I'm looking for a low cost, general use o-scope. I don't need something super crazy, just capable of the following:
Checking noise on power traces
viewing simple wave forms
checking signals (verifying 1/0, etc)
USB out/connectivity would be a plus, so i can capture stuff on my laptop.
other than that, I don't need anything really crazy, I'm just looking for a decent scope under 350$ or so that can help me in debugging circuits when they don't work. I've read a few posts on EEVblog that seem to suggest some of the Owon scopes (http://shop.owon.co.uk/sds-series-13-c.asp) seem to be decent, and at 299$, the 5032 seems to be fairly cheap, but I don't know a whole lot about scopes.
Anyone have any beginner friendly scopes that are capable of basics above? I'm never going to be working with high frequencies or anything.
I would recommend looking at Ebay for a used scope in your price range. Look for older Lecroy and Techtronix scopes, as both of those companies have been making great scopes for many years. Yes, you will likely find older analog models, but they are by no means obsolete. Just make sure you find one that works and is not labeled for parts.
The Owon scope advertised on Amazon is a good scope for the money (~$279.) perhaps not as good as the Rigol but worth every penny of the money. I would buy a used TEK 2235 or 244* scope myself but I am real old skool and most familiar with and prefer the analog scopes. I can repair them so a used piece of older equipment (working) is more a bargain for me. I also enjoy working on the older scopes too.
I have a DSO Quad from seeed studio. Its been extremely useful. Its also got open source software so you can mod the code to your linking.
It has a tiny 2MB storage for captures, which can be viewed/downloaded via USB.
thanks for the recommendations guys. I suppose I'll go with the rigol. I read some reviews on them and although the screen is a little smaller, it seems to be a better scope than the owon. The TEK looks nice too, but I really would love to be able to either control or capture images from the scope on the PC, so need something digital.
pYro_65:
I have a DSO Quad from seeed studio. Its been extremely useful. Its also got open source software so you can mod the code to your linking.
It has a tiny 2MB storage for captures, which can be viewed/downloaded via USB.
Me too. Have you done the diode mod?
You can remove D5 completely or replace it with (eg.) a TPD2E009DBZR.
pYro_65:
I have a DSO Quad from seeed studio. Its been extremely useful. Its also got open source software so you can mod the code to your linking.
It has a tiny 2MB storage for captures, which can be viewed/downloaded via USB.
Me too. Have you done the diode mod?
No I haven't, but thanks for the link. I'm also behind in the firmware it looks like.
I have one of these, and it works really well. I bought it on Amazon.com for 140.00 US. It is limited to 25MHz but works well for general stuff. Even comes with a built in signal generator.