Rigol DS1102E worth $50?

[mtdoc]

I could certainly spring for the Rigol leads if the difference between "6MHz", and "35MHz" in the 1x mode is an important consideration

IMO it's not.
For 2 reasons:

1) you'll almost always want to use the 10x setting. Only with very low level signals will using the 1x make sense.

2) the numbers you site are nominal values which may not reflect the true bandwidth. Again referencing the theard on the P6100s, their true bandwidth easily exceeds their nameplate rating.

[Fungus]

Since I never owned or used a scope, not sure how often one uses the 1x setting compared to the 10x setting

I've never used 1x mode in several years of 'scope ownership.

It's almost a waste of time to buy switchable 1x/10x probes, a fixed 10x probe will do 99.9999% of everything.

Fixed 10x probes are much safer if you're going to be poking at things with mains voltage - you can't accidentally switch it to 1x mode and blow up your 'scope.

Fixed 10x probes are also a good idea if you have children.

[Fungus]

Absolute bargain at $50!

IIRC the DS1102E was the only oscilloscope on your shelf in the early videos.

[janoc]

Absolute bargain at $50!

IIRC the DS1102E was the only oscilloscope on your shelf in the early videos.

I think that was DS1052E - the 50MHz version that was hackable to 100MHz. A very good basic scope at the time, had it for quite a while myself.

[MacMeter]

Since I never owned or used a scope, not sure how often one uses the 1x setting compared to the 10x setting

I've never used 1x mode in several years of 'scope ownership.

It's almost a waste of time to buy switchable 1x/10x probes, a fixed 10x probe will do 99.9999% of everything.

Fixed 10x probes are much safer if you're going to be poking at things with mains voltage - you can't accidentally switch it to 1x mode and blow up your 'scope.

Fixed 10x probes are also a good idea if you have children.

Good tip, I guess unlike a digital multimeter there is no fuse protection in the scope itself.

[james_s]

I've never once used a 1x probe either. If I need something 1x, I skip the probe and couple directly to the scope.

Do any of the reasonable low cost probes have the contact pin Tek scopes use to detect 10x? I could actually use a separate set of probes for my TDS340 that I use as a lightweight portable scope (relative to my TDS784) but I'm not even sure offhand if I can manually select 10x. It would be nice if these probes were 10x only, one less opportunity to screw up by bumping the switch.

[tautech]

I've never once used a 1x probe either. If I need something 1x, I skip the probe and couple directly to the scope.

Do any of the reasonable low cost probes have the contact pin Tek scopes use to detect 10x? I could actually use a separate set of probes for my TDS340 that I use as a lightweight portable scope (relative to my TDS784) but I'm not even sure offhand if I can manually select 10x. It would be nice if these probes were 10x only, one less opportunity to screw up by bumping the switch.

Siglent has one that comes with their SDS230*X models (300 MHz), it's model SP2030A @ $ 59. I have no idea of this is competitive with other sources.
Specs:
10X attenuation, 12pf, 10Mohm, 300MHz, 600V

IIRC the pin to Gnd resistance was 11k, I posted about them somewhere, I'll come back with a link or a pic.

[james_s]

For that price I can buy used genuine Tek probes, I was intrigued by the $13 probes that apparently live up to their claimed specs and look reasonably well built but for $60 I'd just buy genuine.

[tautech]

For that price I can buy used genuine Tek probes, I was intrigued by the $13 probes that apparently live up to their claimed specs and look reasonably well built but for $60 I'd just buy genuine.

Cheap auto attenuating 10x probes are available just not at the pricing of P6100 probes, you should be able to find them on eBay, IIRC look for P4*** numbering.

[mtdoc]

Cheap auto attenuating 10x probes are available just not at the pricing of P6100 probes, you should be able to find them on eBay, IIRC look for P4*** numbering.

While It would be nice if 10x only probes with the price/performance of the p6100 probes were available, I fail to see why it is much of an issue. A couple of drops of superglue applied to the right spot and voila' your p6100 probe is now an inexpensive high performance 10x only probe!

[ebastler]

Cheap auto attenuating 10x probes are available just not at the pricing of P6100 probes, you should be able to find them on eBay, IIRC look for P4*** numbering.

Hmm, P4100 seems to refer to fixed 100:1 probes; I could not find any 10:1 versions with a P4* designation.
And they apparently don't have the Tek-style identification pin which james_s had asked for.

[MacMeter]

Cheap auto attenuating 10x probes are available just not at the pricing of P6100 probes, you should be able to find them on eBay, IIRC look for P4*** numbering.

While It would be nice if 10x only probes with the price/performance of the p6100 probes were available, I fail to see why it is much of an issue. A couple of drops of superglue applied to the right spot and voila' your p6100 probe is now an inexpensive high performance 10x only probe!

Exactly, I plan to use small, tight, wide rubber bands in the switch area, making it difficult to slide the switch to the 1x spot.

