Budget Oscilloscopes - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: gary_haskins@yahoo.com
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 06:05:32 am
content: I know this question has been asked a lot, so my apologies in advanace.I've decided to buy a new budget scope for my home lab. I think I've decided on the GW Instek GDS 1104B after much research. If you wanted a best for the money $700 scope, what would you choose?Thanks,Gary

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 06:36:37 am
content: Welcome to the forum.The modern DSO is now much more than just a scope.They now incorporate features as standard that only a few years ago required the purchase of numerous instruments so now to view a scope as a budget purchase you really need study what it's full capabilities are.Add to this purchase of a scope is not a regular occurance for many so while getting best bang for buck one should also consider features that you might not envisage using immediately but can grow into.Typically today 100 MHz is entry level along with some good amount of memory depth that certainly should be more than just a couple of Mpts to fully harness the real power of a DSO.Things that might not seem important now but could well be in the future are:Deep memoryGood FFT capability.Ease of grabbing screenshots.LAN, web, WiFi connectivityDecodesMSOAWGBode plotHistory/Sequence modesAnd so on.Study, compare. Rinse and repeat.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 09:30:48 am
content: Quote from: gary_haskins@yahoo.com on November 26, 2020, 06:05:32 amGood choice if you live in the USA and can buy from Tequipment!Quote from: gary_haskins@yahoo.com on November 26, 2020, 06:05:32 amThat's a tricky price point.I just bought aMicsigfor my own use. Everything on it works really well and the user interface is a massive step up from "twisty knob" oscilloscopes. It also has a big screen, runs on battery, etc.There's also the entry-level Keysights. Many people swear by them, but their biggest strength is also their biggest weakness - all the RAM is on the ASIC so it's incredibly fast, but... there's not much of it. Is that a problem? That depends on your background and what you do with your 'scope. EEVBLOG Dave thinks they're the greatest thing ever, the resident salesman will be along in a minute to tell you the sky falls down without more memory.On the whole though, $700 is a difficult price point. All the innovation is at the $300-$500 price point and those 'scopes are justtoogood.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 10:20:42 am
content: Quote from: gary_haskins@yahoo.com on November 26, 2020, 06:05:32 amYou can save a bit of money and buy the GDS1054B and hack it to 100MHz (using a key generator). For a budget of $700 you can also look at MicSig tablet oscilloscopes. Solid firmware just like the GW Instek plus a really big screen. And don't let the tablet form factor fool you; the MicSig tablet scopes are perfectly fine as a bench oscilloscope.

author: 2N3055
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 12:36:39 pm
content: The advantage of SDS1000X-E series from Siglent is two 1GS converters. So sample rate never drops below 500 MS/s even with 4 ch on, and you can operate 2ch at 1GS/s.That might be important sometimes. I think GDS is better than DS1000Z from Rigol, but not better than SDS1000X-E. More like different. Siglent has some things better, GS Instek has some things better.Micsig is great little scope, works well, like it very much.But make note it has NO statistics on measurements ( I miss that feature very much, and would miss it very much if it were my primary scope ).Otherwise, for general "scoping" (and portability) great little thing. OTOH, it has nice, per channel filtering (that puts to shame 20000 USD scopes), very responsive (alternating between it and Keysight 3000T I feel no slowness ever), etc..But to get back to OP question, like others said, $700 is a wierd price point. Things start to happen at 350-400 USD, get better at 500-600 USD, then there are things happening at 1000 USD, and then around 1500 USD...At 900 ish USD you can get GW Instek GDS-2074E (that can "opened" to higher bandwidth). Now, that is serious instrument, dual A/D converters, good stable software, fast, many measurements, decoding..

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 01:25:41 pm
content: Quote from: 2N3055 on November 26, 2020, 12:36:39 pmDefinitley.Quote from: 2N3055 on November 26, 2020, 12:36:39 pmThe Instek can bemuchcheaper than the Siglent if you live in the right country.