EEVblog #1022 - Finding A $50 Oscilloscope On Ebay

[EEVblog]

Another look at finding a $50 analog oscilloscope on ebay.
A follow-up from a video from 4 years ago.

[dardosordi]

Dave, last time I listened to your scope video I ended up like this: 

Scored 3 Tek 2245A for ~160 USD, ended up selling 2 and that paid for most of it.

[EEVblog]

Dave, last time I listened to your scope video I ended up like this: 
Scored 3 Tek 2245A for ~160 USD, ended up selling 2 and that paid for most of it.

Great work!
Those kind of flips are certainly possible, I've done it myself several times before.
Easier in countries like Australia were you can buy form the US cheap and resell here for much higher price (including covering the shipping).

[n3vti]

I managed to score a Tektronix T922 (20 MHz) and a T932 (35 MHz) a few years ago. I paid about $102 for everything. I was originally getting the 922, but the seller found the 932 and offered to throw it in for free. Sadly, when it came in, the casing on the 922 was destroyed, and the 932 barely worked, and was missing a channel input. My original intention was to combine the two into one working unit, but I never got around to it.  Hopefully, i can get it working again and have it as a backup to my Tek 2446 

[cdev]

I got a 2211 in mint condition that seems to still be 'in calibration' in terms of accuracy for $75. Its a very useful, usable scope.

[nixfu]

Wish the price of 465s would come down.  I would like to have one.  But,  I think 465s are starting to be more of a collectors item now and the prices are actually going up.

[Barny]

I had the luck to get a 20 MHz two channel oscilloscope for 50 euro cent some time ago.
The guy selling it to me was taking it to the scrap yard in useable condition.
(I paid insane 12 Euro for the probes at Amazon.)
The only negative I'm able to say about this oscilloscope is the extreme fiddly trigger because there is no indication of the trigger level.

Sadly I dont knew the exact type anymore, because I gave it to my nephew short after I bought it.
I think it was a Goldstar or some other brand with Gold in its name.
(I have a DS 5152MA and had no space for a second one.)


[Edit]
I think I'm a little weirdo because I normally don't buy used tools and save a little longer to buy new ones.
It's because you never knew how the previous owner treated them.
[/Edit]

[bjcuizon]

The bay will be flooded with >$100 scopes in no time. ...the eevblog effect.

[kosine]

Don't rely on ebay - too many people looking for bargains. I got a 50MHz Hitachi V-522 'scope in great condition from Bidspotter in the UK. Paid just £20 for it. (Postage and buyer's premium added another £30, but still a good deal.)

It came from a liquidated caravan company, so I was the only bidder. Every town has auctioneers handling company liquidations, so they're a good place to keep an eye on.

[Electro Detective]

The darker reality is that a fully functional analogue oscilloscope isn't going to happen EASILY for $50 in Australia, or anywhere else unless you've got a bottled Genie granting wishes 

Seriously consider spending upwards of $120 to $250 for a fully functional analogue oscilloscope owned by someone moving on or upgrading,
that's looked after it, and not scared to demo it working properly or let you have a tweak.

Half trashed or intemittent oscilloscopes are more trouble than they're worth for a newb, hobbyist, repair tech or a EE that just wants to get on with it

Do the math: how much is a knackered $50 cro going to cost in time, and parts if you can get them. 
AND access them on the board without banging up other parts, avoiding sensitive 'unobtanium' components, 2000 volt zaps and much higher voltages. 

If the calibration is miles off, and troubleshooting and probing waveforms via a service manual on a faulty device or any DUT, you are SOL in any direction. 


