Has this been discussed before? A "decent" portable oscope for $70?

[Lightages]

I just came across this personally, and to me it looks like a good little instrument.
https://www.banggood.com/DSO112A-Upgrade-Version-2MHz-Touch-Screen-TFT-Digital-Mini-Handheld-Oscilloscope-With-Battery-p-977991.html?rmmds=search

and a review:


This looks like a good beginner low budget scope, and a good portable for even some more experienced users. Yes it is limited but it certainly is not a toy from what I can see.

[cdev]

Both the hardware and the user interface look very nice for $70. Wow.

[bd139]

I could buy a 100MHz analogue scope for that.

[Gyro]

It's certainly a step up from their DSO138 or DSO Shell - in capability but also in price (significantly).

Of course, with the built in battery it is very portable. The external trigger is an improvement but still not a substitute for 2 channels.

The price issue opens it up to significant competition, both from second hand analogue scopes and from USB scopes. Extreme portability is really its USP.

[Fungus]

The placement of the connectors is a major fail. 

Nothing should be sticking up in the air from a thing that size. You'll be constantly reaching over that wire to touch the screen. This will stress the connector, etc. You'll have to add a right-angle adapter to the price.



Apart from that... it looks nice.

Obviously it's very limited: Only one channel and I imagine bandwidth will be about 2MHz at best but very useful if that's all you've got.

[cdev]

One could buy a 90 degree adapter so the leads didn't stick out. I've done that with a lot of my devices that use RF connectors. (I've read but have no way to measure the following) ... that sometimes it causes discontinuities in the response in the GHz range but I doubt if that would present many problems here.

[joeqsmith]

I saw one of these being used in a video I watched recently.  Does not appear to be very rugged and I would be concerned with snapping off the connectors.  If you need to have a pointer, or recommended anyway, they should have molded a holder for it into the case. 

[Gyro]

The leads that come with it have 90 degree connectors but they are clip leads rather than a scope probe. My neigbour has one and the force required to remove those tiny connectors is quite high, they're best left connected.

It does raise the question of whether the input will consistently impedance match to a scope probe on all ranges - the DSO138 doesn't (unless it's a x1 of course).

[Lightages]

I could buy a 100MHz analogue scope for that.

Yes, but can you carry that analogue scope around in your tool box?

[bd139]

If you carry your toolbox in one hand and the scope in the other it keeps your back straight