Re: How much does brand matter with regards to oscilloscopes?

Michael wrote:
Hi - I'm looking at getting an oscilloscope for myself. Prices range
drastically for oscilloscopes - from nearly free for 70s era
equipment, to tens of thousands of dollars for really nice stuff.

The name brands (Tek, Agilent, etc.) seem to (not surprisingly) always
be the most expensive. Are they really that much better? I mean, for


The older ones were. The low end models from them all now come from China
it seems.

example, I ran into this scope:
http://www.tequipment.net/OWONEDU5022.html (25MHz, color LCD, USB,
battery powered, 2 channels, $368). An
equivalent scope from a better known brand would I suspect be well
over a thousand dollars.

Yeah, I've wondered about those scopes. I'm anxious to hear some reports.
I've heard one so far and it was positive, they bought the $329 special.
They did say the dual-scan screen kinda sucked when viewed off-angle. I'd
go with a higher end model if you can afford it and get a TFT screen, much
prettier.

I bought a Rigol DS1102C (100MHz, color TFT, USB etc). I'm really happy
with the performance, the fan is kinda loud though. From reading manuals,
reviews and looking at screen shots of Tek, Goodwill, etc. I think I got the
best of the bunch for the money. The firmware is stable, does math well,
and when using the math functions the way they are displayed on the screen
is much more useful and professional-looking IMO. Rigol makes the low end
Agilent scope so I figured they'd still be in business in a couple of years.
Tech support by e-mail from China is incredible (not that I use them allot,
just a couple of questions).

Are the name brands worth the cost? Do you get what you pay for?

On the low end, I'd say you're still paying something for the name. For
example Tek wants over $1000 for a monochrome low end scope. The Rigol I
got cost $1000, but was color and much higher bandwidth. It has amazing
triggering and DSP filtering capabilities. They both are made in China.
Tek does have a nice warranty though.

I'd still recommend having a decent analog scope for a "second opinion"
sometimes.


.

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