Recommend me an Oscilloscope

[SCV]

My LeCroy LC334 is messing around (two channels instead of 4?) so it's time to look for a replacement.

Bandwidth 200Mhz+
Channels 4
Screen 8" or more
Budget £2k ex tax.

Looking around the GW Instek GDS-2204A ticks the boxes as does the RSpro RSMSO-2204E. They look strangely similar!
Not a big fan of Tektronix.

Any opinions?
Tim.

[Gamboa]

Hi,

https://rigolshop.eu/hdo1204.html

Regards,
Gamboa

[okmn]

what about  OWON XDS3000-E Series 4CH 8 / 14bit Touchscreen Digital Oscilloscope

XDS3204E
XDS3204AE

https://www.owon.com.hk/products_owon_xds3000-e_series_4ch_8_%7C_14bit_touchscreen_digital_oscilloscope


i am looking  these models   

Owon HDS2202 200 MHz 2ch. Oscilloscope + multimeter + waveform generator, multifunction in one
OWON HDS2102S 100 mhz 2ch. Oscilloscope + multimeter + waveform generator, multifunction in one

[Giuseppe MPO]

RIGOL MSO5104

for me it is the best ....
top features and relatively low price.

[John Lawton]

I have a Siglent SDS1204X-E which I am generally quite happy with.

I often use an external waveform generator with it to plot 0.01Hz - 1kHz frequency response curves of an analogue circuit board I make for a particular customer.

For this I need to measure waveform amplitudes and the drawback with the above instrument is the 8 bit vertical resolution, so if you want to do anything like this I would recommend 10 bit or more resolution. I would choose that over high vertical bandwidth because I'm mostly working at < 100MHz.

[Mapo]

I have a Siglent too, SDS2204.
Siglent supplied Teledyne Lecroy with this series of oscilloscopes

https://www.mouser.it/datasheet/2/227/t3dso2000-datasheet-1500493.pdf

Great oscilloscopes at great prices

[Bravo]

I bought a Siglent SDS2104X Plus 100 Mhz, which has a 10" touch screen. With the help of EEV Blog, I hacked it to 500 Mhz & enabled all the options. A bargain of note !!!! There are some good tear downs of this scope on Youtube. 

[Yves]

I use Picoscope
https://www.distrelec.ch/en/pc-oscilloscope-4x-200mhz-1gsps-pico-technology-picoscope-5444d/p/30111505?&cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=18862544155&cq_con=&cq_term=&cq_med=pla&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&cq_pos=&cq_plt=gp&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=CjwKCAiA85efBhBbEiwAD7oLQMk6zHcGlTfFL7MuCCZVTA88MfPB6U-LPfCXYM15wCyxdcwaWG-UtBoC6IwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Yves

[Mapo]

I bought a Siglent SDS2104X Plus 100 Mhz, which has a 10" touch screen. With the help of EEV Blog, I hacked it to 500 Mhz & enabled all the options.

I Bravo, I'm also interested in this modification, where can I find information?

[kcsl]

I have a Rigol DS1054 4-channel with the hack to get it up to 100MHz.

Sometimes it's really slow to update and respond, and I find the user interface a bit clunky.
Some of the options you select by having to turn a little control then press to select, and often it moves to an adjacent setting when you press the control.

On a budget it's not bad and has a lot of features and it was a great upgrade from my 4 channel Fluke PM3082, but if you can afford it go to something better.

Joe

[rick.curl]

I bought a Siglent SDS2104X Plus 100 Mhz, which has a 10" touch screen. With the help of EEV Blog, I hacked it to 500 Mhz & enabled all the options.

I Bravo, I'm also interested in this modification, where can I find information?

Look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxzQS-Bn2R0
-Rick

[Bravo]

Hi Rick,
Check out page 5 of this link:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/siglent-sds2000x-plus-hack/

You will have to register on repl.it
I suggest you turn off Norton when you import & run the Python script.
Good luck,
Gary

[Bravo]

Sorry, That should have been Hi Mapo.
Must be cos I'm a newbie - only been using Proton since 2004, but still lots to learn !!!
Cheers,
Gary

[SCV]

Thankyou for all your suggestions, I thought I would give you an update.

I shortlisted two, the Rigol MSO5204 and Siglent SDS2204X+.
The two are quite similar with the Siglent performing marginally ahead according to tear-downs on Youtube. Pricing wise the Rigol came with a free bundle which made it very good value. The equivalent loaded Siglent would have been around £800 more.

I ordered a B-grade MSO5204 from Telonic.co.uk (refurbished with latest firmware and 2 year warranty) and got a further 10% off a nearly new unit. Total price was £1300 + tax.
On the EEVblog there is a comprehensive article on hacking the MSO5000 series to enable all features. It's not of interest to me, but some are doing it.

I've had a play with it on some simple serial stuff and it seems ok. I noticed it has a problem triggering to analogue video, though I haven't spent a lot of time on it yet.

Tim.

[pjdenyer]

I have just bought the Hanteck DSO2C10 100Mhz and hacked it to convert it to the DSO1D15, so now it's a 150Mhz with Wave Generator. It's an entry level scope but for £190 it suits my reqiurements.

[top204]

That's not a bad price for a good bandwidth scope pdjenyer.

I still use my lovely single beam, CRT based, Telequipment oscilloscope that I used all those years ago when repairing TVs and Vidoes etc, in the 1980s. It only has a 5MHz bandwidth, but is, generally, OK for most tests.

Maybe one day I will be able to afford a new scope, but it is not high on my list of "must haves". :-).

[JohnB]

I did my apprenticeship at Telequipment, was involved in the production of the S51 and the D51 as I recall.  Also spend a year in metalwork and tooling when they used to do everything internally.  Then moved on to the design lab where I did a bit of mechanical and electronic design.

Tectronix used to buy our scopes for their production line as theirs were too expensive.

[John Lawton]

I remember some simple Telequipment scopes at my secondary school physics department.
They looked like this https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/telequip_serviscope_minor.html although I recall a 'stability' triggering control, not present on this one.

More models here: https://www.radiomuseum.org/m/telequip_gb_en_1.html

[JohnB]

I did the PCB design for that. It was known as the S31 internally, cant remember how it was badged when it went out to the schools.

[top204]

Mine is the S54: https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/telequip_oscilloskop_s54s_5.html

I've had it since about 1985 and it has not needed any repairs, and works everytime. Even when it has not been powered up for months on end. I know it will be well out of calibration, but for the tests I do, it is not required to be accurate, just show the waveform and the voltage etc... The same when I was repairing items. I didn't care if the signal was not displayed accurately to the mV or the Hz, just as long as it had the correct waveforms that I could see for the sections in the electronic devices back then. :-)

The old CRT oscilloscopes are very beautiful objects in my eyes and are a pleasure to look at when sitting on a desk or shelf. I keep looking out for an old valve (tube) oscilloscope at car boot sales, but no luck yet. Rachel thinks I'm potty because I see old electronic equipment as exceptionally beautiful objects. :-)