I agree they are old, but that doesnt make them obsolete.
Well, they are. Analog scopes are obsolete, it's a simple, undeniable fact.
They are built to last
They were, but after roughly a quarter of a century even those scopes will approach tehir end of their service life. Nothing lasts forever, and especially for scopes like the 2465B which if I remember right uses a lot of Tek proprietary components inside which doesn't help repair when it breaks.
they are fast.
Well, they are analog scopes with no noteworthy measurement or analysis capabilities so it better should be fast.
We have a few good brands in Germany as well (Rohde & Schwarz, Metrawatt, Hameg), so if you think Tektronix is expensive, have a look at these!
Indeed, R&S kit is very expensive, and they are well known for other test kit (i.e. signal generators). But they only started making scopes in 2008 or 2009 if I remember correctly, and have a very limited offering, In terms of scopes they're still an unknown, and certainly lack the attraction that the Tektronix brand has.
Hameg only made low end scopes and some other low end test kit, mostly for schools and TV repair shops (which have mostly died out by now). They are quite well known in Europe but in the rest of the world they are a nobody, and certainly as a brand not even close to the same level as Tek.
Metrawatt, well, they are mostly known for DVMs. They did rebadge some analog scopes (Leader?) back in the old days, but these days are even less well known than Hameg. They're even further away from the Tek brand attaction that Chinese brands like Rigol or Siglent, and no-one would suggest their brand has a similar attraction that Tek's.
All these old Tek need is some maintainance here and there, but so do more modern scopes over time as well.
Not really. Modern scopes rarely have mechanical rotary switches or deteriorating phosphor tubes, or are calibrated by lots of potentiometers.
Of course DSOs are relatively young but it's very likely that a good DSO will exceed the lifetime of a good analog scope by some margin.
And yea, it depends on what you want to do with it, these old scopes just offer some cursors and basic measurements, but they trigger on sh*t where any entry-level DSO miserably fails.
That might well be, and if the choice is between these scopes and a new low cost scope (i.e. Siglent SDS1000 or RIgol DS1000) then I'd say the analog scope could still be the better choice.
However, an increasing number of older big brand DSOs is becoming available in the price range mentioned for the 2465B, often with much more flexible triggering.
If you want (or need) the fancy-shmancy math stuff, logic analyzing, protocol-sniffing you want a modern DSO/MDO, but prepare to spend some serious money as well.
You can upgrade features later but not bandwidth, so with 500MHz and 4 channels we are already in the $10k range if you choose from the known brands e.g. Keysight, Tek, R&S or Lecroy.
Not really. Advanced maths and analysis can already be found in old LeCroy 9300 Series scopes, with bandwidths of 400 to 500MHz, and these scopes sometimes go for little more than the price listed for the 2465B. And the newer LC Series often goes for not much more, offering faster processing and a color screen. Most of them also offer 500MHz or 1GHz bandwidth. For both scopes all the options are available for free, as are the schematics. And especially with the options these scopes can give you insights into complex signals you'll never be able to get with an analog boat anchor.
Obviously if you want serial decode and MSO capabilities it gets more expensive as serial decode means a much younger scope (i.e. Agilent DSO6k Series), but even then you're still nowhere near $10k.
Here's an example what $3400 can buy you these days:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LECROY-WAVERUNNER-6100A-1GHz-QUAD-10GS-s-DIGITAL-STORAGE-OSCILLOSCOPE-/231367252526?pt=BI_Oscilloscopes&hash=item35de901a2e#ht_6181wt_988Here's an example for an MSO, again still nowhere near $10k:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LECROY-WAVERUNNER-64MXi-600MHz-QUAD-DIGITAL-STORAGE-OSCILLOSCOPE-/231372226193?pt=BI_Oscilloscopes&hash=item35dedbfe91#ht_8633wt_988Agilent and Tek scopes are generally more sought after and therefore a bit more expensive, but there should be equal deals for their scopes out there. R&S isn't long enough in the scope business to be worth considering, and quite frankly after having the chance to play with an RTO I wouldn't even consider them for a new scope.
BTW, $10k buys you a brand new 1GHz MSO these days:
http://teledynelecroy.com/oscilloscope/oscilloscopeseries.aspx?mseries=470Ideally, you have both types of scope.
But thats just my 2 cents.
Like Dave once said about analog scopes in a video: It's a must have in any decent lab! Pick one up! ![ThumbsUp :-+](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/icon_smile_thumbsup.gif.pagespeed.ce._JElyJQqdB.gif)
I agree, but "pick one up" doesn't mean "spend big money on one". If the 2465B was at $100 and in decent working condition then I'd say go for it. But not for over $300.