Vevor SDS1104 for first oscilloscope?

[Muttley Snickers]

If the price is right then a used SDS1104XE in good condition would still be worth serious consideration particularly for somebody on a budget. If the OP is not in a desperate rush for a scope then this would be my recommendation, cheaper than new and far superior to what they are currently considering.

I just saw someone buy a second hand SDS1104XE for 540 bucks+postage on aus ebay, so prices are not going down that much. New one is still close to 700 on AppVision. I think the scope market is just too slow in Australia and some people don't know about 800X series. We are still yet to see 800Xs here. Everybody else has them for sale but not Australia (and our friends across the ditch). Perhaps wait until the end of financial year to get better deals.

I think it's still way too early to estimate or speculate on what is considered a fair price for a second hand SDS1104XE in Australia, and perhaps even for those who are updating. In fact, some are probably more likely to hang on to their previous model for a while until they are satisfied that it is no longer needed and only taking up space.

Also, I wouldn't use ebay as a guide as there are likely plenty of buyers whose only focus is the purchase of a good oscilloscope at a reasonable price and perhaps not even aware there is a new series available as you pointed out. I can speak from experience when I say that not everyone who seeks certain test equipment reads or frequents electronics discussion forums for information, I never did anyway.

I hate giving out secrets and revealing my sources but I discovered the best place to keeps tabs on prices and more importantly find well looked after pre-loved test equipment from reputable people is here, but don't tell anybody else they might put their prices up.

[MadFlower]

Some Vevor items are well made , are an extremely very good value and perform very well . Other items are crudely made and  have multiple defects . Fortunately I used PayPal when ordering directly from their USA distributor recently . Even after I submitted a claim for an obviously  defective and unusable tool they made every possible effort to avoid a refund .

Purchasing it from Amazon with their excellent return policy is advised

I guess I will find out. I used paypal for that reason. The 150 bucks was actually out of my budget and it is a lot more scope then I currently need. however having a scip gives me a logic analyzer so I will find a use.  I think Vevor in general just rebadges other products. However, there is some variance in products with the same model numbers. I just haven't seen other say owon or siglent knockoffs like you do for say soldering stations.

I also sent a message asking them about their compatibility because they mention upgrades in their description but offer none for sale, so I asked if you could use the siglent or owon upgrades.  I also asked for the compatibility of the SCIP commands, or a documented list of them.

We will see if they answer.

[MadFlower]

They said it was compatible with OWON, so most likely a rebadged OWON sds1104.

I received it. It came with 4 1x/10x probes.

It seems to work alright so far. It came with software on a dvd and a 95 page all english manual. Which has a big warning about the ground not being isolated and don't use it to measure AC..

I don't have a signal generator, but even the sloppy jagged output from the espressif idf dac cosine wave example on an esp32, jacked up to 1mhz is being picked up. It is done with an array in software so it is about what I expected. It doesn't have enough data points to make it look smooth like at lower frequencies.

[BillyO]

This scope is current available for $232 Canadian with free shipping right now here in Canada.  At that price it could be worth it going on the specs alone.

As a first scope that you plan to learn on over a couple of years?  Then when you have more money sell it for $150 or so and get a decent $600 scope you intend to keep for a decade or so, it might not be a bad idea.  However, it would need to operate properly for that scenario to work for you.

It certainly seems to be made by the same people that make Hanmatek and Owon.  I note it comes with an internal power supply unlike the Hanmatek 4ch. model I saw in a YT video recently.  Maybe that attests to it being a better build 

It's not going to be a Siglent or Rigol level instrument, but if it's just a short term learning tool that leads to something better, at the very least it will give you an added appreciation for what ever step up you take in the long run.

So, will you be our guinea pig and buy one to let others know what it's like?

[tunk]

And in the US it's $150, and $100 for the 2ch version:
https://www.vevor.com/s/oscilloscopes
(Unfortunately, around here it's $282 and $243.)

[rhb]

I have the Hanmatek 2 & 4 channel versions,  For analog scope work they are awesome.  Think Tek 465 with the ability to save waveforms.  Not suitable for serious MCU work.

The Hanmateks are an easy conversion to  2S LiPo.

Measured BW is 140 MHz.

Wish I could have bought one of these rather than USAF surplus Dumont 1062 I paid Tucker $325 for only to have it die a few days after the 30 day warranty expired.

Have Fun!
Reg

[homemade]

Does anyone have a circuit diagram of the Vevor 1104 (or maybe a video tear down)?

