Should a serious hobbiest/EE own both a digital and and an analog oscilloscope?

I don't own a 'scope, but sometimes I lust for one! :smiley:

I've rarely needed one (for analog or digital stuff), and since I work in electronics I can bring my hobby projects into work on the weekend.

We don't have any analog 'scopes at work anymore. As far as I know, there is no advantage to an analog 'scope as long as they both have the same speed (MHz). The Tektronix digital 'scope on my bench right now is rated at 100MHz, with a sample rate of 1.25GS/s.

Analog waveforms look perfectly "smooth and analog". The measurement features are a nice bonus... It measures period/time, frequency, and voltage (and maybe some other stuff I don't use). Another nice thing with a digital scope is that you get a "nice picture" no matter what you are looking at. For example, when you look at a very low-frequency waveform (let's say 1Hz) on an analog 'scope you don't get a waveform, you see a dot tracing across the screen. If the frequency is a little higher, you'll get a waveform, but it will flicker. Or, if you're looking at a short pulse with a low repetition rate, it can be very-dim. On the digital 'scope you can always see the pulse, and I never even touch the brightness control.

It might be like the analog audio myths… A lot of audiophiles seem to think that analog vinyl has “infinite” resolution. That’s nonsense, since the noise floor makes the resolution/accuracy far worse than a CD. It’s OK to prefer analog sound if that’s what you like, but digital is technically superior. Or, it’s like saying that my “analog” ruler is better than my digital calipers.

One “interesting” thing is that the screen resolution on my Tektronix ‘scope is “only” 8-bits. That seems terrible, but that’s 256 “dots” which is about half that of DVD. I'm pretty sure you can't see a 1-bit change on a 4-inch screen.