$50 oscilloscopes are great for repair people that can fix and calibrate them, keep a couple (or MORE! lol) for themselves,

then resell at $120 to $250 to users that need to get work done, not crossing their fingers their test gear is working


It saves these great pieces of kit from the landfills, puts a few dollars in the sellers and repairers pockets,

and buyers get a classic WORKING oscilloscope for the price of a decent multimeter (or 2 tanks of petrol) 

especially good news if cheap DSLows don't quite do it for them,

which may one day come in handy for practicing topedoes and dropkicks in the back yard


Do yourself a favour and make sure your first analogue oscilloscope is a WORKING one and avoid disappointment. 
Mine was a used  -everything working-  Trio-Kenwood 15mhz dual channel, still kicking goals 20+ years later   

[Towger]

Depends.  A few years ago I got a "fully working" Tec 2235 off eBay locally for €50. Probably spend another 50 on replacing a couple of control pots and knobs, and new probes.  It sat on the shelf for a couple of years, until I gave it away for the cost of postage to a young lad on the fourm looking for a free/cheap scope.

So I got a scope for €50 (a hard, but not impossible task in Ireland) got entertainment fixing it up and passed to on to a good cause.

[bjcuizon]

The darker reality is that a fully functional analogue oscilloscope isn't going to happen EASILY for $50 in Australia, or anywhere else unless you've got a bottled Genie granting wishes 

Seriously consider spending upwards of $120 to $250 for a fully functional analogue oscilloscope owned by someone moving on or upgrading,
that's looked after it, and not scared to demo it working properly or let you have a tweak.

Half trashed or intemittent oscilloscopes are more trouble than they're worth for a newb, hobbyist, repair tech or a EE that just wants to get on with it

Do the math: how much is a knackered $50 cro going to cost in time, and parts if you can get them. 
AND access them on the board without banging up other parts, avoiding sensitive 'unobtanium' components, 2000 volt zaps and much higher voltages. 

If the calibration is miles off, and troubleshooting and probing waveforms via a service manual on a faulty device or any DUT, you are SOL in any direction. 


$50 oscilloscopes are great for repair people that can fix and calibrate them, keep a couple (or MORE! lol) for themselves,

then resell at $120 to $250 to users that need to get work done, not crossing their fingers their test gear is working


It saves these great pieces of kit from the landfills, puts a few dollars in the sellers and repairers pockets,

and buyers get a classic WORKING oscilloscope for the price of a decent multimeter (or 2 tanks of petrol) 

especially good news if cheap DSLows don't quite do it for them,

which may one day come in handy for practicing topedoes and dropkicks in the back yard


Do yourself a favour and make sure your first analogue oscilloscope is a WORKING one and avoid disappointment. 
Mine was a used  -everything working-  Trio-Kenwood 15mhz dual channel, still kicking goals 20+ years later   

Yes! It is really not that easy to find cheap (but good) second hand gear in AU, let alone NZ.
You really need patience if you want to get a great bargain. I bought my first cro here from our local auction site called "Trade Me" for ~NZ$56. But it was not that easy to find it. (I did not consider eBay because shipping will kill you ) Basically, I started searching for oscilloscopes last December and there were no scopes to be found. (there were dso's of course, but to expensive for me) It was already March but still no luck (well there were some occasional tek cros, but they're over $150). Until it was May when somebody posted a leader scope with a starting bid of $30. Nobody bid on it until the closing hour (it closed at 7AM on a wednesday and there were only 3 bidders ) and then it was finally mine! Yay! ...After all the six months I have waited

[Electro Detective]

I must be missing something   

Why wait around weeks or months in anticipation (and frustration)  to score a POSSIBLE bargain (or lemon  )   that others are also competing for   

when a few dollars more gets a working oscilloscope on your workbench NOW and get immediate work done and or learning experience/fun out of it   


Is it worth the internet time and electricity wasted, waiting around for the elusive $50 lucky dip ?  Better odds blindfold betting at any racetrack imo


No thanks, I still pay top dollar for a fully working scope/s, and get top dollar back if/when I sell as fully working.

I must be in a minority that saves a few dollars to get something that's verified working,
though I'm no stranger to basic oscilloscope repair and calibration 'IF' I have no choice
..or need ANOTHER headbanging challenge    on a rainy weekend     

 

[Smokey]

Ya.  Just like 4 years ago and the previous drive time video, I disagree.  The only person who I could honestly recommend going on ebay and buying an ancient analog scope as their First/Only scope would be like a classic car mechanic or something where they may need to look at an analog tach signal twice a year or something.

