NEW Next Gen 2 Series Tektronix Oscilloscope

[Domitronic]

With all this teaser frenzy, who is thinking in buying one?

I don't because it doesn't have TekVPI interface. This makes all their probes unusable like current or differential probes. Don't understand why they decided that way.

[2N3055]

With all this teaser frenzy, who is thinking in buying one?

I don't because it doesn't have TekVPI interface. This makes all their probes unusable like current or differential probes. Don't understand why they decided that way.

As I said, it is a fancy looking scope primarily.
It doesn't have 50Ω inputs and no active probes..

[KrzysztofB]

I don't because it doesn't have TekVPI interface. This makes all their probes unusable like current or differential probes. Don't understand why they decided that way.

At the beginning i was surprised as well.
No TekVPI?
But... reason is TekVPI uses power, that collides with beeing battery powered. Also the size.

RTB2004 also has pure BNCs.

50ohm? Active probes?
Which lowest series scope has that?

[EEVblog]

I don't because it doesn't have TekVPI interface. This makes all their probes unusable like current or differential probes. Don't understand why they decided that way.

At the beginning i was surprised as well.
No TekVPI?
But... reason is TekVPI uses power, that collides with beeing battery powered. Also the size.

RTB2004 also has pure BNCs.

50ohm? Active probes?
Which lowest series scope has that?

The MSO2000 series it's replacing has TekVPI though, so I agree that the lack of it on the new one is a let down.

[Domitronic]

And the TBS2000B series has it too. But might be true that it has something to do with battery power or the small size.

[EEVblog]

And the TBS2000B series has it too. But might be true that it has something to do with battery power or the small size.

I can't imagine it's because of battery power.
Haven't done the teardown yet, but I'd bet it's a compromise of the construction.

[tggzzz]

I don't because it doesn't have TekVPI interface. This makes all their probes unusable like current or differential probes. Don't understand why they decided that way.

At the beginning i was surprised as well.
No TekVPI?
But... reason is TekVPI uses power, that collides with beeing battery powered. Also the size.

RTB2004 also has pure BNCs.

50ohm? Active probes?
Which lowest series scope has that?

Most scopes are at best 50ohm//20pF - since they merely bang a 50ohm in parallel with the 1Mohm/20pF input.

My only 50ohm scope is my Tek 485, which has both 1Mohm and 50ohm attenuators.

High end scopes, spectrum analysers, etc are 50ohm only.

[KrzysztofB]

Haven't done the teardown yet, but I'd bet it's a compromise of the construction.

I'm pretty sure it's the main reason. Battery - a bit I guess. If you go crazy, you can drain up to 50W if you use all channels. (But yeah, more a justification - not a reason for lack of it)
However looking at the competitors, not only Tek has pure BNCs at 2 series.
I mean I see the logic behind it and for sure that scope would find use in my work.

If only it boot up as fast as RTB, and as far as I know it takes it's time doing selftests etc. 

[2N3055]

And the TBS2000B series has it too. But might be true that it has something to do with battery power or the small size.

Yeah, not really a problem... A PSU for probes few 100s of mA is like 1sq cm.... They could have made it to be limited power like Keysight MSOX3000T so you can at least connect one current probe.

No. That is marketing decision. On software  side it has their new touch GUI and it basically has many a 3000 series features, without RF part, and only 500MHz front end. Since many people don't go for 1GHz model or need SA part in a scope (which is not really good, and unlike 4 series is not correlated with time domain), if they made it really fully featured it would pretty much cannibalize sales of their own 3 series.
So they decided to make it close, but no cigar...

What we see lately is that 1000/2000 and 2000/3000 series ranges are blending together..
I don't think Keysight will ever release new 2000G series. Their 1000 series has even more capabilities than 2000A and 3000 series prices are better than they used to be...
Rigol has 5000/7000/8000 series and a 1000Z at the bottom..
Siglent has 1000/2000/5000/6000 series.

As I said, this is a unusual device. Like RTB2000, it is artificially crippled not to eat into their own 3000 series..
And like RTB2000 their market is people that need just basic scope but are willing to pay much more for a cool looks and what they think is a fancy name...

[EEVblog]

If only it boot up as fast as RTB, and as far as I know it takes it's time doing selftests etc. 

Unfortunately the boot is, well, 

[bd139]

To be fair it'll better than the realistic "boot time" on most old analogue scopes.

From the Tek 465 service manual...



That's how I feel better about such things anyway 

[med6753]

To be fair it'll better than the realistic "boot time" on most old analogue scopes.

From the Tek 465 service manual...



That's how I feel better about such things anyway 

"Boot time" and "warm up time" are two completely different animals. Even modern equipment needs a specified warm up after boot to achieve best stability. 

