I posted this on the other thread for this scope, so will repeat for those who may not see it:
Ok, let's take a look at this and see if it lives up to it's marketing hype.
Tek effectively promised this would be a "game changer", and more importantly they pretty much implied that it would be a game changer for the everyday engineer.
The big touch screen, the channels, and to a lesser extent (I don't know why they undersold this) the performance.
Now, it certainly smashes it out of the park on the performance level, no doubt about it, the new ASIC's are very impressive as is the performance to go along with it, no question. Hats off to Tek for more innovation and huge R&D commitment in this area.
The big touch screen and UI (without having used it), ok, it might be bigger and have more pixels than others, so ok, we'll give it that for sure, but I'm sure that R&S and Lecroy will have a lot to say about the UI. And did they say it's the first scope designed from the ground up for touch screen? That's demonstrable BS.
But sorry, Lecroy have an Ultra HD external monitor option at (3840 x 2160). So for internal screen it's a winner, but it's not the biggest UI, that award goes to Lecroy.
The channels. Unless you absolutely value a huge number of digital channels over everything else, then nope, sorry, it's not a game changer. The Lecroy HDO8000A has 8 analog channels (12 bit) and 16 digital channels. Tek MSO58 has only 6+16. The Lecroy beats it for channel count for most practical purposes.
Now, lets get down to crux of it and play real devil's advocate, because it's likely that very few people will, certainly not the Tek guys here plugging it, which they have every reason to do of course, it's an impressive scope and they should be rightly proud of it. But ultimately they don't have to pay for it.
So is it a "game changer" for the average engineer?
Nope, sorry Tek, you got pipped at the post by Lecroy. The HDO8000A was released 2 months ago (without all the fanfare). Tek have caught up for sure, but it's not a game changing leap. Maybe it is if you need more than 16 digital channels. But let's get real, that niche.
But granted, it's a game changer for Tek.
But of course it's bloody impressive, if you can afford it. But in many cases it may actually be a very poor choice.
Like it or not, price matters. Most engineers who have purchasing and and recommending power at companies do not have infinite budgets, price matters. Often they have an overall project or lab budget and they have to make real value choices.
And let's be honest up front, when you buy an expensive multi channel MSO, you want mixed signal and the channels you paid for. 16 digital channels is considered industry standard digital, let's run with that.
Let's look at the lowest cost option, the MSO54:
$16,200 for the lowest bandwidth 4 channel analog + 16 digital. That's pretty high already, almost putting it out of the reach of most average engineers. But let's say you are swayed by the performance etc.
When you use it as an MSO then your expensive MSO scope has turned into a mediocre (in terms of channels) 2+16 channel scope. That sucks. It sucks so bad that's it's likely a show-stopper for many.
If I'm buying a general purpose MSO scope for the lab, then I think the MSO54 practically isn't an option, and I suspect I won't be alone in that view.
I therefore consider the MSO54 a market failure for anyone but those with specific needs on a reasonable budget.
The MSO56 will give you the standard 4+16 channel, but geeze, it's $19,300 for the base 300MHz unit. Very pricey. But ok, if your budget extends to $20k then we are at least playing ball now, you have my consideration. This 6 channel option could be a good seller for them.
For general use, the MSO58 you would buy because you want are want a big number of channels. Ok, price usually isn't a huge consideration at this price point, but is it the only choice out there?, is it a "game changer"?
Nope, the Lecroy HDO8000A has the full 8 analog channels (12 bit) and the 16 digital channels. Two more valuable analog channels than the Tek. Plus it has external trigger.
The Lecroy external screen option at Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) beats the pants off the Tek MSO58 for viewing all that data, no contest if big screen analysis is your thing.
So let's compare:
- The HDO8000A is $25,800 (+ digital probes I think, don't have pricing). The Tek MSO58 is $21,200 + probes. So yes, base model is more affordable, but again, you sacrifice analog channels for digital.
- (Without having used either) The Lecroy Ultra HD external screen support beats the Tek hands down, could be a deal maker there.
And I'm sure we can fuss over fine performance details until the cows come home here, but banner specs:
- The Lecroy has 8+16+1 external trigger, the Tek only has 6+16. But tek wins if you need >16CH digital.
- Both have 12 bit ADC
- The Lecroy has up to 250M sample memory/channel, beating the Tek's 125M.
- The Lecroy has 10GS/s (on all channels too) beating Tek's 6.25GS/s on all channels.
- The Tek can go to 2GHz (with different hardware front end), winner there if you need to bandwidth.
- Lecroy digital sample rate is lower at only 1.25GS/s compared to 6.25GS/s on Tek. But probably no major practical difference for everyday use?
- Lecroy matches Tek with 125M digital sample memory option.
- I'm led to believe the Tek has more flexible digital input voltage range? +/-30V (<200MHz) compared to Lecroy's +/-20V (full bandwidth?). Needs more investigation.
So sorry Tek, it's an awesome scope, but it's not a "game changer", you got beaten by several months by Lecroy.
And yes, I know your response will be to nit-pick every technical performance detail, and go for it. But the fact is you got beat to market with an 8 channel big touch screen GUI scope, and you have serious competition which in quite a few areas outperforms your new 5 series, some of which you touted as your big game changing features.
But no one is talking about the Lecroy HDO8000A, why?, because Tek's marketing is infinitely better, and it's Tek.
Home
Help
Search
Login
Register
