Oscilloscope recommendation under 150$ - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: drakejest
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2021, 05:30:57 pm
content: Hello,What is the best oscilloscope i can get under 150$. I understand that i wont be able to buy those bench type model with that amount. I have been looking around and it seems the best i can get is a usb oscilloscope or a handheld one. But with that budget i cant really be picky, i just want the best i can get at that amount.Looking around ali-Express, hantek seem good,Hantek2c72That one seems better to the popular DS203 optionAny thoughts or recommendations ?

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2021, 05:44:23 pm
content: Are these any help:https://youtu.be/DTC1h2PWC8ghttps://youtu.be/FV016wDHml8

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2021, 06:17:38 pm
content: The Owon VDS1022 is a good USB oscilloscope within your price range that has a very good software and it has been supported by independent developers as well. There are two versions: the VDS1022 and the VDS1022I - the last one has the USB connection isolated, so you don't risk destroying your own laptop.There is a very long thread about it:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/owon-vds1022i-quick-teardown-(versus-the-hantek-6022be)/That said, check its specifications and see if they match what are your requirements - it doesn't matter how cheap it can go if it does not meet what you need .

author: NorthernWing
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2021, 06:22:55 pm
content: Maybe not a good answer to your original question, but I personally like to shop eBay and/or forums for used equipment in that price range - my daily driver O'Scope is an old LeCroy 9354AMa lot like this onethat I picked up for $200... sure it's ancient, but it's still a 2GS/s 500MHz scope. Only thing it's missing are new bells and whistles like USB storage and serial decoding/etc which I never used anyway. Just an example, but there are a lot of good old(er) scopes out there that have just been retired from some office after they were replaced and are still in good shape.That's just my thought, for what it's worth

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2021, 08:14:17 pm
content: Just a few weeks ago there was a very similar question here.The conclusion was that you can just buy toys for that money.So tighten your belt a bit, go on saving and then buy something in the EUR250 to EUR300 range. You can get a decent scope for that kind of money.Or at least do a bit research in that price range. The amount of extra functionality will be overwhelming.

author: bob91343
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2021, 11:25:49 pm
content: I agree with NorthernWing. I have never bought a new scope and I have several, both analog and digital, that work well. Swap meets, fellow club members, ebay are a few places to look.I just sold an old 50 MHz unit for $100 and I hadn't expected that much for it. I bought a digital unit, 300 MHz, for $25 recently.

author: Jwillis
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 02:00:13 am
content: Not a fan of hand held scopes. How the heck can anyone see wants going on with such a tiny screen ?If you have to connect to a computer to to see what happening with the DUT it kind of defeats the propose of being a portable hand held instrument .

author: Anthocyanina
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 03:29:40 am
content: I'd say the owon 1022i is the best new for about 110$ I have one of those and it is really usable. The specifications listed on its datasheet are not fake and the software by florentbr is really nice.

author: drakejest
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 03:58:09 am
content: Quote from: Jwillis on November 13, 2021, 02:00:13 amI do see its usecase and have encounter situations where having a portable oscilloscope would be really nice. Like when you are debugging an installation to see if signals are erally passed through.The Owon HSD272S seems to be better than the hantek 2d72, so that is my current contender for handheld. USB scopes seems to be far superior in terms of specs compared to the handheld with the drawback ofcourse that you need a computer to run it with, Still investigating the suggestions given (owon 1022i seems to be highly praised by you guys ).Quote from: NorthernWing on November 12, 2021, 06:22:55 pmSadly we do not have an ebay here, i did try to look for a used scope but its not that easy and buying from another country will cost me shipping making me go over my budget

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 04:16:40 am
content: Quote from: drakejest on November 13, 2021, 03:58:09 amIf we had any idea where "here" was somebody may have taken that into account, but your country field is blank at least on my end and your budget is in $ so most people probably assumed USA.

author: Flinner
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 09:41:29 am
content: Hello drakejest,I am just starting with Electronics hobby and still don't own an oscilloscope yet, so don't take this as an advice.I plan to get a FNIRSI 1014D, which is about 135$ if you live in UK, Spain, France or Poland or 175$ for other parts of the world (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003498586122.html)Quoteit is very possible to get a benchtop one for 150$ from aliexpress.(first post, hope I got things right and didn't break any rules!)

author: HB9EVI
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 02:51:32 pm
content: I wouldn't buy neither handheld nor USB scopes as primary devices. Those can be helpful addon in certain situations, but as a benchtop device they both just suck. In the end you're going to buy a benchtop scope after all, even if you didn't plan it, so you buy twice.also I wouldn't recommend old scopes to beginners; normally the skills are non-existing yet to get such an old beauty fixed if there's something wrong. Unless of course you're either courageous or got a friend who can help you fixing it.I'd look out for somebody replacing the typical 100MHz/1GSa scope for a faster one. I guess you could get such a Rigol or Siglent for less than 100 bucks.

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 03:12:25 pm
content: QuoteThe HSD272S is quite a bit over your budget, and it's quite close to the Hantek 2C10 bench scope.QuoteOne downside of this is the 50mV/div minimum vertical resolution (or 500mV with a 10X probe)(and this is in software, in hardware it's 100mV/div). Another is the real bandwidth ~30Mhz.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 05:02:38 pm
content: Quote from: tunk on November 13, 2021, 03:12:25 pmYes, unfortunately you don't get something decent with a screen at that price level. The VDS1022(I) at least has a respectably low noise front-end and decent triggering.

author: wizard69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 07:09:53 pm
content: You make no mention of why you want a scope, this has a big (actually a massive impact) impact on what to suggest. So it might help to tell us what you usage is or will be initially.Quote from: drakejest on November 12, 2021, 05:30:57 pmI really don't believe there is a "good" scope for under $150 new. In that range you will be looking at used scopes. There may be scope like tools in that range but they simply may not fit your needs which we do not even know what those needs are at the moment.QuoteYou have several options here but if you want to buy new, for one I'd work real hard on increasing that budget. Sadly I've had to do this several times in my life with respect to many purchases (the monitor I'm watching this on for example), it sucks but that is economics. I'd simply would save until you have 3X your current budget or work lots of OT to get there.A second option would be to import directly from China. If you know your way around the options to do that it can be a good approach. However not having much experience here at all, I have zip in the way of suggestions on how to do so.A third option might be a USB scope if you can find one with really good open source support and that it has the capability to make it useful. I have no suggestions here as frankly I don't have any. However the idea of open source, is that at this extreme low end manufacture support is generally not that good.QuoteI don't really believe there is a good justification for most users to go the handheld route. Most of these instruments do well for field work in limited performance cases, but are less than ideal on the bench.QuoteIt really depends upon your goals. If you are a student consider something like a Digilent Analog Discovery 2. Yeah more expensive but better software and functionality. Otherwise consider a good modern bench scope.I understand the financials but sometimes it simply is counter productive to try to fit a budget that is not realistic. In 99.9% of the cases trying to find a scope for under $150 new is not a useful quest.