Budget DSO / Handheld DSO

[Jon86]

So I'm thinking about buying a scope quite soon because what I can do in terms of electronics is very limited at the moment. My budget going to be under £200, and I know this is pretty limiting but it's what I'm going to have to deal with.
I'm sure a lot of people will recommend analog scopes, but after using them for a couple of months, I'm starting to hate them...
I definitely want to try and get a half decent digital scope, and I've been looking at the cheaper hanteks and siglents, and also the Owon HDS1021M.
Bandwidth isn't a big issue as I'm only going to be doing relatively low frequency stuff anyway (a couple of Mhz).
Can anyone suggest anything in this price range? I don't need anything great, just an average scope.

[Mrdjdean]

Hi Jon

I know you said your budget was under £200, but recently while i have been looking i found this;
http://dx.com/p/rigol-ds1052e-5-6-tft-lcd-50mhz-2-channel-digital-color-storage-oscilloscope-30573?tc=GBP&gclid=CIeauf_J17oCFfMdtAod7mYASg

It has been reviewed and recommended endless times here, good quality and by the way you have described your requirements sounds like it fits in perfectly. Free shipping too for us in the uk.

As i said, a tad over your £200 but an absolute bargain, would be good to hear what you end up going for as I'm in the same boat as you.

All the best

Dave

[Whuffo]

I bought my Rigol DS1052 DSO from Aliexpress - a vendor on there called "sunrun store" had them for $285 US. Applying the Gizmo update turned it into a 100Mhz DSO.

This should be within your budget. Stay away from the "pocket" DSOs or the USB DSOs - they work, but not very well. Consider the DS1052 as a minimum entry point.

[Jon86]

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll save the extra bit of cash, wait a while and buy myself a real oscilloscope, not a little cheapo. The DS1052 it is! 

[chasxmd]

I think the Rigol will treat you fine but let me offer a tiny bit of advise: If you don't have your heart set on the Rigol and have any ability to save and wait another few months to get something you'd rather have, you should. I kicked myself for quite a while for not saving to buy what I really wanted.. a MSO. I do that to myself on test equipment every so often.