[EE] Chinese Digital O'scopes

[Victor Fraenckel]

I have noticed quite a few USB Digital Oscilloscopes of Chinese origin
being offered for sale on eBay. They sell in the 150 - 300 USD range.
Are these puppies worth the price? Would like to hear from anyone that
has experience with them.

Any enlightenment will be appreciated.

Vic
--

*____________________________________________________________________________________________*

*Victor Fraenckel
KC2GUI
victorf ATSIGN windreader DOT com**
*

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[Timothy J. Weber]

Victor Fraenckel wrote:
> I have noticed quite a few USB Digital Oscilloscopes of Chinese origin
> being offered for sale on eBay. They sell in the 150 - 300 USD range.
> Are these puppies worth the price? Would like to hear from anyone that
> has experience with them.

I bought a cheap Chinese scope last year, though not on eBay - Owon
PDS5022S, 2-channel, 25 MHz, somewhere around $200 IIRC. It's not the
first scope I've touched, but it's the only one I've worked with
extensively. The color LCD has some blemishes and has a very narrow
viewing angle, the buttons and knobs are cheap and sometimes flaky, it
occasionally locks up, and its Windows applet is pretty basic. But, it
does the job - I've had no problems with the electronics, and the
feature set seems good to me - and it was easily affordable.

So, my feeling is, they skimped on exactly the things I want them to
skimp on, for the price. :) I'm happy with it.
--
Timothy J. Weber
http://timothyweber.org

[Brian Kraut]

I don't know about the cheap Chinese ones, but I have a Dynon Elab
http://www.dynoninstruments.com/index.php and I can very highly recommend
it. I just looked at their web site and it is $495. Pretty sure I paid
something like $895 a few years ago when I bought it and I thought it was a
very good deal at that price. I see that they also have a new model without
the logic analyzer, signal generator, etc. built in and it is only $249.
Certainly worth taking a look at before buying a cheap Chinese one from an
unknown source.

I use the Elab exclusively now weather it is in my shop or traveling and
using it with my laptop. One of these days when I get around to it I will
put all my dedicated scopes on Ebay. They are completely useless to me now.

Brian Kraut
Engineering Alternatives, Inc.
www.engalt.com

[Dwayne Reid]

Hi there, Brian.

How is for observing analog signals such as audio?

My big gripe with all of the DSO's I've used in the past is the slow
display update rate.

Most of my work is with analog signals of some sort and it shows in
my shop: 3 of the 4 scopes in daily use are analog. The DSO gets
used frequently but nowhere as much as any of the analog scopes.

I'd love to find an inexpensive DSO with a display response similar
to an analog scope.

dwayne

At 08:24 AM 5/22/2007, Brian Kraut wrote:
>I don't know about the cheap Chinese ones, but I have a Dynon Elab
>http://www.dynoninstruments.com/index.php and I can very highly recommend
>it.

>I use the Elab exclusively now weather it is in my shop or traveling and
>using it with my laptop. One of these days when I get around to it I will
>put all my dedicated scopes on Ebay. They are completely useless to me now.

--
Dwayne Reid <dwa...@planet.eon.net>
Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA
(780) 489-3199 voice (780) 487-6397 fax
www.trinity-electronics.com
Custom Electronics Design and Manufacturing

[Robert Rolf]

Dwayne Reid wrote:

> Hi there, Brian.
>
> How is for observing analog signals such as audio?
>
> My big gripe with all of the DSO's I've used in the past is the slow
> display update rate.
>
> Most of my work is with analog signals of some sort and it shows in
> my shop: 3 of the 4 scopes in daily use are analog. The DSO gets
> used frequently but nowhere as much as any of the analog scopes.
>
> I'd love to find an inexpensive DSO with a display response similar
> to an analog scope.

Agilent 5000 and 6000 series scope work BEAUTIFULLY in this regard.
But, NOT "inexpensive". ($8k) 100,000 updates/second gives the same 'feel'
and decay as a phosphor scope even though the display rate is 60Hz (XGA).

Robert

[Brian Kraut]

Good question. Unfortunately, I don't really work with a lot of analog
signals.

Brian Kraut
Engineering Alternatives, Inc.
www.engalt.com

-----Original Message-----
From: piclist...@mit.edu [mailto:piclist...@mit.edu]On Behalf
Of Dwayne Reid
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 3:54 PM
To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.