Newbie buying his first scope need help!!!

[jonwilhelmjr]

I would like to start off by saying thank you Dave for all your great advice on electronics. I can almost say I have watched every one of your videos. Every one of your videos has in some way helped me through college thus far. With that being said leads me to my question. I will be graduating soon and won't have access to all the nice new test equipment. I am really excited to use this soon to be acquired EE degree but I lack the equipment. I am sure you have answered this thousands of times, possibly did a video over it. So with out further a due, how should I evaluate my decision making process. I understand price is always a factor but what about brand, specs, or even age. So looking at brand, I feel like I am buying my first car again. What is the best bang for my buck as they say? I am trying to compare all the bells and whistles to the bottom of the barrel equipment. Then how about the age of the equipment. Are the oscilloscopes like wine in the fact one year is better than another. I personally would prefer a digital scope over an analog. (Forgive me, I am young and for all those analog fans out there Dave has a video comparing them) With that being said when it comes done to it if the price is right, I could settle for an analog scope. Would any one like to shine some light on this matter. WHAT SHOULD A YOUNGSTER LIKE MY SELF GET FOR HIS FIRST SCOPE? Or just in general for test equipment, cheap eBay special or brand new from the company, top of the line or a backyard wounder made out of a cardboard box, analog or digital, for digital new or old, and lastly loaded with features to learn or bare minimum enough to call it a scope. I greatly appreciate any advise you have for me and at the very least to keep me at bay, a link or video will work too. Thank you in advance for your support.

Robotics extraordinaire,
Jon

[Stonent]

I don't have my first scope yet, but the analog scopes show intensity better than cheap digital scopes.

You can see in this video Mike uses his nice Agilent digital scope to probe and find a video signal. Cheaper digital scopes may not have shown it as clear, but analog scopes may do better than cheap digital ones.

http://youtu.be/_65erGXqXZk?t=3m53s

[vk6zgo]

That is the "acid test" I always propose whenever people are raving about the performance of some  "El Cheapo" DSO.

Even the cruddy single channel 10MHz analogs you can still buy new for around $100 will display a PAL or NTSC field group satisfactorily,whereas the older DSOs can't,nor can the little handheld  "pretend" scopes,or most USB 'scopes.

[NickAmes]

An analog scope is good to start out with, as they can display signals that low-end digital scopes cannot. Plus, setting the controls manually helps you learn. Watch episode #498 and start looking on eBay and local sites (like Craigslist). Low-end analog scopes are so cheap that you can buy one and still afford a digital scope, if you could afford a digital scope in the first place.

Buying used is the best value. You should look for one with >=20Mhz bandwidth, and at least 2 channels. Most cheap scopes should do fine. If you can find one for free, take it, no matter the condition or age. I have a Goldstar OS-9020 (20Mhz, 2channels), and it's a good low-end oscilloscope.