Agilent vs. Advantest - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Doper
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 04, 2025, 04:48:15 am
content: Hello everyone,At my company we have a chance to get a VNA, either an Agilent 8753ES (6 GHz) or an Advantest R3767CG (8 GHz). Both with a similar price range.In your opinion, which is a better option ?Anyone has experience with Advantest devices and their reliability ?I know Agilent is one of the best, but the 8 GHz Advantest also seem attractive. However, based on what I have seen, Advantest devices seems to have less support and less available documentation online. The feeling I got about Japanese companies is they are less open, so fixes and firmware updates are more difficult.Thank you !

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2025, 09:48:00 am
content: i would search for serviceability advantest are very secretive, no sv manauals for most of their stuffnot sure about the 8753es and mostly calibrations costs

author: KungFuJosh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2025, 03:05:21 pm
content: Keysight will not support the obsolete device. If you want to consider it, then find any documentation including service manuals that you will need before making the purchase. If somebody at your company is competent and comfortable making the repairs listed in the service manual, then sure, it could be fine.If that's not the case, then I wouldn't consider either unit. You can expect to need to repair either. If not immediately, then in the near future. That will add to the cost, exponentially if nobody at your company can do the work.I don't know what price point you're looking at, but I would consider checking out the Siglent SSA3021X-Rif you only need two ports. That model is 2.1GHz, but it can be upgraded to 7.5GHz, includes a real-time spectrum analyzer, VNA capabilities...and a warranty!

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2025, 03:23:23 pm
content: Quote from: Doper on September 04, 2025, 04:48:15 amReliability is on par with Agilent. Typically Advantest equipment can be bought cheaper compared to Agilent just because of the name. For that reason I have only owned Advantest spectrum analysers.QuoteYou won't be able to obtain schematics for either so don't count on being able to repair it yourself. The machines you listed are quite old. What is the warranty period? And what is de price difference compared to buying from Ebay instead of an equipment dealer? I see these units starting from about US$ 3k to 4k on Ebay for working ones. If the warranty period is a year or less, it is probably cheaper to buy one from Ebay. If it breaks, flog it on Ebay and buy another one.

author: KungFuJosh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2025, 03:31:05 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on September 04, 2025, 03:23:23 pmWhich one is your favorite?

author: Doper
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 06, 2025, 07:31:35 am
content: I appreciate all your replies !Indeed if I get some software error on the Advantest, its gonna be painful. And very few discussions exist on these. Its unpopular.@ nctnico: Do you perhaps have service manuals or experience in fixing Advantests ?There is a service manual for the Agilent though.Thank you !

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2025, 01:30:19 pm
content: Quote from: Doper on September 06, 2025, 07:31:35 amThere are some service manuals floating around for the really old Advantest SAs which have CRT displays. I would stay away from those as these are really old. For the newer ones there is no official information so what you can find on the various fora is what you have available. I do have experience making repairs on my Advantest R3477 but I'm quite used to doing repairs without having a schematic.QuoteBut that is not really useful to do component level repairs. It only shows how to take it apart which is not hard to imagine if you have assembled a few Ikea cabinets

author: virtualparticles
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2025, 01:08:56 pm
content: The "E" series is pretty long in the tooth. You can pick up a VNA from Copper Mountain Technologies with better performance at a lower price. You can try one out for a week and see for yourself. coppermountaintech.com

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2025, 01:19:26 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on September 04, 2025, 03:23:23 pmI have one of those old R3000 Advantest SAs, that need repair. It has a lot, and I mean really a lot of manual rework in it. If their VNA is anything like that I wouldn't want to spend a lot of money to buy that.The architecture looks nice with the plug-in cards, but some of the implementations, I'm just scratching my head. Lie you cannot fit a torque SMA wrench to an internal connector that you absolutely should've.