[pcprogrammer]

If we are going to nitpick or ant f.. like we Dutch like to say a true analog scope does not have boot time. No digital processor in there

[tggzzz]

If we are going to nitpick or ant f.. like we Dutch like to say a true analog scope does not have boot time. No digital processor in there

Amongst others, the Tek 24x5 series do

[Fungus]

If we are going to nitpick or ant f.. like we Dutch like to say a true analog scope does not have boot time. No digital processor in there

Some of them do but it's a silly argument.

Much better to argue over how long the electron gun takes to warm up and produce a decent trace on the screen.

[nctnico]

I don't because it doesn't have TekVPI interface. This makes all their probes unusable like current or differential probes. Don't understand why they decided that way.

At the beginning i was surprised as well.
No TekVPI?
But... reason is TekVPI uses power, that collides with beeing battery powered. Also the size.

RTB2004 also has pure BNCs.

50ohm? Active probes?
Which lowest series scope has that?

Most scopes are at best 50ohm//20pF - since they merely bang a 50ohm in parallel with the 1Mohm/20pF input.

I'd like to see some references for that. Most of the scopes I've seen make sure the input is purely 50 Ohm and have a relay to switch between paths. 50 Ohm with 20pf in parallel is pretty much useless.

[nctnico]

And the TBS2000B series has it too. But might be true that it has something to do with battery power or the small size.

Yeah, not really a problem... A PSU for probes few 100s of mA is like 1sq cm.... They could have made it to be limited power like Keysight MSOX3000T so you can at least connect one current probe.

No. That is marketing decision. On software  side it has their new touch GUI and it basically has many a 3000 series features, without RF part, and only 500MHz front end. Since many people don't go for 1GHz model or need SA part in a scope (which is not really good, and unlike 4 series is not correlated with time domain), if they made it really fully featured it would pretty much cannibalize sales of their own 3 series.
So they decided to make it close, but no cigar...

What we see lately is that 1000/2000 and 2000/3000 series ranges are blending together..

That is a good thing because the oscilloscope market is way too segmented  with only little differences between the models. Even up to a point where some manufacturers already use the same hardware for different ranges.

[tautech]

Added some processing to the image to pull contrast up....

Hmm, 2 days later comes a new 2000 series Siglent. 

[2N3055]

And the TBS2000B series has it too. But might be true that it has something to do with battery power or the small size.

Yeah, not really a problem... A PSU for probes few 100s of mA is like 1sq cm.... They could have made it to be limited power like Keysight MSOX3000T so you can at least connect one current probe.

No. That is marketing decision. On software  side it has their new touch GUI and it basically has many a 3000 series features, without RF part, and only 500MHz front end. Since many people don't go for 1GHz model or need SA part in a scope (which is not really good, and unlike 4 series is not correlated with time domain), if they made it really fully featured it would pretty much cannibalize sales of their own 3 series.
So they decided to make it close, but no cigar...

What we see lately is that 1000/2000 and 2000/3000 series ranges are blending together..

That is a good thing because the oscilloscope market is way too segmented  with only little differences between the models. Even up to a point where some manufacturers already use the same hardware for different ranges.

Agree.

[tggzzz]

I don't because it doesn't have TekVPI interface. This makes all their probes unusable like current or differential probes. Don't understand why they decided that way.

At the beginning i was surprised as well.
No TekVPI?
But... reason is TekVPI uses power, that collides with beeing battery powered. Also the size.

RTB2004 also has pure BNCs.

50ohm? Active probes?
Which lowest series scope has that?

Most scopes are at best 50ohm//20pF - since they merely bang a 50ohm in parallel with the 1Mohm/20pF input.

I'd like to see some references for that. Most of the scopes I've seen make sure the input is purely 50 Ohm and have a relay to switch between paths. 50 Ohm with 20pf in parallel is pretty much useless.

Strawman arguments never look good. Don't snip the important caveats! In this case "High end scopes, spectrum analysers, etc are 50ohm only."

I'll throw your question back at you: which non-high-end scopes have true 50ohm inputs, and what impedance is their input attenuator?

Common examples of 50ohm//15pF inputs are the wildly successful Tek24x5 scopes; there are many others.

[tautech]

Bit pissed off the Farnell datasheet link has been pulled ...... anyone have another link or saved copy they can flick my way ?

[tv84]

Bit pissed off the Farnell datasheet link has been pulled ...... anyone have another link or saved copy they can flick my way ?

Grab it now.

[Fungus]

I just noticed this: Apparently the PC software is an extra cost...   



(Wonder how much the "MIL" costs?)

Between this, the yearly calibrations and the maintenance contracts this thing could cost a lot of money, long-term.

[tautech]

Bit pissed off the Farnell datasheet link has been pulled ...... anyone have another link or saved copy they can flick my way ?

Grab it now.

You gorgeous thing you ! 
All 12.2 MB successfully grabbed.
Here, have another.   

[xrunner]

When was this supposed to be revealed - June 7? I don't suppose Tektronix was naive enough to really think they could keep all the leaks under control did they?