[james_s]

I can live with the switch, the important issue is the probe coding pin on the BNC that informs the scope that a 10x probe is attached and causes it to scale the voltage reading accordingly. I did find some inexpensive probes that offer that, but what little information I could find on them suggests that their performance is nowhere near the claimed 500MHz. That said, the TDS340 is only a 100MHz scope so if they offer good performance beyond that it may still be a reasonable deal. On the other hand, I could spend just a little more for a couple of used genuine Tek probes and know that they're well made probes that in good condition will exceed the claimed specs.

One of these days maybe the low end Chinese sellers will learn the value of being honest about specs. I'd much rather buy a 100MHz probe that I can trust to be good up through 100MHz than a "500 MHz" probe for the same price that might work ok up to 150MHz. I don't like the feeling that someone is trying to cheat me.

[tautech]

After a short hunt:
Fixed 10x 600 MHz with readout pin.
http://www.pintech.com.cn/en/showpro.asp?id=1204&idc=1204&str=Oscilloscope%20Probe

[Fungus]

I'd be perfectly happy if my 4 channel 'scope came with three fixed 10x probes and one switchable 1x/10x probe in the box.

It would save them a few cents, too. I wonder why they don't do that. 

[james_s]

After a short hunt:
Fixed 10x 600 MHz with readout pin.
http://www.pintech.com.cn/en/showpro.asp?id=1204&idc=1204&str=Oscilloscope%20Probe

Has anyone used them that can verify they are well made and perform as advertised? Price? I didn't see a link to actually buy them.

[tautech]

After a short hunt:
Fixed 10x 600 MHz with readout pin.
http://www.pintech.com.cn/en/showpro.asp?id=1204&idc=1204&str=Oscilloscope%20Probe

Has anyone used them that can verify they are well made and perform as advertised? Price? I didn't see a link to actually buy them.

This one has the readout pin too and is 100 MHz rated so should be cheaper again:
http://www.pintech.com.cn/en/showpro.asp?id=1197&idc=1197&str=Oscilloscope%20Probe

Go looking for the model # on Aliexpress.

[james_s]

I'm not going to spend money on something that somebody here has not tested and evaluated. I've been burned too many times by cheap junk that didn't live up to claims.

[rsjsouza]

This is a great bargain. The DS1102E is an excellent entry level scope (I had one), especially for that price!

Despite the mild thread hijacking about discussing probes, I can attest the P6100 probes suggested by mtdoc are more than enough for this oscilloscope - no need to go fancy and I wouldn't recommend buying used probes at this stage, as they may be defective without your knowledge.

[MacMeter]

After watching a 2015 video review by our own Joeqsmith of the Hantek PP150 (100mHz probes), I went with the Hantek PP200 probes (200mhz probes). Amazon Prime delivered for $28. All the listed Hantek 100mHz probes were NOT Prime eligible, so since I hope to get the used Rigol this week, and the seller told me the two Rigols he bought only came with a total of 2 probes, and he is keeping them, I needed two probes quickly. While they may be branded, and perhaps no better then the Chinese generic P6100's, since Joe was impressed with their specs and performance, I figured these will suffice, and allow me to get up and running, and do some testing with the scope.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005O0V01E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[rsjsouza]

Good buy.

I looked at your link and the list of related products had a "RioRand 100MHz probes". The description says the model number is PP150, but the third photo shows "P6100" written at the BNC connectors - go figure what they actually are...

[MacMeter]

Good buy.

I looked at your link and the list of related products had a "RioRand 100MHz probes". The description says the model number is PP150, but the third photo shows "P6100" written at the BNC connectors - go figure what they actually are...

Thanks for taking your time to LOOK! Yeah, I had those bookmarked as well as some other P6100 probes. In the end they may all be from the same Chinese factory, with similar performance, so I went on the hopes these Hantek 200mhz probes will work as well as the 100mHz Hantek probes reviewed by Joe in 2015. THANKS JOE!

https://youtu.be/buG-H_LZH0U

[MacMeter]

Got the scope yesterday, and the "Hantek" probes today. The only thing that says "hantek" is the tiny label on the bag they came in. The sticker on the probes themselves says "200mhz". I don't know how to test that spec and don't have any other gear here. I was able to do the compensation on both of them following the Rigol instructions, and get nice square wave forms.

As far as the $50 Rigol, it looks in great condition, like new. I ran the self test/calibration function and all seems well, and I reset everything to the factory defaults. Also downloaded and went from firmware 3.x to the last one listed on the Rigol site as 4.x in 2015. That went fine as well.

All I have to do now is learn how to use it!
Right now all I can test is a 1.5 volt battery, and a wall wart.

Any recommendations for common household electronics I could possibly test run on the scope?
THANKS for all the help and great advice!

[james_s]

Nice score on the scope. Just about any electronic devices should have some potentially interesting signal sources in them, look for oscillator crystals and those little 4 pin canned oscillators. Grab a 555 or 74LS14 and build an oscillator, lots of options there. Be sure to watch Dave's video on how to not blow up your scope. Some items that plug into the wall lack isolation and the circuit "ground" is actually floating way above earth ground.