Hp 54501a worth grabbing?

[matt.zepess@gmail.com]

Brand new to scopes and keep seeing I need one for repairing a few laserdisc players, I also figure I can branch out with more projects and repairs. Is this a competent model? I know Dave says it’s pretty simple but this is the only one nearby that seems somewhat fair in pricing being only $45 plus shipping which I would pickup locally around a hour away. Otherwise I’m eyeing the brand new dho804 but that may take some time as I don’t wanna shell out $400+ from savings so quick. What can yall say to ease my decision? Seems like the used market is hard since most will keep it till they pass or want you to pay for their brand new model.

[colorburst]

It's fine, for repetitive or slow signals, think power supplies and audio circuits. For more demanding applications, it has neither the sample rate (10MS/s) nor the memory depth (500 points) to be useful. It's a bit like an analog scope, except the display is not intensity-graded, so forget about XY mode or amplitude-modulated signals. It's an extremely limited instrument but a lot of times you don't need sophistication.

These are old, so expect to have to replace the Dallas block and recap the power supply.

The single-knob user interface is widely criticized, though I think it's quite good. I used its faster 6-bit sibling 54502 for a few years.

$45 is not a bad deal for a basic scope like this. But the DHO is a completely different ball game and worth every single penny.

[adam4521]

The oldie to look out for, that you might be able to get for only a little bit more, is the 5462x family. Deeper memory, hi-res screen, responsive, nice feeling UI. Dave has done a video on this one, too.

[Stray Electron]

Brand new to scopes and keep seeing I need one for repairing a few laserdisc players, I also figure I can branch out with more projects and repairs. Is this a competent model? I know Dave says it’s pretty simple but this is the only one nearby that seems somewhat fair in pricing being only $45 plus shipping which I would pickup locally around a hour away. Otherwise I’m eyeing the brand new dho804 but that may take some time as I don’t wanna shell out $400+ from savings so quick. What can yall say to ease my decision? Seems like the used market is hard since most will keep it till they pass or want you to pay for their brand new model.

  I hope they don't want much for it!  Those used to sell for about $25 to $30 plus shipping on E-Greed. Make sure all of the channels work before you buy! I've had three 501s and all had at least one dead channel. Also those scopes are old enough that many of them are starting to have bad caps in the power supplies and their are no replacement PSUs or schematics available so buyer beware.  That said, I have much better scopes but I still have a 54510 sitting on my work bench and it still works great.  I never really used a 501s except for turning them on and seeing if they worked however I really like the large screen and the readouts in the 510.

   But the 54501 should be worth $45 if it works, especially if it has usable probes. If it doesn't then use that as a bargaining point.  I already had the 54510 when I bought several 54501s with the idea to use them to make curve tracers out of one of them but I never got around to it.