I am curious if I can hack/swap the EPROM||chip or nand.
I want to know if I can grab the firmware and maybe read about because 20KiB is low.
I need to fix alot of DSP music equipment/[sound cards] because they don't make anything like them anymore.  This looks like the perfect scope to do some frankenstein'ing.

[tunk]

As mentioned above, most likely a rebadged Owon SDS1104.
No expert, but the 20kB may be in the FPGA, i.e. not expandable.
And if it's not, I guess you will have to hack the firmware to see it.

[uhmgawa2]

As mentioned above, most likely a rebadged Owon SDS1104.

The Vevor SDS1104 is just a rebranded Owon scope of the same marketed model. Even the manuals are basically the same text and graphics. And it arrives with Owon OW3100 probes.  Actually last month Amazon had the Vevor SDS1104 at $129 with a one shot 40% off coupon -- a 4CH 100Mhz digital scope for $77 bucks. It was pretty compelling at that price point given all my other scopes are analog behemoths (which IMO remain very much un-obsoleted by digital equivalents except in one metric). I wouldn't pay the constantly bobbling Amazon list price for the Vevor sds1104 hovering around $300 but Vevor appears to be still selling them direct for $149. Even at that price and with the proposition viewed as that of a utility scope I don't expect you'll find a better deal currently. It certainly has limitations most notably 8-bit A/D and a total of 20K depth shared among all enabled channels. But I've paid more in the past for a mediocre bench DMM so that gives some perspective on the bang for the buck. Oh, that one metric mentioned above is the thing weighs 2.36 pounds and (with a DIY VESA mount) can sit on the cheapest adjustable monitor arm which none of my analog scopes could ever hope to do. The unit is so light the IEC mains input seems comically out of place design-wise as you'll be fighting stiffness of the power cable to position the scope where you need it. Internally there is a universal 100~240 VAC 50/60Hz PSU board from which the IEC input and power switch poke out through the case. It supplies a lone 5V rail to the internal main board. I powered the main board from a bench supply and found it draws ~1.7A @ 5V0. So it could as well have been designed with a 5V buck regulator and nominal 12VDC input, then powered from a wall wart flyback (which opens up the possibility to support an integrated battery). There is more than enough room in the case for quite a few 18650 Li cells.

I'd really have to give a hat tip on the mechanical / physical design. It is surprisingly good for this price point and pulling the screws to pop the hood (a total of 6, 4 in the feet and 2 hiding under the handle) found those M3s sitting in brass insert nuts molded into the case. The case itself is quite well designed and manufactured. Wish they carried that thought through to include 4x M4 molded nuts in the back for a VESA mount but I'll likely just create a minimal VESA mount carrier for the unit with a grab handle projecting out from the bottom of the scope as a grab/positioning handle. Other stuff I haven't futzed with is the support for capture dump to a USB flash drive and the rear USB interface to a PC. There is a disk with windoZe software included but as a Linux user I'll be finding my own solution there if ever really needed. Some buyer reviews seem to indicate a misunderstanding the screen protection film which has an intentionally loose removal tab in the NE corner of the screen is some sort of screen delamination defect. I think I recall reading one cutting off the removal tab flush with the case and using it as such rather than understanding it being a prompt for the user to remove the glossy protection film. Unfortunate situation as when removed there is a much more readable and purposely provided matte screen surface waiting under it.

Anyone interested might want to keep an eye on Amazon to see if the price dips again. It seems to have been quite volatile recently.

No expert, but the 20kB may be in the FPGA, i.e. not expandable.
And if it's not, I guess you will have to hack the firmware to see it.

May well be a FPGA limitation given the clip at which that data is moving.  And I'd hazard at least 32-bit internal path given it can support 4x 8-bits @ 1Ghz.  The option of PCB rework for a 1Ghz memory capacity bump likely left us at the turn of the century.

[uhmgawa2]

Wish I could have bought one of these rather than USAF surplus Dumont 1062 I paid Tucker $325 for only to have it die a few days after the 30 day warranty expired.

At least that appears to be a "solid state" scope.  I can recall years ago as a lab TA in college having these battleship issue TEK scopes which were vacuum tube designs about the size of compact washing machine riding on what I'd describe to be a "heave-able" cart.  The stock probes were truly a misfit for 100mil DIP era microprocessor systems, looking more like they'd been designed to securely glom onto a truck bumper.  The one marginal benefit of those scopes was in the winter as supplement heaters thanks to those vacuum tubes.  But they did the basic job with the imposition of an educated user.  Dunno, at some point it may come to pass but I'm not inclined to part with any of my analog (user-intimately-on-the-wire) scopes any time soon.

[BillyO]

Ahhh.. yeah, it might just be "solid state".  What was the big reveal?