheap Chinese analyzer is better anyways as you have the data output on your workstations screen next to the code.Fk it, get to work. If you find yourself hating the scope all the time, you can always buy another one and keep this one as a spare/assistance oscilloscope and as a "machine room fucker" for use in the machining shed,TLDR: chill.

author: Andy-In_over_my_head
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2016, 02:03:36 am
content: Thanks everyone... I don't mind harsh criticism.. I don't have thin skin... I just got it in the mail along with tons of other things... I'm going to start posting videos of me trying to figure it all out... Just spent 3 days fabricating my home office desk into a more respectable work bench.... Black Friday and Cyber Monday saved me almost $1,000 usd. so I'm pretty stoked...

author: TAMHAN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2016, 11:05:31 am
content: Hello,good fun!A bit of personal advice: go "up". As in, have multiple horizontal layers for your gear. I can make a video showing how its done on the cheap!Tam