Santa Claus brought me a Hantek 2C42
I looked mainly at the scope part so far. It has all the basics, but very little beyond that. Some basic operations (I'm not good with videos, sorry):
- selecting channels, coupling (DC/AC/GND), probe attenuation, and the vertical system is straightforward, the controls are responsive.
- I didn't expect that it would never show the actual offset voltage of a channel, though. Also, the channel status field only shows whether the channel is on or off and V/div. There is a wave-ish squiggle, but it doesn't change when I change coupling or bandwidth limit.
- the horizontal system is also easy to use, but the time offset is only shown when the menu is removed, after a 10 s timeout. The "50%" menu item zeroes the time offset. (And no, don't get your hopes too high, there is no "50%" for the trigger level.)
- trigger is extremely basic: rising, falling, both. Can trigger on either channel, and you can set the trigger voltage. Trigger can be auto, normal, or single ("forced").
- the only automatic measurements are amplitude and frequency. Frequency is based on the displayed waveform, the trigger frequency is not shown. Amplitude goes a bit beyond the screen. The color scheme for measured values (yellow and light green on light gray) is unfortunate.
- display mode is Y-T or roll. There are no acquisition options (no average). Vector/dots neither.
- The only intensity that can be changed is that of the backlight. It's strong enough that the display is reasonably readable under the setting Buenos Aires sun, just the yellow on light gray part disappears, as one would expect.
- memory depth can be selected to be either 3k or 6k, only 3k if both channels are active. Things like math mode, FFT, protocol decoding, or such are of course absent.
- auto-setting seems to be a bit weird, but then I hardly every use that anyway. There is no "undo" for auto-setting.
- cursor-based measurements are either voltage or time. Time is only shown as time difference, not as frequency. So keep the calculator at hand.
One thing I tried in DMM mode was the continuity tester: there is no extending of the beep, so you need a solid connection. Also, the beeping sound is very faint.
Note that DMM and scope seem to be completely separate systems, also with separate connectors. So one couldn't, say, show current over time. This seems to be a common design among this class of devices.
The rest of DMM seems to give almost no controls (e.g., manual range selection), but I'll have to check the manual to see if there are features hidden behind long button presses or such.
The 2Cxx have no AWG, but there is still the AWG BNC connector, for the probe compensation signal.
Nice things:
- comes with crocodile-to-BNC. I've never seen that before. Could be handy.
- batteries are 18650, so they are user-replaceable. But you don't what to open that battery compartment without need: there is a lot of mechanical resistance and it's difficult to close again. I had to bend an interfering part of the door before I could get it back in.
- charging is through USB C - no need to add yet another device-specific wall wart.
- overall build quality feels decent.
Speaking of moving parts that don't want to: the stand resists a lot, too. I was afraid I'd break it before it would unfold. The carrying case is semi-rigid, which feels appropriate.
The device is reasonably small (slightly smaller than many competitors), but still I wish it had an opening for a lanyard or camera belt. Well, there's always the Kensington lock ...
Bottom line so far: functionality is really rock-bottom basic, and far from anything a bench scope offers. Nevertheless, with 40 MHz and two channels it's very well positioned among handheld scopes at its price. So if you need a portable scope to get an idea of what's going on, but can drag any problems that need deeper analysis to the lab, then it looks like an acceptable choice.
- Werner
[ Added that power-over-USB is also a nice feature. ]