Are Analog Oscilloscopes still practical for regular use?

[catman232]

Just a quick question, I am eventually going to need a scope, and the analog ones are obviously much cheaper. I don't need anything crazy accurate, I just need basic functionality.

[David_AVD]

I still use my analog scopes regularly.  For digital signals I use the (Logic branded) logic analyser.

[kg4arn]

Just a quick question, I am eventually going to need a scope, and the analog ones are obviously much cheaper. I don't need anything crazy accurate, I just need basic functionality.

Not necessarily true that analog is cheaper.  For the price of a Fluke 87V plus 80 bucks you can have a pretty decent entry level digital scope with a 100 MHz bandwidth and 2 probes.  You can also look at one shot events like switch bounce on the digital scope.  You would need an analog storage scope for that.

Also think about sharing your scope waveforms on a forum like this one.  Easy to do with a digital scope.  You just dump the screen to thumb drive (or USB directly to your computer).  With the analog scope, you are are going to have to take pictures with your camera.

Don't get me wrong, I love analog scopes.  But for usability and now cost, I would get a digital scope.  My opinion.

[AndyC_772]

Also think about sharing your scope waveforms on a forum like this one.  Easy to do with a digital scope.  You just dump the screen to thumb drive (or USB directly to your computer).  With the analog scope, you are are going to have to take pictures with your camera.

Not that big a deal IMHO - and would a screen capture from a cheap digital scope give as clear an impression of what the signal is actually doing?

[BravoV]

Not that big a deal IMHO - and would a screen capture from a cheap digital scope give as clear an impression of what the signal is actually doing?

+1, no biggie here as well, its like just shooting ordinary close up pics.

Shot of Tek 2465B without any stinky hood at all. Details how to get this kind of result in just 1 or 2 minutes -> HERE



PS : Andy, thats one bad ass camera you got there. 

[BillyD]

Don't forget to consider space. Analogue scopes are usually bigger and deeper than a DSO. You may not have the space to park it permanently on your bench, nor may you want to have to lift it up and down off the floor very often if it's an old heavy one!

[kripton2035]

a good analog scope is yes sometimes cheaper than a new digital one.
but it depends on what you want to do.
for microcontroler stuff better buy a basic digital scope memory is never enough for that
for audio - power - stuff better buy a used analog scope.
just my 2 cts

after that there are good used mixed analog-digital scopes that are quite cheap
look at hameg they often are on the bay
but these models have a small memory, not nice when debugging serial traffic.

[gautamdamodar]

Don't forget to consider space. Analogue scopes are usually bigger and deeper than a DSO. You may not have the space to park it permanently on your bench, nor may you want to have to lift it up and down off the floor very often if it's an old heavy one!

I think its an important point because you dont want to curse the day buying an analog one as your workbench start to saturate.
Do consider  power consumption.

[AndyC_772]

Do consider  power consumption.

My scope consumes about 400W... it's nice in the winter because it keeps the lab warm and I don't need to switch on the boiler to heat the whole house. It's not quite so nice in the summer, though.

[w2aew]

Just a quick question, I am eventually going to need a scope, and the analog ones are obviously much cheaper. I don't need anything crazy accurate, I just need basic functionality.

Absolutely, they're still useful for many, many applications. The majority of the applications I show on my YouTube channel use analog scopes (https://www.youtube.com/w2aew).

Of course, there are many, many things that a digital scope can do that an analog scope can't. Dave posted a list a few months back.

[jh15]

Just today I crawled under the turntable area of a live dj with my rigol scope.
It was really annoying seeing the digital waveform compared if I brought my analog scope down under.  An analog crt shows realtime audio, including the pops and clicks of vinyl. The analog scope in the shop would have shown the record noise.

I find digital scopes as annoying as watching digital tv "work" on the  tv image.

I'd rather see real time snow and analog artifacts on a realtime ntsc tv when viewing that content. The eye acts as a good integrator.


Digital viewing of analog audio on a dso is more like watching a scaling analog scope of the past.

But the fantastic storage and data export makes me prefer digital.

I think best bet is buy a digital scope for work, and an analog used one to fix. Many here would advise you on fixing a yard sale analog scope, including me.

[alm]

It was really annoying seeing the digital waveform compared if I brought my analog scope down under.  An analog crt shows realtime audio, including the pops and clicks of vinyl. The analog scope in the shop would have shown the record noise.

A better DSO with a fast refresh rate and variable persistence and intensity grading would have helped. Too bad these are not yet available for $400.

[cubemike99]

In this video Dave talks about your exact question. Long story short, he says there is always a need for a 20MHz analog CRO.