Cheap Osciloscope Textronix TBS 2000 100 Mhz 1Gsa/s 4 Channels - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: _nacho
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 03:07:58 am
content: Hello everybody,I have been following a Textronix TBS 2000 in my country craiglist it is currently at $540. I am a electronics aficionado but have been searching for an oscilloscope for some time and this one is really cheap for this brand. In my part of the world a Textronix is very rare, I saw one in Uni but we were not allowed to touch it. So I come to the members of the Eevblog forum for advice if its worth it to purchase it and how to make sure it is in working order.I have some understanding of electronics from uni courses, but my masters is in biology so the only thing we ever measure with a oscilloscope, were electrical discharges from neurons from crickets muscles.I attached the pictures from the listing. It seams that they don't have the probes but I could ask if it wort it.Thanks in advanceNacho

author: eTobey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 11:45:50 am
content: It looks rather dirty to me. Also it has been placed very close to dripping water.You should never place it near water or in a humid place. The seller does not know what you should not do to oscilloscopes seemingly, so expect it to have water damage.

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 11:50:57 am
content: Quote from: eTobey on December 31, 2024, 11:45:50 amFrankly, that "dripping water" most likely only means that he has taken it outside to take a photo in better light conditions after it rained earlier. The scope is clearly not wet.However, for that price one can have a better scope new unless one is hell-bent on having a Tek. More memory, digital protocol decoders, etc.

author: inse
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 11:52:56 am
content: Huh?A little dusty, at max and maybe they brought it a little closer to daylight for the photo…Edit: Janoc, you won

author: eTobey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 11:55:40 am
content: Quote from: janoc on December 31, 2024, 11:50:57 amMay i correct your statement? "There is no visible water on the visible surfaces, that are visible in the picture."Still its not exactly intelligent to place it near dripping water, or a water puddle!

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 12:15:58 pm
content: Quote from: eTobey on December 31, 2024, 11:55:40 amI see no "dripping water" or "water puddle" either, only some wet tiles. The seller may be a pig (given how dirty the case is) and has no clue how to take a good product photos but lets not blow things out of proportion, shall we?

author: eTobey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 01:27:29 pm
content: Quote from: janoc on December 31, 2024, 12:15:58 pmWell some people just dont see it...

author: _nacho
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 04:25:25 pm
content: It's not the fault of the seller that the scope was in a humid place it rain for like 2 months straight in my part of the world.

author: NE666
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 04:38:45 pm
content: The seller's choice of photographic backdrop aside, the salient point is that unless you personally attach a lot of intrinsic value to owning anything of the Tektronix brand, time and technology has moved on greatly and there are other alternatives which represent better value for money for the hobbyist. Assuming that is, they are available in your territory and at the same relative pricing as they are here in Europe and the US.If those assumptions hold true, then an entry level 12-bit scope from either Rigol or Siglent would be a better choice (imho), and would also come with the benefits of a set of decent probes, a current warranty and a valid calibration certificate.

author: CaptDon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2025, 03:07:04 pm
content: Tek makes a good product until it breaks out of warranty. Their repair prices are simply outrageous and normally prevent any repair being performed. Tek was the king of the hill at one time and still is for some really really high end stuff that no one else can seem to produce. At GE we had some Tek stuff approaching $200K U.S.D.!!! But for a hobbyist you could buy two 'knock-off' crapola Asian scopes for the price of a similar featured Tek scope. As for the repair of modern scopes, forget it, they more valuable as target practice. I paid $500 for a Tek TDS2004B some years back which was a decent deal. In the mean time I got a free TDS644B that needed a minor repair. I put the TDS2004B on Ebay for $300 starting bid. It was relisted at least 3 consecutive times and got probably 20 'watchers' every time but IT NEVER SOLD!! Are you shitting me, no one thought a TDS2004B with 3 200MHz Tek probes was worth $300 U.S.D.?? I gave it to a friend for free but he did in return give me a laptop that runs Linux insisting I should ditch the world of Microsoft planned obsolecence buggy hackable overpriced operating systems and get with Linux. B.T.W., it seems the knock-off scopes that look identical to the Agilent scopes are simply Agilents made in Asia (as they all are) that failed Q.A./Q.C. testing and got the knock-off brand sticker applied!!! I base that on real life experience in a test lab when GE/WABTEC decided to go with 'the cheap brand'. They either didn't work correctly or didn't work at all right out of the box!!! Beware!!