Lecroy wavejet 314 - how is it? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 26, 2017, 08:54:19 pm
content: At the moment there's a NOS WaveJet 314 on ebay for an interesting price.I know i've probably wasted my chances at getting it but...How is this scope? Are there any options for this scope? Decodes and such?I skimmed through the manual and it appears to be your usual 4 channel 100 MHz Lecroy Scope, so the SMART triggers and advanced math.. probably a bit faster than my (1990s) 7200AWith a quick search i can't find infos on options.. are there protocol decoders or waveform analysis features that may justify an offer for any reason other than TEA?And maybe... how to increase bandwidth?

author: lem_ix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 26, 2017, 09:29:07 pm
content: Dave did a review and teardown of the touch version which was supposedly just a light update. As I remember there were no decoders, just triggering on digital. Biggest selling point being 500 MHz bandwidth for a reasonable price although at only 2.5 GS/s. Also the scope is made by Iwatsu so don't expect a Lecroy.

author: jpb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 26, 2017, 09:30:25 pm
content: I have the Lecroy WaveJet 334 model and I am very pleased with it - but it is a good scope for traditional analogue measurements it does not have decode options. Lecroy did do a separate and expensive logic analyser which would trigger it but that is the A model. The 314 is a very old design now and doesn't even have a USB control port (it has a USB port for saving data to USB stick and a USB port on the back that does nothing - I ended up getting the LAN interface).The plus points are it is well made and accurate (Japanese manufacture). It is much better quality than cheap digital scopes. It also has a very good Equivalent Time Sampling mode for repetitive wave forms which I use all the time. If you want a scope that just measures wave forms, boots quickly and is compact (which is what I want) then it is great. It has a useful frequency counter.The minus points are a noisy fan, only 500k of memory (I find this ok though) and no digital decodes or anything though it does have an FFT. The waveform update rate is not of the same order as newer Agilent scopes but it does have a history function which I've found useful in the past.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 26, 2017, 10:10:59 pm
content: Quote from: lem_ix on October 26, 2017, 09:29:07 pmIt looks like this is a 1 GS/s and 100 MHz model.

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2017, 07:21:29 pm
content: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F302493958772Eh, 550 euro. Ain't going to bid. I'll just leave it there

author: abraxa
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2017, 09:04:29 pm
content: If it had been the "T" model, maaaaaaybe. But it's not and so that's a definite "no" because of the lack of advanced features. You did the right thing by not bidding.

author: darkstar49
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2017, 07:10:30 pm
content: Forget the WaveJets in general !! These are the most ridiculous scopes Lecroy has ever made... (well, they weren't even made by Lecroy...)For 500€ maybe not a bad bet, indeed... but in general you're better off going for a Rigol or Hameg, which you'll get for around the same price, but which have much more to offer (decode, more measurements,...)

author: HighVoltage
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2017, 07:17:02 pm
content: Year ago, I bought a Wavejet 314.I returned it faster to the seller than I got it.It was unreal loud from a fan at constant high speed and when you turned FFT on, the scope slowed down so much, that it was no longer responsive or usable.After this experience, I never looked at LeCroy again.One good thing I remember: It came with really nice probes!

author: simone.pignatti
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2017, 08:11:06 pm
content: WaveJet and WaveJet T are done by IWATSU.WaveJet Touch was a total failure in sales number.The first (white plastic) and the second (black plastic) editions really brought innovations (I think first in class with 500Kpts memory) when they came to the market and they have been best sellers...long time ago.

author: jpb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2017, 08:22:24 pm
content: Quote from: darkstar49 on November 28, 2017, 07:10:30 pmThey are a lot better than the WaveAce range which do have a bad reputation which must be top contender for "most ridiculous scopes" from LeCroy.I standby my assertion that WaveJets are well made scopes, they are missing a lot of bells and whistles because they were designed at least a decade ago, and yes the fan is noisy but mine has proved very reliable and it boots very fast. Equivalent Time Sampling is also a nice feature which a lot of more modern scopes have dropped.The accuracy of measurements (Voltage and Frequency) are a lot better than others have reported for their scopes though of course not as good as a serparate DVM but ok enough to take measurements when probing.If you just want analogue measurements, and you can get one at a good price, then I think they are worth consideration. Just remember that you're looking at ten year old tech and don't expect lots of memory, mega-frames per second or any digital decoding.

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2017, 06:09:14 am
content: Quote from: darkstar49 on November 28, 2017, 07:10:30 pmever used a rigol? it's about as slow as people claim the lecroy is, as soon as you enable something other than a single track and a couple of measurements..and the math? please. ever used the math channel in lecroys? absolute freedom, until the system tells you you are using too many traces (which depends on the actual math, it's a cpu problem non an arbitrary software limitation)Quote from: jpb on November 28, 2017, 08:22:24 pmthere is a pattern here.. the 20YO lecroy i have is as fast as a 386 machine can be and it was a genuine lecroy, only other i've tested personally was the siglent-made, you are talking by the other japanese-made... apparently never get a non-lecroy lecroythey put lecroy's features without the processing power needed for them

author: darkstar49
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2017, 02:15:34 pm
content: gotta be honest... never used (for more than 10') a non-Windows Lecroy scope... the oldest I have (and use) is a WaveRunner 6K, but with a Q9100 CPU and 4GB RAM...The WaveRunner 6K is still a nice scope today, and some go really cheap (<1K) on Ebay. These are very reliable scopes, and if you spent a few bucks on replacing all fans with high-quality ones (well, I mean in fact recent and quiet... the originals are OK, but damn loud !), you'll get it 'desktop compatible'.Replacing the board is a bit more complicated (especially if you change the display as well...), but described in several threads on EEVBlog...