If you are starting out and plan on sticking with this electronics thing, then you are EXACTLY the person who need to buy a DSO.  Any (modern) DSO.  The cheapest Owon scope will be infinitely more useful than an ancient analog scope.  People new to electronics don't spend a significant amount of time working EXCLUSIVELY in the analog world anymore.  It doesn't help that someone new searching ebay is completely unqualified for determining scope quality or functionality of something 30-40 years old.

If you plan on doing any activity (not just electronics) for a significant amount of time, never start out buying the absolute cheapest thing to "just start out".  You will spend more money (and quickly) once you outgrow the cheap crap.  If you were to buy any Rigol scope, it would most likely not get outgrown for many many years unlike an old analog scope which if you are serious you will outgrow in months if not weeks.  Save up.  Mow lawns for another month.  Whatever.  Spend the $350.   

Do you want to work on one of those "Arduino" things?  Nope, analog scope won't be much help. 
Want to figure out why a serial port isn't working?  Nope, analog scope won't be much help. 
Are you a HAM and are you making a dead bug Manhattan style copper board receiver for some specific frequency??? Bingo!!!!, analog scope is for you!  But at that point you already knew that. 

Don't get sucked into this analog scope thing.  The one and only use for a classic analog oscilloscope (hopefully a Tek 7000 series mainframe) is to make your lab look more bad ass by sitting in the corner collecting dust.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/help-on-choosing-my-first-oscilloscope/msg153113/#msg153113
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/do-you-need-both-analogue-and-digital-scopes-for-your-lab/msg194845/#msg194845
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-926-introduction-to-the-oscilloscope/msg1034348/#msg1034348

It's a shame it was 35 minutes into the 36 minue video before Dave made the comment that you should probably not buy an analog scope and save your money for a proper DSO. 

[eugenenine]

I picked up a Tek 2205 for $40 then found a 2211 for $50.  I need to re-sell the 2205 now.

I'm just re-starting and the old analog works so far.  I figure it will work until I can afford better then I can re-sell it to someone else needing one.

[bjcuizon]

I must be missing something   

Why wait around weeks or months in anticipation (and frustration)  to score a POSSIBLE bargain (or lemon  )   that others are also competing for   

when a few dollars more gets a working oscilloscope on your workbench NOW and get immediate work done and or learning experience/fun out of it   

Is it worth the internet time and electricity wasted, waiting around for the elusive $50 lucky dip ?  Better odds blindfold betting at any racetrack imo

No thanks, I still pay top dollar for a fully working scope/s, and get top dollar back if/when I sell as fully working.

I must be in a minority that saves a few dollars to get something that's verified working,
though I'm no stranger to basic oscilloscope repair and calibration 'IF' I have no choice
..or need ANOTHER headbanging challenge    on a rainy weekend     

Well, I was not in a hurry of getting a scope. And at least it was working on arrival, it displayed a trace and it seems to be taken out of a university here.
I was new to scopes back then and from all those months, I learnt what kind of ballpark price would something go for, and all sorts of stuff as well. I also downloaded some scope sim apps like keysight's one so I could familiarize myself with the controls. It was a great learning experience overall.

[joseph nicholas]

The reality is buying a 30 or 40 year old oscilloscope is probabily a waste of time and money.  Even the humble DSO 138 is a better choice than the trickers you will find on ebay.  There are some who are trying to make a living by selling these things and they are way ahead of the young and nieve buyers.  Jones is a toady for the man no doubt.  What motivates Jones is the almighty dollar.

[Electro Detective]

As a newb with a first used WORKING analogue scope, purchased at a very fair price from previous owner who also gave me some user tips and freebie electronics, I quickly mastered it,
learned more about electronics etc and used it as a sort of reference for other used scopes that followed, to test, repair and calibrate them. As mentioned before, that scope is still going strong 20 years later.

