Will the Uni-T UTD2052CEX (a 50MHz oscilloscope) work for my needs?

[guerrilla]

So, this is my first post here but I've been watching Dave now for a couple of years. So, hi everyone.

I've been using the DSO138 just to learn some basics. It's pretty much a toy at best but probably more like trash can material. I'm learning from it though and it's cheap but now I'm ready to buy an actual scope and I just wanted to check a couple of things.

The UTD2052CEX [1] is sold locally for a good price by a reputable store and I think I like the interface and I'm pretty sure the specs are okay but I wanted to double check here with some people who know what they're doing.

Mostly my projects consist of power, "precision" analog (things like a millivolt meter, no voltnutty kinda stuff) and eventually a 6502 homebrew computer. I think the scope should be okay for checking ripple of power supplies, line and load regulation and probably won't be much worse for the analog than anything else (I don't expect much from an oscilloscope as far as precision goes.) What I'm less sure about is whether it'll be helpful with some of the digital stuff I want to do.

I'd like to eventually build my own bare bones memory controller for ancient asynchronous DRAM and that means pulses in the tens and hundreds of nanoseconds. It's pretty simple circuit that I have in mind, so I'm guessing I don't need a logical analyzer yet, just one or two channels on a scope. The UTD2052CEX [1] says it does 2ns/div to 50s/div but I'm not really sure how to take those numbers. Is it likely true that you can see things clearly on the higher resolution range or are these beefed up absolute best case numbers? If the latter is the case, what should I expect to be able to get down to?

Thanks a lot!

[1]. http://www.uni-t.cz/en/p/oscilloscope-uni-t-utd2052cex

[Lightages]

That is a very basic scope with low specs. The only way I would buy one is if the price is around $150USD, but even then I am not sure I would. If the price is anything close to $300USD then a Rigol DS1054Z would be a much better purchase.

[guerrilla]

Oh I see. Thanks for your input. What's the main differences that are unacceptable to you for the price besides the number of channels?

They both seem to be 50 MHz, 1GS/s, 24-25 kpts, around the same V/div but the rigol has 5ns/div instead of 20ns/div...

[Lightages]

The benefits and specs of the DS1054Z have been discussed to death here. Please take the time to read some of the threads. I will point out that the DS1054Z has digital decoding, 28MB or memory not 25K, and many other little things over the Uni-T. The Rigol can also be "hacked" to have 100Mhz.

[newbrain]

And, if your flag is real, I suspect the "reputable store" is the blue and white logo one  reselling Aliexpress modules at 10x the price.

Do yourself a favour and buy a better instrument, many european sellers have free or reasonable shipping fees.
Batronix in UK and Batterfly in Italy are the first that come to my mind, but there's plenty.

The entry level scopes gojng strong now are the aforementioned Rigol DS1054Z (it can be easily "liberated" to 100MHz) and the new 2 and 4 trace Siglent models. For your application I would definitely recommend 4 traces and maybe a cheap logic analyzer.

Head to the testgear section for a lot of information on these scopes, and of course Dave's reviews on YT.

[guerrilla]

Thanks for the tips, newbrian.
Well, I don't think any of us will be doing much AliExpress as of next month (apparently PostNord will start charging for a fee customs collection.) I appreciate the suggestions. I'm still learning the sellers in these parts.

[Mechatrommer]

I've been using the DSO138 just to learn some basics. It's pretty much a toy at best but probably more like trash can material. I'm learning from it though and it's cheap but now I'm ready to buy an actual scope...
The UTD2052CEX [1] is sold locally...

UTD2052CEX is better compared to archaic DS1052E. if you cant make the purchase online for DS1054Z then, local seller is your only option, but you'll miss all the new features mentioned, mainly 4 channels and long memory.

[agehall]

Thanks for the tips, newbrian.
Well, I don't think any of us will be doing much AliExpress as of next month (apparently PostNord will start charging for a fee customs collection.) I appreciate the suggestions. I'm still learning the sellers in these parts.

Would still be cheaper than buying from the local stores here in Sweden...

Anyhow, just buy yourself a Rigol DS1054Z and be done with it. Otherwise you will have to buy a new scope in a year anyhow if you are into anything where you actually need a scope.