| Electronics > Beginners |
| When to buy an oscilloscope ? |
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| rstofer:
--- Quote from: spec on January 13, 2019, 07:50:33 am --- --- Quote from: rstofer on January 12, 2019, 11:05:41 pm ---In the end, drive a stake in the ground! This much money and no more! These minimum features and no less! Then buy something while realizing that it is the first scope, probably not the last scope. There will be evolution just as in the PC industry and how many generations of PCs have we gone through since 1980? --- End quote --- And this results in buying a product that you may regret. It is much better to take you time and get a scope that you will be happy with for years. Buy wise and buy once is the saying. --- End quote --- At this moment in time (the 'time' stake), there are 4 scopes commonly discussed. Five years from now there will likely be others. So, go for what is currently recommended or wait 5 years to see what comes up next? And, in the meantime, what? Go without? Used DSOs will probably hold their value and are pretty cheap considering their educational value. Get one, get started and if something better comes along, sell the existing scope and buy the 'new shiny thing'. Never bet against technology, something better WILL come along - someday. As to the 'loss' in value - just consider the education gained and remember that education is never free. Suppose the loss on a DS1054Z was $100 and the OP got 4 years of use. $25 per year or wait 4 years for something 'better'? |
| jazper:
As early as you can afford it. How much scope, well that depends on your budget but if that means an analog scope, get an analog scope. The key thing a scope will do is save you time with debugging circuits. Time is precious. |
| Electro Fan:
--- Quote from: jazper on January 14, 2019, 11:41:43 pm ---As early as you can afford it. How much scope, well that depends on your budget but if that means an analog scope, get an analog scope. The key thing a scope will do is save you time with debugging circuits. Time is precious. --- End quote --- +1 |
| mrpackethead:
Now. |
| drogus:
I am a beginner and I bought an old analog oscilloscope for 60EUR or so (it was in Poland, but I think there's plenty of choice all over the place). I second what others wrote about buying one as soon as you can and if money is an issue (like it was in my case), an analog oscilloscope will be as good as any other for learning. While you might not need one at the moment, or you might think that you don't need one, it's an excellent tool, especially if you want to work with any kind of variable voltage, whether it's PWM or AC. I also like it that an analog oscilloscope forces you to learn about frequency to time ratio much quicker (for example: you think you have 100kHz signal, how much µS you need to set per division) :D |
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