Had I bought a knackered $50 job, I may have been discouraged, disappointed or asked a musician friend shooting a band video to toss it out of a hotel room
and perhaps missed out on the convenience and usefulness of a scope sooner than later/never

Good luck sitting in front of the box surfing Ebay for an elusive snag guys,

life is short and there's lots of probing to do NOW 

rather than waste it flogging a suss scope       to get it to display anything   

and panel beating ones dented 'bargain' ego      


i.e. don't be too cheap in life (unless you're a pro like me)     

[Tony_G]

I can't comment on this from the perspective of a new hobbyist with limited experience but I needed to acquire an old analog scope because I had a test case that needed the Z axis (non of my other scopes worked properly w.r.t the DUT service guide).

I bought 2 Tektronix 2235 for US$125 that ended up only needing a tweak on the vertical pots and a twist of the CRT magnets.

So I think it is possible but you do need to have a little "Faith" rather than "proof"

TonyG

[thermistor-guy]

I bought a Tektronix 2246 (4-ch, 100 MHz) on Ebay some years ago, as my first personal oscilloscope. It was NOS, US Gov. surplus, with its contract label still on the side. Obviously not $50.

I have seen (at work) DSOs show misleading traces, due to spurious oscillations and anomalies on supposedly "low frequency" signals, so I specifically wanted an analog scope before I bought a personal DSO.

Analog scopes are great if you need to verify signal integrity in circuits like oscillators; power supplies; and amplifiers.

If you are a beginner on a budget, then yeah, a DSO gets you started, and should give you easy waveform capture and data/image transfer to your PC. Later, you can include the DSO in a personal automated test system, if your interests run in that direction.

Ideally, plan to get both at some stage - an analog scope plus a DSO.

[Brumby]

The reality is buying a 30 or 40 year old oscilloscope is probabily a waste of time and money.  Even the humble DSO 138 is a better choice than the trickers you will find on ebay.

 
I have a 15MHz Hitachi V152B circa 1980.  I have a DSO138 circa last year.

There is no comparison.  Not even close.  The DSO138 is a toy - a useful toy - but a toy nonetheless.

There are some who are trying to make a living by selling these things and they are way ahead of the young and nieve buyers.

Yes, there are sellers like that - but there are also sellers that are above board.  Picking out the good ones is the challenge.

Jones is a toady for the man no doubt.  What motivates Jones is the almighty dollar.

Really?

[djos]

I've thought about buying an old analogue scope, but I'm seriously thinking about buying either a Siglent SDS1102CML 100MHz Dual-Channel for low $300's or saving up a bit more and getting a Rigol 1054z quad channel unit for an extra $300. Scopes are bloody expensive in Australia.

[nctnico]

Why dick around with old analog junk scopes if you can buy things like these for less than $55 including shipping?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DSO112A-Mini-Handheld-Pocket-Digital-Storage-Oscilloscope-TFT-Touch-Screen-I7Q8-/401088702102

Or this one (although you'll need a PC to control it):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hantek-6022BE-20MHz-Handheld-2-Channels-Digital-Portable-PC-USB-Oscilloscope-/332378813681

IMHO these are much better investments if money is an issue than to get a boatanchor which can turn into a repair project at any time.

[Gyro]

Errr, was that a joke?   

Single channel only, 2MHz bandwidth, 5Msps max. Clip leads instead of scope probe....

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/has-this-been-discussed-before-a-'decent'-portable-oscope-for-$70/


EDIT: I see you added the Hantek, only 20MHz, 48Msps (depending on whether the PC s/w can keep up). The Hantek is just a dumb streamer with limited triggering in s/w, it doesn't even have an AC coupling option.

At least the DSO138 is a cheap useful toy.

[Lightages]

Seeing as the thread I started is being referenced, I would like to say something.

In no way should the DSO112A be considered as a replacement for a real desktop analog scope. It is a different beast, possibly a useful portable scope for some purposes, and a cheap digital scope. The lowest analog scope one can buy, usually, is 20MHz. This is 10x higher than the DSO112A.

IMHO, a $50 to $100 analog scope is far superior for anyone to use over the DSO112A. If you need a scope to carry out to your car, or trouble shoot something while on a ladder, and the DSO112A has sufficient bandwidth, then it is far superior to any CRT analog scope in cases like those.