This past weekend I went through my box of oscilloscope probes; prior it was a box of tangled probe wires with no clue which ones I have; other than two or three I have hanging in arms reach.
Until recently, my oscilloscopes were basic models, maybe 100MHz, but now I have an Agilent 500MHz and a (hopefully soon) repaired LeCroy (I think 500MHz), so I never paid attention to the bandwidth of oscilloscope probes.
One probe is a 10074C 150MHz Agilent (the one I use) and then I have Tektronix probes with large plastic boxes on the BNC connection end (some have a pin that tells the scope they are x10 and some don't).
My initial assumption was the gray Tektronix ones with large plastic boxes at the BNC end were old and junk, however, I'm finding the bandwidth to be quite high. The Agilent one doesn't have the plastic box, but appears newer and assumed to be better quality.
Then I have a few that look like junk with nothing more than a basic BNC connector and a nifty x1 and x10 switch along with a ref position.
My question is: what makes a good oscilloscope probe? Is it just the BNC end, the cable, the probe itself, etc...? I'm sure it's a combination, but I'm seeing those Agilent to be expensive, and it's nothing more than 150MHz whereas I have a Tektronix that's 350MHz (P6138) but is much older looking.
Since I have higher end scopes, now I'm wondering if I need/should invest in probes with 500MHz plus bandwidth.