Instek GDS-1102A-U oscilloscope

[larrwill]

I am considering getting an Instek GDS-1102A-U oscilloscope. I have searched the web and this forum but have not found many reviews but the few I found seemed to place the GDS-1102A-U as a better buy than the Rigol DS1102E which I have also considered.

One thing I cant seem to find any information on and seems confusing about the Instek is the menu on the right side of the screen. Does anyone know if this menu can be turned off to increase the viewable horizontal divisions? I have yet to see a single picture or video of the GDS-1102A-U without the menu taking up the right side screen. I cant find anything definitive in the manual to indicate the menu can be turned off either.
The 2000 and 3000 series from Instek have dedicated buttons for menu on/off.

Any other opinions or reviews on this scope would be welcome.

Thanks

[amspire]

Looks like the menu might well be fixed, as it looks like they have fitted a full 10 horizontal divisions to the left of the menu.

[saturation]

I do not own this scope, so FWIW.  Instek is a better branded scope overall, including its tech support in the USA, but you'd have to weigh if the slight improvement in features is worth $100: on tequipment the Rigol 1102e is $400 versus $500 for the Instek.

Its easy to be confused by Instek's newer budget scope, the GDS-1102-U, which simply lacks the 'A' label. Its priced identical to the Rigol but has only 250Ms/s, and the Rigol is clearly a better buy between the two.

[larrwill]

I emailed Instek sales with this question and got a very quick response.
The reply was "Good morning  -  yes by pressing the menu key". Maybe its because I asked sales, or the brevity of the reply, but I am not completely convinced. I am still debating between the Rigol and Instek.

[Shaun]

I just bought this scope recently, and no, the menu on the side does not disappear. It is annoyingly there all the time.
Hopefully a new firmware will eventually come along that changes this behaviour.

I've not had much of an opportunity to use it yet, but its interface is pretty intuitive, and I've not found any obvious problems or bugs.

I'm quite happy with it.

I paid $712.80 inc GST from tekmarkgroup.com - apparently they are the local distributor. I bought locally to ensure there would be no argument about the warranty incase any issues ever came up.

[larrwill]

I just bought this scope recently, and no, the menu on the side does not disappear. It is annoyingly there all the time.
Hopefully a new firmware will eventually come along that changes this behaviour.

I've not had much of an opportunity to use it yet, but its interface is pretty intuitive, and I've not found any obvious problems or bugs.

I'm quite happy with it.

I paid $712.80 inc GST from tekmarkgroup.com - apparently they are the local distributor. I bought locally to ensure there would be no argument about the warranty incase any issues ever came up.

Shaun, thanks for the reply. I was hoping someone that owned the scope would comment. I was afraid sales would give me a bogus answer. Have you tried pressing a menu button again as they stated or holding it a second?
Did you consider the Rigol or any other scope? Good to hear your happy with it, given the menu issue, would you still choose this scope?

What version of the firmware does your scope have?

Thanks

[Shaun]

This is my first DSO... I've also got a cheap 50Mhz chinese made (Dick Smith branded) analog scope.

I considered the 100Mhz Rigol, and I also considered the Owon SDS7102 discussed here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=4412.0.

I decided against the Rigol as it seemed to be lacking memory depth available elsewhere, and decided against the Owon because of the number of complaints about firmware bugs. I've learnt the hard way that you can't rely on any vendor to fix software bugs. Once they've got your money, most of them don't care.

The Owon was very attractive, especially with its much higher resolution display. The Rigol is the benchmark in low cost entry level DSOs. The Instek seemed to be reasonably good value, a recognised and respected brand, and with more memory than the Rigol seemed like a good choice.

The one thing I would love to see on my Instek scope is a higher resolution display like the Owon. I probably would have paid another $100 for this.

I probably would buy the same scope again. the menu bar down the side is ok, but it would be nice to have some more screen real-estate available for the trace.
Bear in mind, I'm far from an expert on DSOs, and probably could have done more research before buying. There may be something offering better features, a better display etc for the same or not much more money, but ultimately I'm happy with my purchase.

If you buy locally like I did, bargain them down with online pricing. The starting price on this scope locally was nearly $1k. I pointed out that their price was double the online price delivered, and they came to the party with a good discount.

I'll check tonight and see if there is a way to get rid of the menu as your sales guy suggested, and check the firmware version for you too.


Cheers!
-Shaun

[Shaun]

My firmware version is v1.01

I couldn't find any way to get rid of the menu on the right side of the screen. Holding buttons down, double press.. nothing in the menus...

I've attached a couple of photos for you. The one with the square wave form is something generated from a 555 timer circuit I had already hooked up on a breadboard.

[larrwill]

Shaun,
Thanks for the help! I guess I got another clueless sales person...