Where can i get an oscilloscope

[Ferroto]

I know of two good recommended scopes one made by owon and the other made by rigol both the manufacturer's sites have no option to buy directly from them and I can't find any of there stuff on digikey.
Does anyone know of any place to buy one of there scopes other then ebay as a friend of mine had a bad experience with ebay.


OWON: http://www.owon.com.cn/eng/msoSeries.asp
RIGOL: http://www.rigolna.com/products_ds1000.aspx

[KuchateK]

NKC Electronics is selling Rigol equipment. They don't have Owon.
http://www.nkcelectronics.com
They also operate on eBay.
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/NKCElectronics

That black Owon is nice. Rigol should make another color version. Unfortunately there seems to be no reviews on that new Owon MSO series.

[EEVblog]

Forgot about your friends bad ebay experience, try it yourself. Millions use it safely every day for things much more expensive than a Rigol scope.
I and many others I know bought our Rigol scopes on ebay direct from China.
Use common sense, pay by paypal, and you almost certainly won't get ripped off.

Plenty of retails sell Rigol, Google turns up plenty:
http://www.tequipment.net/RigolDS1052E.html
http://www.testequipmentconnection.com/products/39901
http://www.globaltestsupply.com/c/221/Rigol_DS1052E_50MHz_Digital_Storate_Oscilloscope.html
for starters.

Dave.

[Andrew]

Does anyone know of any place to buy one of there scopes other then ebay as a friend of mine had a bad experience with ebay.

Yes, there are criminals on eBay. And in my personal opinion more than average. So you have to be careful, and I don't agree with Dave that you should just ignore your friend's experience. Take it into account and think how likely it is you end up the same. Especially try to figure out where your friend went wrong.

You didn't say where in the world you are located, that makes it difficult to recommend some local shop. But I can recommend a few other oscilloscope brands, in case you can get these from a place near you.

• GW Instek, especially their GDS-1000A series (note the "A")
• UNI-T (Unit Trend) UT 2xxx (multiple series). You can often spot them by their red case color, although they also offer them in a normal grey case.
• Hameg. A German company. They are a bit of a traditionalist, still also doing some analog and mixed mode scopes.

Low end (you get what you pay for) This stuff is somewhat at the Owon level or below:

• GAOtek
• Atten
• JC( Hangzhou Jingce)
• Tonghui
• Tekway
• Siglent
• Ypioneer

High-End (if you win the Lottery):

• Tektronix
• LeCroy
• Agilent. Beware, their low-end scopes are supposed to be rebadged Rigols or similar
• Yokagawa

[GeekGirl]

High-End (if you win the Lottery):

• Tektronix
• LeCroy
• Agilent. Beware, their low-end scopes are supposed to be rebadged Rigols or similar
• Yokagawa

Hi Andrew,
Now you are making me salivate, I have one of the Tektronix TDS220's with the CMM, but I want a colour scope, and have been looking at the newer Teks, and LeCroy

I think I need to write a letter to Santa

[Andrew]

Now you are making me salivate, I have one of the Tektronix TDS220's with the CMM, but I want a colour scope,

The TDS220 is a 2 ch. oscilloscope, right? I don't think color is really needed for 2 ch. Nice, but works without. Even 4 ch. can be done without, like in the good old days of analog oscilloscopes.

and have been looking at the newer Teks, and LeCroy

I think I need to write a letter to Santa

Eyeballing the LeCroy WaveMaster 830Zi?  For the price of ... oh well, I don't even know the price. Let's say, for the price of a comfortable mansion one of those 30 GHz beasts can be yours  

If Santa brings you one, can I come over and play with it? I promise not to drool on it. Well, at least not much  

Edit: found an offer for a refurbished 830Zi. 200 000 USD.

[GeekGirl]

Now you are making me salivate, I have one of the Tektronix TDS220's with the CMM, but I want a colour scope,

The TDS220 is a 2 ch. oscilloscope, right? I don't think color is really needed for 2 ch. Nice, but works without. Even 4 ch. can be done without, like in the good old days of analog oscilloscopes.

I find 4 Ch easier to use with colour, you can overlap waveforms and still read them at a glance

and have been looking at the newer Teks, and LeCroy

I think I need to write a letter to Santa

Eyeballing the LeCroy WaveMaster 830Zi?  For the price of ... oh well, I don't even know the price. Let's say, for the price of a comfortable mansion one of those 30 GHz beasts can be yours  

If Santa brings you one, can I come over and play with it? I promise not to drool on it. Well, at least not much  

Edit: found an offer for a refurbished 830Zi. 200 000 USD.

Yeah the 220 is 100Mhz 2 Channel, I would like to get a 4Ch 300Mhz , I would love a higher bandwidth but I can not afford more

I can arrange a good drooling session lol

[Ferroto]

I frogot to mention I live in Canada

This is my first scope I'm thinking of getting an owon.
http://www.saelig.com/PSBEB100/PSSA002.htm


That's still abit out of my price range but I just remembered daves blog on the pickit3 where I found out about the pickit2's logic analyzer function so I'll use that in the mean time but eventually I'll need to deal with analog signals and do you think a 25 mhz scope will do the trick?

[charliex]

I'd at least look for an ebay analog scope depending what you're looking for, you might find a better one, cheaper.. I just took a peek and saw a refurb'd Tektronix 485 for $270 or a 465 2ch 100Mhz for $126. There are a lot of liquidations and such going on, that means a lot of cheap good test equipment is knocking around.

[EEVblog]

eventually I'll need to deal with analog signals and do you think a 25 mhz scope will do the trick?

25MHz isn't bad and will do the job, but you'll never regret getting more bandwidth.
This is more important for digital stuff, because you can't measure a 25MHz digital signal on a 25MHz scope! You can do basic debug work of course, you'll see *something*, but it won't be your square wave.
I usually recommend 50MHz analog bandwidth minimum for basic work.

As charlie said, a good old surplus 100MHz+ analog scope can be had quite cheaply, even know of people who give them away for free.

Dave.

[Veramacor]

I'm in a similar situation.  I've been looking at the Atten and right now my price point right now is just above the Atten 25Mhz DSO ($300US).  

Looks like the asymptote for the Rigol 50 MHZ right now on ebay is $384 to $386US .   The best price for a top rated seller for the DS1052E is $391US being offered by 'testinstru'.

Every time I go on ebay knowing I have the funds to buy an Atten,  I pull back, pop in EEVblog #37 and my hand closes the ebay door!

I will ride the impulse out and Dave will lead me to the promised land!

I will show the Rigol safely tucked away in its lair when that day comes!


p.s.,  There is a bitscope bs-50 out on ebay being sold by a pawn shop in Florida for $279 or best offer.  I've had to slap my hands to keep off of that as well.   That deal sounds like a crap shoot to me.

73 KA8ZLL   (scope fund donations welcome LOL)