Tektronix TLS 216 16 Ch Logic Scope - any experiances with that tool - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: pelule
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 29, 2015, 09:44:27 pm
content: Hi All,I have the chance to get a Tektronix TLS 216, a 16 Channel so-called Logic Scope for a reasonable price. According to Tektronix promotion at shall combine a high speed 16-Ch logic analyzer with a 2 Gs multi-channel DSO. It shall also operate as Mixed-Signal DSO.Does anyone has experiance with that tool?Is it suitable as DSO?Can it be recommended?

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 29, 2015, 09:55:04 pm
content: The memory for each channel is very short and you have to make sure to get the special probes that belong to this oscilloscope. As far as my research goes the inputs are 75 Ohms so a standard 50 Ohm HF probe won't work let alone a standard probe. If you buy it make sure to test it and whether it passes self test. These scopes can also be affected by leaking electrolytic SMT capacitors so you may have to replace those (about 100) even if it passes the self test.I don't know about the logic analysis capabilities but I know it basically is a DSO with 16 analog channels. It can be useful to monitor many signals at the same time.

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 30, 2015, 02:11:04 am
content: It's pertty damn nifty. But you have to use its own active FET probes which are hilariously expensive by themselves.So if you do get one, get one that works, and has a full set of probes already.But I don't know of any other tool that lets you run 16 channels at 2gs/s each.

author: Nystemy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2017, 07:12:27 pm
content: It seems to be a decent scope, that has a few things going for it, mostly the 500 MHz bandwidth, and the fact that it has 16 channels.But the downside of only 2 kilo samples of memory depth per channel makes it rather unsuitable in a lot of situations. Not to mention the highly expensive (and a lot of times broken) active probes that one can find on places like Ebay. One can also build up one's own 75 ohm probe, but I doubt one would easily get good performance in terms of linearity.I myself would like to have one, but they always seems a bit too expensive for what I like to pay for them. (Or just have ridiculous shipping cost....)But yes, it is an interesting scope, but I would say that it would be far from good specifications compared to anything these days, as the small memory depth practically makes it unusable in a lot of logic analysis situations. And if one is looking at over/under-shoot on digital signals, then one doesn't need more then one channel, maybe a logic analyzer with trigger output if one has a more strange problem.Or one can sting together a few modern high memory depth scopes with the trigger in/out-put. Downside is that one doesn't have the pattern triggering of the TLS216. Or its sequence triggering feature as well. These two features being probably the biggest reason for why the TLS216 would still hold its weight today. As I have never seen any scope with such functionality. But one could do a "pass/fail" trigger on multiple channels and get the same result. Though, then one still needs 16 channels, and one normally only has 4....