Choosing Lab equipment for our new electronics lab.

[EEVblog]

The second thing is that you can post specific questions about the capabailities of any Tek/Keysight/Rigol scope, and you will very likely drown in replies because there are lots of people who know these scopes. Now do the same for a LeCroy midrange or high end scope, and you will probably only get very few, simply because fewer people actually know these scopes (and even less know them well enough to be able to answer more specific questions). And if you ask about a newer LeCroy there's a very good chance you won't get any reply, aside from the occasional "we have them at work but I haven't really used them" or (worse) the typical "LeCrap" talk from people who have no clue how to operate one properly or who just make up some stories they pulled from their backsides.

The problem with Lecroy scopes (traditionally) has been the world renowned horribly unusable user interface. I've worked at companies that have had top of the line Lecroy scopes and they always sat on the shelf gathering dust because no one wanted to use them unless they absolutely had no other choice.
This seemed almost on universal at every company.
When someone came around hunting for a scope to use, you'd tell them the lecroy on the shelf is available, and they often say "no thanks, I'll wait until you are finished with the Agilent/Tek."
Their brand took a lot of damage from this I suspect which is likely why they never became mainstream and were always know as the company that made those really high end top performance obscure scopes for obscure uses.

[nctnico]

Bummer. I was hoping for a review of the Wavesurfer 3000.
@Dave: are you going to review one anytime soon?

[EEVblog]

Bummer. I was hoping for a review of the Wavesurfer 3000.
@Dave: are you going to review one anytime soon?

Lecroy have only ever approached me once a few years back, all keen, and then balked once they heard my terms and conditions 
i.e. I can say whatever I want, and they don't get to vet the footage before I post.
Never heard from them again.

[nctnico]

That is a pity. No chance to get one on loan from a local equipment dealer if you promise not to open it?
I'm still very interested in getting a Lecroy WS 3k but I'd like to see a decent review first.

[aveekbh]

The problem with Lecroy scopes (traditionally) has been the world renowned horribly unusable user interface.

Yes, that's been my experience. I've used a WaveRunner 6zi at work, and the kind of analysis you can do on it is absolutely great - which would otherwise require exporting the data and analysing on a PC.  But I struggle with the knobs every time - the velocity sensing is too touchy. Several operations require you to dig into the menu system using the touch screen (or mouse and keyboard). I much prefer the Agilent for quick measurements.

[Wuerstchenhund]

The problem with Lecroy scopes (traditionally) has been the world renowned horribly unusable user interface. I've worked at companies that have had top of the line Lecroy scopes and they always sat on the shelf gathering dust because no one wanted to use them unless they absolutely had no other choice.
This seemed almost on universal at every company.
When someone came around hunting for a scope to use, you'd tell them the lecroy on the shelf is available, and they often say "no thanks, I'll wait until you are finished with the Agilent/Tek."

I've heard these stories, but quite frankly it's beyond me how anyone who calls himself an engineer could struggle to do at least basic stuff with a LeCroy scope, no matter if it's a modern X-Stream scope or an older (pre-Windows) one. The front panel layout is really dead simple, as is the menu structure. And they all operate the same. It really can't get any more straightforward than this, seriously.

I'm not arguing when it comes to doing advanced stuff, which in any case requires that someone is a bit more familiar with a scope (no matter what brand), but doing the most standard and even many advanced measurements shouldn't really cause some struggle on a LeCroy. If you can't figure out how to measure i.e. the time difference between two pulses with a LeCroy scope then you shouldn't really be near a scope.

I bet the people from these stories never really tried one or are just afraid because all they know are simple (analog?) scopes, or simply because someone told them these scopes were difficult to operate. And it raises the question why companies are apparently buying these scopes when obviously no-one wants to use them.

Their brand took a lot of damage from this I suspect which is likely why they never became mainstream and were always know as the company that made those really high end top performance obscure scopes for obscure uses.

I'm not sure it did hurt them at all. LeCroy originally served the science corner (high power phyiscs), not EEs, so they probably didn't care much about what EEs perceive as "obscure". And it didn't prevent them from being present in nearly any high tech lab where people work on pushing the boundaries of technology. Probably because, as I said before, there is a point were Tek or Agilent or whatever isn't good enough, in the ultra high end there's simply just LeCroy and nothing else.

[Noise Floor]

Probably because, as I said before, there is a point were Tek or Agilent or whatever isn't good enough, in the ultra high end there's simply just LeCroy and nothing else.

What applications can LeCroy cover that Tek and Agilent do not?

[aveekbh]

I've heard these stories, but quite frankly it's beyond me how anyone who calls himself an engineer could struggle to do at least basic stuff with a LeCroy scope, no matter if it's a modern X-Stream scope or an older (pre-Windows) one. The front panel layout is really dead simple, as is the menu structure. And they all operate the same. It really can't get any more straightforward than this, seriously.

In my case, it's not that I really struggle with the controls. It's just that I'd rather use the more familiar Agilent MSO7k scope for something that takes maybe only 30 minutes. For something that takes hours of investigation, I use the Lecroy. Of course, the 6Zi is a big, heavy beast, so sometimes I don't feel like moving it to another bench - and that's also a factor. 

Once you get used to the Lecroy menu system, things are straightforward and well-organised. And the on-screen keyboard is actually quite usable - quite different from the Windows-based Agilent gear.

That said, I have used the older Agilent Infiniium scopes (XP based) - and they are an even bigger hassle!

[JackP]

Probably because, as I said before, there is a point were Tek or Agilent or whatever isn't good enough, in the ultra high end there's simply just LeCroy and nothing else.

What applications can LeCroy cover that Tek and Agilent do not?

Off the top of my head I'd say a 100GHz scope (see the Signal Path Blog)

[CM800]

The price I got it for was actually cheaper then any of the Agilent 4 channel / 100MHz scopes so it seemed a no-brainer to me.

Thanks for the tips about the hard-drive by the way, I will sort that out...

Interestingly enough, a few days ago a friend popped over and gave me a lecroy scope with a broken screen (Fixed it by wiggling the internal connector to it) It's a Waverunner LT264!
I was pretty pleased with that (And couldn't stop thanking him enough to breath)

We haven't got any probes yet but the 4x 500MHz Passive probes that come as a standard, I intend to look into getting the current probes etc when I can / when I need them (Let the company's creditcard cool off for a bit)