Looking for a Osciloscope with 7-8k budget - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: 00pointer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 08:42:18 am
content: Hi Guys,I am looking for a decent osciloscope with a budget around 7-8k Euro. It is going to be used for a student lab, But I also want to be able to have a logic analyzer functionality so I can analyse some highspeed signals (see my previous post about this here:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/suggestion-for-a-good-logic-analyzer-for-monitoring-lpddr1-ram/msg2548170/#msg2548170)Any suggestion?

author: Terry Bites
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 09:59:29 am
content: How about 4 Series MSO44 Mixed Signal Oscilloscope. Loads of features, massive display.www.tek.com/en/datasheet/4-series-msoHad a play with one. Impressive. Push them on edcuational discount.

author: HighVoltage
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 10:32:51 am
content: For this kind of money you can get a 3000T or maybe even a 4000x Keysight scope from a German vendor with Keysight warranty.Look for:www.instrumex.deonline.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 10:52:35 am
content: Start by looking at the price of suitable probes, then work out how much is left for the scope itself

author: Wallace Gasiewicz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 12:39:21 pm
content: I do not know what you are approved to buy.If I had that budget I would look into separate units.If you are approved for the budget for buying more than one piece of equipment then I would look into separate units for the scope and for the logic analyzer.Also consider the costs of the various probes and connectors. TGGZZZ has a good point.Do you want a scope with 1 Ghz that requires fancy probes, or will a 500 Mhz unit be fine and then you can have multiple probes for replacement since these would take a beating in an academic situation. Also different sized probes and tips for different tasks.Likewise the logic analyzer connections take a beating and you need different types of them.A separate logic analyzer can usually do more than the ones in combination MSOs.The FFT in scopes is good but a spectrum analyzer is better....Besides...if one unit fails you at least can continue with the other ones while waiting for warranty work.

author: 00pointer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 02:01:22 pm
content: Thanks for the replies. I am putting aside something around 3k for probes (separate from 7-8k).If others suggest that I separate this issue, then maybe you can also suggest probes (3k), logic analyzers, or oscilloscopes with logic analyzer functionality now.My immediate need would be for the purpose I mentioned above (intercepting LPDDR1 signals). But of course, I want to have something for future needs and that would be better if the device is an oscilloscope with a logic analyzer feature.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 02:27:51 pm
content: Dave has a video on MSO scopes and he doesn't seem to be a fan of integrating a logic analyzer into a scope. I think this is the video...

author: 00pointer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 08:57:28 pm
content: I would say his arguments is indeed right.So backing to square one, I am looking for a logic analyzer with 7-8k Euro budget.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 09:01:07 pm
content: That seems like a huge amount of money to budget for a logic analyzer, they are rather esoteric instruments these days, I pretty much only use mine when I'm working on vintage arcade game boards and similar stuff like that. I use my oscilloscope far more often, it is a more general purpose instrument. What is it that you need to analyze?

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 09:24:34 pm
content: Quote from: 00pointer on September 08, 2022, 08:57:28 pmThe questions I would want answered before inquiring further are:How many logic channels do you need?andHow much circuit (probe) loading can LPDDR1 lines tolerate before there is unacceptable signal degradation?I don't know the answer to either question.The Siglent SDS5104X is in your budget, the Siglent SAP1000 (single-ended) and SAP2500D (differential) probes also fit your budget and the SPL2016 logic probe is quite cheap, but has only 16 channels and 18pF input capacitance, which may not be good enough. If the logic portion is good enough for your purpose, then great. If not, then the whole package doesn't help you.The 4-series Tek is going to be a lot more money ($20K+), but the TLP058 logic probes ($2K+ each) have 3pF input capacitance and a higher sample rate and bandwidth. You can use 4 of them for 32 channels, but your overall cost is going to be way over your budget.

author: 00pointer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2022, 07:55:06 am
content: Hi,Thanks for every suggestion.We decided to go ahead with a 4 Series MSO46 350Mhz. We got huge discount from them (both academic and also because of being demo device) which made it possible to do it with that budget.