Electronics > Beginners
Is the Rigol DS1054Z still the best buy for a cheap entry level oscilloscope?
JohnnyMalaria:
:-+ :clap: Everything IDEngineer said.
My analog scope is still my "go to" - comes on in a matter of seconds and its so easy and quick to fiddle with the horizontal and vertical knobs to find what I need to know.
tautech:
IDE overlooks some very important points for someone getting their first scope.
Many of the points he makes are relevant and some aren't.
With a CRO you have to 'drive' it and to do so some understanding of the controls are needed but just like any scope ever made the owners manual has some form of basic instruction of rudimentary usage.
Engaging of the grey matter between ears yields more reward than twiddling with knobs.
A DSO on the other hand has Autoset in which the scope adjusts to give the user a basic waveform from the connected source. For the DSO novice this 'gets you going' from which you can make further control adjustments to look at the signal in greater detail. The best advice I had was to know of the expected waveform before connecting to the signal source. That was great advice !
Frequency is not so important as amplitude where mistakes can place you, the DUT, scope and probe at risk.
I was a beginner once too and although my first CRO use was over 45 years back at HS (no usage instruction other than what I'd read in books) it wasn't until in my 40's that I was given my first scope.....and that I had to fix first !
At that time I was well old and wise enough to accomplish the repairs with minimal risk and thereafter owned and repaired numerous CRO's and early Tek DSO's and that's when I recognized DSO's were the way of the future.
I still have 5 CRO's, some needing repair and I never use them.
In general my experience has shown me some parts of the circuitry in CRO's are under significant stresses, particularly the EHT (-1 to 3KV), vertical output amps (70-160 V) and PSU let alone the now aging electrolytic caps that are well past their 'best before' dates.
To advise a beginner to get, maintain and use a CRO today is foolhardy IMHO, in particular for the maintenance or repair of HV supplies, something a beginner in electronics has neither the experience or tools to perform repair to any sort of success.
Like buying an old car, if you have the tools and ability to keep it on the road then great, if you don't it could let you down and/or cost you money.
New on the other hand offers guaranteed performance and a calibration cert.
New gear also has a warranty so that additional $ can be well spent for piece of mind.
In the end available budget should dictate CRO or DSO purchase along with the buyers ability to keep an old scope going or not.
Edit to add.
Whatever scope a novice selects it is highly likely over time they'll grow out of it, that is the basic functionality won't be enough as skills and knowledge grows. Modern DSO's and their wide range of capabilities will serve a owner for many years.
JohnnyMalaria:
I think this comes down to the DSO itself. I have the 100MHz version of the one the OP is asking about. I bought it for portability. Having 4 channels is great and I use the FFT feature, crude as it is. But, I suspect because it is a budget DSO, some very simple things take unnecessary button pushes and knob twiddles. e.g., moving a trace up or down. It is slow to respond and not at all smooth. Not having things like the timebase or vertical gain actually on the knob is annoying, too. I have to think about the buttons I have to press rather than just turn the knob and this gets in the way of thinking about what I'm trying to do work-wise.
I haven't used a high-end DSO and I suspect the experience is much more gratifying. My CRO is almost as old as me and hasn't needed any repair (at least since I got it 15 years ago and according to the Boeing aerospace engineer who had it before me).
If budgetary constraints mean choose one over the other then, sure, the DSO makes sense. But if you can get a functioning CRO for $100 or less to learn the basics then it's a wise move. Or if you can find someone with one to show you.
To me, it's like learning to drive a car with an automatic transmission vs. a manual. Do you need a manual? Probably not. Does learning how to drive one make you understand what makes the car react to things the way it does and to understand the "feel", absolutely. The difference in this case is that learning the manual is harder whereas learn the basics of an oscilloscope with a CRO is much easier. I'd also say that when someone first learns to drive a car, they usual get an old one rather than a brand new one with all the last "features" that, to my mind, encourage lax/dangerous driving. At the end of the day, though, you have to ask yourself "why do I need an oscilloscope and what features are critical and which are just fluff?"
IDEngineer:
--- Quote from: tautech on May 25, 2018, 10:31:59 pm ---A DSO on the other hand has Autoset in which the scope adjusts to give the user a basic waveform from the connected source.
--- End quote ---
Sure, you can use a DSO's "AutoSet" feature. But you aren't learning nearly as much if you do.
It's all personal preference. If you just want to see a waveform, AutoSet gets you there quickly. But if you really want to understand how a scope can be an extension of your mind while you're Engineering something, AutoSet is a crutch.
Please note I encouraged our newbie to proceed with his DSO purchase. I just think he'll be a better DSO driver if he plays with an analog scope first. YMMV.
tautech:
--- Quote from: JohnnyMalaria on May 25, 2018, 10:50:24 pm ---I think this comes down to the DSO itself. I have the 100MHz version of the one the OP is asking about. I bought it for portability. Having 4 channels is great and I use the FFT feature, crude as it is. But, I suspect because it is a budget DSO, some very simple things take unnecessary button pushes and knob twiddles. e.g., moving a trace up or down. It is slow to respond and not at all smooth. Not having things like the timebase or vertical gain actually on the knob is annoying, too. I have to think about the buttons I have to press rather than just turn the knob and this gets in the way of thinking about what I'm trying to do work-wise.
--- End quote ---
How so ? :-//
Most DSO's have a 'Fine' function on the vertical attenuator. Not something I use a lot but occasionally it comes in handy. Variable timebase on the other hand is a feature I don't miss in a DSO as it's too easy for the novice to leave it in the UnCal (unlocked) position. Then any frequency measurement you're trying to read from the graticules is sure to be way off.
The modern DSO and even the old Tek ones I've had can be driven just as you would a CRO or manual car as the controls do the same actions, it's just there are more of them......something to grow into.
I've mentioned AutoSet, it's something that helps the novice, not something that replaces normal scope usage.
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