First Oscilloscope (DSO Nano)

[laefsky]

Dave: Do you or your readers have any experience with the DSO Nano from China for about $80.00 US and what would your recommendation be as for its
use as a first scope for the beginning hobbyist.

--Ira Laefsky

[rossmoffett]

Here you go.

My advice is to try and find a used scope for around that price, the bandwidth will be far superior, even if it's not pocket-sized.

[ArtemisGoldfish]

Like Ross said, look for a decent analog scope around that price range. Though you will lack storage capability, storage in a 1MHz bandwidth scope isn't extremely useful because of the bandwidth limitation (unless you only plan to be measuring AF signals.) I bought an 80's B+K Analog scope from my school's surplus sale for about $12, has 30MHz of bandwidth, quite useful for analog signals, though I think the astig control is going out.

[Simon]

get yourself a cheap second hand analogue scope or a cheap digital like the Rigol

[EEVblog]

I concur. Get a used analog scope, it will be infinitely more useful than the toy-like Nano.
If you ask around nicely people give away decent analog scopes for FREE!

Dave.

[VladKEasternTiger]

Where do you have to go? I looked at Oscillscope and they are expensive products

[joelby]

Look out for old analogue scopes on eBay or your local equivalent.

For an example of how cheap they are, here's one for $10 - http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Oscilloscope-BWD-804-DC-10-MHZ_W0QQitemZ220566103278QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment?hash=item335ac3a4ee#ht_500wt_1182

Note - I would probably not buy this one. But here's a better one:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/bwd-25-mhz-dual-trace-oscilloscope_W0QQitemZ280472117083QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Electronics_Radio_Equipment?hash=item414d70df5b#ht_500wt_1182

Try to get a dual trace one (two inputs). Try to get one that includes probes.

If you are working on audio circuits, 10 or 25 MHz of bandwidth is plenty. For RF, you'll probably want at least 100 or 200 MHz, depending on the frequency bands you're working with.

[VladKEasternTiger]

Thanks for the information my friend

[Simon]

I got my first cheap scope on ebay, then i decided to spash out on a rigol and actually resold the scope for more than I paid for it but regretted it as both types are handy to have, well it made buying the rigol possible