I like the 12-bit ADC, the 1080p large screen and the 500uV vertical. Not enough to justify the ridiculous pricing though.
I like the new scope, you've got to give Tek props for continuing to bring out new designs on what would have been a massive design effort on this one.
Although to be honest I don't see anything really new here.
It's not the first big touch screen scope.
It's not the first 8 channel scope.
It doesn't leverage their existing MDO technology (deliberate so as not to erode their existing market)
Ok, the Flex Channel is new and unique, but like I've said I don't see how it actually adds any real practical value.
If they allowed you to switch one of the 8 digital inputs into the ADC system and view the actual analog signal then that would have been a really handy feature. i.e. no need to re-probe or dual-probe. But all it is is a different way to connect your digital probes.
Joel from Tek here. Nothing I can say won't come off as biased of course, but having seen first hand the use cases for FlexChannels, I'm pretty excited about it. When you buy test equipment, you should think about the measurement need first. What do I need to measure, and then what equipment comes closest to measuring it? I've heard statements from engineers like, "Well I need to look at more than 16 channels, so I need a logic analyzer". But that engineer didn't need state mode clocking, multi-state triggering, etc. In truth, that engineer needed a 32+ channel MSO, not a logic analyzer. I actually corrected people who called the MSO a "scope plus logic analyzer" because it didn't have true logic analyzer features. Just needing >16 channels doesn't automatically mean logic analyzer, but until today, that was the equipment available.
Many of these applications also want to monitor some voltages, currents etc. A Tektronix logic analyzer COULD do that when tied to a scope with an iView cable, but if you don't need state mode clocking, it's far nicer to have it all on one screen. The nice thing about FlexChannels is that first you can have essentially a 64 channel MSO, but you can switch based on your measurement need as well and mix and match.
As an RF designer, I could also see some cool applications of monitoring 16-bit I and Q (32 bits in total) but also the baseband differential IQ signals. Also useful for ADC and DAC design applications.
I've also seen plenty of applications where there is an interaction with a bus that requires 1+ GHz of BW (USB, Ethernet), but also lots of other signals running around the board. I've also seen a lot of MSO users who never touch channels 3 and 4 - they use 1 or 2 analog channels and just the digital pod. If you have an 8 channel "flex channel" scope, you can quickly decide what that given debug task requires and scale up or down without grabbing another scope.
It's also just a fun scope to touch and use, but that is totally subjective.
By the way, the inputs of this scope are totally compatible with TekVPI. The digital pod adds to the bottom, but the TekVPI probes plug in as normal. There is also a TekVPI adapter for your older circular style Tektronix probes.