Help buying a DSO - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: mrbyte
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 11, 2012, 12:35:18 am
content: Hello everyone!I am a newbie here so I hope I am posting in the correct placeI am looking to buy a scope to add to my growing desk of electronics guff (this is turning out to be a mighty expensive hobby). I have used the old CRO scopes before when I took my a-level in electronics a few years ago, so I am fairly confident with using them. But I thought for my own one I would like a DSO, however they are bleeding expensive!Owing to that, I have found a few of the 'cheapy' ones on ebay and would love some help picking one. If you know of any others in that budget range (the cheaper the better) please let me know!UNI-T UTD2102CEL -http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-UNI-T-UTD2102CEL-1G-Digital-Oscilloscope-100MHz-/221159664994Siglent SDS1102DL -http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Siglent-SDS1102DL-7-100MHZ-500MSa-s-32Kpts-Digital-Storage-Oscilloscope-/221160115791ATTEN ADS1102CAL -http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ATTEN-ADS1102CAL-100MHz-Digital-Oscilloscope-1102CAL-Shipping-from-UK-/190724341892Budget wise, this really is my top limit (my wallet is crying a bit), but from what I gather they are good spec for the price. About the cheapest was a 25MHz one from china for £180, but it would probably get hit by import duty etc so it would end up costing more.I mainly work with digital things, so I didn't know if a logic analyser would be better or not really. Sometimes it can be a right pain when things don't work and just having a multimeter and logic probe doesn't do the trick when working on a circuit going at 4MHz like the one I am currently doing.Thanks for reading and I would appreciate any feedbackmrbyteP.S. Dave, if you see this, thanks for all the informative videos!

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2012, 08:29:13 pm
content: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/digital-oscilloscopes/If you can swing a few more pounds, I think the Rigol 1052e or 1102e are better choices. The issues with the scopes you list are discussed in the archives. They do work, but some of the ifs in their performance and quality control concernscould be a headache. The thread linked discusses local dealers in the UK and the price difference for UK sale, besides VAT, is small compared to the lowest price the Rigol's are sold by authorized sellers worldwide.

author: mrbyte
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 11, 2012, 09:21:44 pm
content: Thanks for the reply!Yeah I know a Rigol would be ideal, but it is a fair amount more than these scopes for the UK. Dealextreme do the Rigol quite cheap (£215), but I would have to pay £70-£80 odd in import duty!I have heard of Siglent before (which is the one I was leaning to), but I'm not sure what they are like compared to Rigol. As you say, I don't want my scope blowing up! However, I don't have a huge amount of money to spend so I am extremely limited in choice

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2012, 11:02:31 pm
content: Dealextreme is likely to mark the item as a gift or put a lower value on the customs declaration form like many Chinese companies do.

author: mrbyte
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 11, 2012, 11:59:46 pm
content: Ah right, well I shall ask them. Ordered lots from DX before and they are generally good. Can the rigol still be hacked to make it 100MHz? If it can then that might seal the deal for me instead of the others. Only difference will be slightly smaller screen, but the reputation of this scope seems much better.Edit: They said they declare the value as 30% - 60% of the real value and don't include an invoice, so I think I would only have to pay £15-£30 import duty if it gets tagged by the taxman, not too bad.