Starting first lab for beginner student; need help

[hem213]

Ok yes, this is why I initally thought the hantek was a good idea but the one with AWG cost around ~$210
I guess in my head it might be better to get one of those cheap $99 scopes without the features get the AWG and Logic analyzer cheaper and better

what do you think though? would love some thoughts

As I wrote above, even the cheapest model (~$160) has the signal generator built in.
You just have to activate it, it's very easy.
Here's how to do it. Search for: 2D15 conversion: Sets your model as 2D15.

One advantage of the Hantek over the Vevor etc. is that there is a huge amount of information about it in the forums.
Very little is known about the Vevor / Hanmatek / Owon SDS1102 although they have been on the market for much longer (2017 or so).

Of course it's your decision whether you need a “real” scope at all.

Yes! This is something that I didn't realize until now, the amount of support and discussions about the hantek is extremely attractive, if i have a problem at least I know someone else probably can help me out with it on this site 

[watchmaker]

another analog discovery recommendation here!

last year i stayed at a friend's for a few months, and as i still wanted to tinker with electronics while staying there, i took my AD2 and a multimeter, and was able to do pretty much everything i do with my home lab with dedicated instruments. As long as you don't require high bandwidth (beyond 20MHz) or to look at very small signals (in the order of a few mV peak to peak) the AD3 or AD2 is an awesome tool, with a very impressive software toolkit.

The improvements the AD3 offers over the AD2, while definitely improvements, aren't too significant for hobby use, so if you're strapped for cash, you could look into buying an used AD2 on ebay, they tend to pop up from like 150 to 200 USD used.

if i had no lab instruments and had to choose between an AD3 or a hantek bench scope, i would pick the AD3. sure, sample rate and bandwidth are lower, but the hantek instruments i've used are so finnicky, that if i was stuck with one, i wouldn't do electronics as a hobby as much as i would with an AD3, and would just use it when i absolutely have to, like for homework assignments. i think user experience significantly matters too.

oh! and the AD2/3 also has 2 power supplies, one positive and one negative, limited in voltage and current to well below what a dedicated bench supply could do, but still really useful. it also has 16 digital channels which you can use as inputs or outputs, two trigger inputs/outputs, and two arbitrary waveform generators.

another thing i found to be really useful in the AD2 is the differential inputs for the oscilloscope(when you use the bare wire connection, not the BNC adapter), which i consider a great feature to have for stuff like probing DC to DC converter current waveforms(with a current sense resistor) and input and output at the same time even if the output is isolated, and well, anything else that benefits or requires differential probing.