Looking for a cheap DSO

[pelle.jansen]

Hey,
I am in the market for a DSO but have a very tight budget: not much more than €200, so after some searching I stumbled on this thing: eBay auction: # 130707115073. Does anybody have some experience with this o'scope? Spec wise it is certainly adequate for my needs (200MSa/s; 80MHz bandwith, 2ch, color display) although the 2k point memory is a bit tight this should last me a few years. Ill take knobs and buttons any time over touch screen (from the picture I doubt it even is touchscreen, but just touchbuttons on the side of the screen) but for the price, it is good enough. Problem is, I can't find ANYTHING about this thing on the web. I already asked the seller the model and brand but have yet to receive a respond. I also checked out the nano scopes and I doubt you could see anything usefull on a 3" screen. Plus no proper BNC connectors would give rock bottom signal quality. Not that I expect great signal quality from such a cheap scope but just a 3.5 mm jack is crazy. Not to mention input capacitance and inductance. Oh and all of them have clicky buttons  . At this price range the only alternative is a USB scope but 1. I need my computer for other stuff, 2. I don't want to risk frying the hell out of my computer, 3. as said in one of Dave's video's, they are mostly crap. You could rant about this till the next blue moon but that would get us nowhere 

I am an advanced beginner working on things like simple PIC projects, small power supplies, bit of HV, all round tinkering and experimenting etc, and my old crappy analog scope is driving me crazy. Things like low timebase setting and single shot would be really helpfull.

Any tips, advice or suggestions are very welcome.

[kg4arn]

My opinion only:  it's a waste of $238.

I think that you will be much happier with something like the 50 or 100MHz RIGOL scope.
I don't own one of these, but if I were young again and strapped for cash, I would save my money and go for the DS1102E for $399.
Also, a lot of people own these.  So it will be easy to get help learning to operate the scope.

Good luck friend.

http://www.rigolna.com/products/digital-oscilloscopes/ds1000e/

http://www.saelig.com/product/PSPC017.htm?gclid=CKWa9Met0bECFcyc7Qod2h8AvA

[EEVblog]

Never seen that one before. Almost looks home made.
I wouldn't touch it.
The form factor isn't very usable, only 2K memory, no mention of vertical performance.

Dave.

[T]

I'd pass on that. It's got no apparent manufacturer, so you'd expect no support or warranty. Also what is the USB for? It includes no software and I'd be certain that nobody who makes scope software to control scopes or even retrieve samples supports this thing, so who knows if that's even a feature. I would see how much something like a low end Owon would be if a Rigol is out of your budget.

[MickM]

Hi;

http://www.accudiy.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_4&products_id=189&zenid=63r1npmvk8p1tako4iivjnkj65

2  chan 10mhz.

Mick M

[T4P]

Hi;

http://www.accudiy.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_4&products_id=189&zenid=63r1npmvk8p1tako4iivjnkj65

2  chan 10mhz.

Mick M

Again, could do better for that money
3 of these don't even come close to a new rigol

[Gerson008]

It does look like a waste of money.

Yes they say 80Mhz, but how accurate is their specs, it could be 8Mhz advertise as 80MHz. Also their limited size memory means triggering and display is very slow or probably won't trigger and refresh at real-time. Also it'll have limited dynamic range due to a small power supply.

If you don't mind buying it from overseas, then my 2 cents worth of opinions is get it from US.
I'll rather have a $200 second handed working Tektronix or Agilent CRO or DSO that this thing. 

I think i also agreed with kg4arn by saving abit more to get a NEW Rigol (bargain for a pro), i've used the 100MHz model, it'll definitely cover most of your digital design for a PIC, maybe not the HV stuff though due to probe is typical 1-10x. You need high voltage probe for that (100x probe - i.e. more money). Otherwise it may just short the input and damaged your DSO.

[Joy at MCS]

I've never seen that model before in the pic but I don't think it's worth the price they are asking for it.