Hi Everyone!
After being distracted by my job for 4 years, I finally have the time to re-establish my electronics lab in the garage!
After lots of research, I am ready to get my first digital oscilloscope. wOot! But first, a final few questions...
I my budget is no more than $1200.
...with that said...
I am looking to get the Rigol DS2072A ($839 at Tequipment.net)...
But I see the Rigol DS2072A-S ($1189)...
Question 1) What's "built in 2 channel 25MHz Source" mean? It seems its the only added feature of the DS2072A-S compared to the DS2072A. Other than that feature, they seem identical. Is it worth the extra $350???
Question 2) Tequipment.net seems to be offering a limited time Free Bonus upgrade to the DS2072A... Advanced Triggering, CAN Triggering decoding, memory upgrade from 14M to 56M, and Serial Data decoder (RS-232, I2C and SPI). The question is, does this include USB decoding? and they claim this is an additional $1108 value, free!. Is that true? I know these are great features to have and having these features implode after the 'free trial' ends just sucks, so its a good time to act on this freebie?... i suppose!?
Question 3) I want this to be the only oscilloscope I purchase for at least the next 5 years, probably more. Can the DS2072A be upgraded to 100MHz or higher, at a later date? My first target was at least a 100MHz scope, but the Rigol 100MHz units are outside my budget. My original budget was $600, but i up'ed it because i want something i wont 'grow' out of too soon and a 50MHz unit simply won't do. The DS2072A seems perfect, because its well under my $1200 budget, allowing me to get a nice separate 5MHz digital function generator and maybe a frequency counter too. Spending the full $1200 on a different scope didn't seem to get me any critical additional features or up to a 100MHz version.
Final Question) When was the DS2072A released? Not the DS2072, but the 'A' version. Whats the difference? Am I getting something (DS2072'A') that is more than halfway through its life cycle?? I hate when i drop almost $1000 on something and a 'new' version comes out 6 months later.
Final, Final Question) I purchased my last benchtop DMM from Tequipment and plan to purchase my new scope from them too (and probably everything else), they are great!!! What's this talk about a discount code for EEVblog members? Hmmm? Still valid?
Thanks a ton!!!!
PS: Dave is awesome, and re-kindled the inner-EE inside me that faded away about 5 years ago, after seeing his videos for the first time last week.