Just got a LOT of scope for my dollar

[DIPLover]

I think I just lucked out.

I own 2 Tektronix scopes I love, a TDS784A and a 2465.
They're great, I'm used to them and I can do anything I ever need with them.

BUT, I was looking for a portable scope to bring to class for demos and stuff (I teach hardware-software co-design to 4th year EE students), something to show the students you don't need a very fancy scope most of the time.

Casually browsing Amazon.ca, I realized they stocked a lot of siglent test gear. Then I saw they had the SDS1102X for $330 canadian    ($250 real dollars). They indicated 5 remaining.

Now I know this is the 2016 model, mostly superseded by the 1104X-E but DAMN, a nice BIG screen, 50 ohm switchable inputs, intensity and color grading, 100MHz bandwidth is amazing for $250 brand new.

I thought maybe they REALLY want them out because they don't move now that the new ones are in, so I tipped the students on that deal and pondered this for a few days.

And then I bit the bullet and ordered one for myself.
Surprise, when I went back to check the scope on amazon 10 minutes later, the price had shot up to $584 canadian ($444 usd). My order was completed at the lower price.

I received the scope yesterday, and put it through it's pace in the lab with a couple students after class, fellow TEA's in the making who were happy to join in on the unboxing after a beer at the pub.

We were all quite surprised by the boot time of under 10 seconds.
-3dB bandwidth with a 1Vrms signal into 50 ohm was around 170MHz, and the frequency counter was spot-on up to 360MHz (maybe could have gone higher with a stronger signal).
We were doing a side-by-side with an Agilent DSO-X3034 and the Siglent "homage" to the user interface on that scope was quite obvious (they could have chosen much worse). Controls are not snappy as on the DSOX but not sluggish like on modern Tektronix either. It's quite uneven really, the coarse vertical and horizontal controls are super snappy, but cursors are much slower than on my 25 year old Tek.

Scope is dated 2017-10-21, and stickers on the box show it was shipped from Siglent Technologies America to Amazon.com on 2018-01-04, so I guess Amazon is an authorized dealer. It came with latest firmware installed and serial decoders enabled, which I appreciate.

It even does a quite decent FFT, although the controls are a bit weird (but so are the TDS's), the update rate is slow and there is no averaging (was added to later models). Hold-max seems to do the business for me.

I really liked the fact that the graticule has SQUARE divsions, as on my old scopes. All the newer Teks and Agilent with their rectangular divisions make all waveforms look weird to me.

So any of you ever got a deal like that on Amazon and seen the price skyrocket afterwards? I guess I must be thankful to some AI algorithm somewhere...

[EEVblog]

Yep, that's a bargain 

[wilfred]

And then I bit the bullet and ordered one for myself.
Surprise, when I went back to check the scope on amazon 10 minutes later, the price had shot up to $584 canadian ($444 usd). My order was completed at the lower price.

So any of you ever got a deal like that on Amazon and seen the price skyrocket afterwards? I guess I must be thankful to some AI algorithm somewhere...

I've heard that prices on websites can be very fluid. I think this could be one of the most unpalatable aspects of Big Data. Aside from privacy it is another good reason to keep as low a profile as possible to avoid shooting yourself in the foot prices-wise.

I don't buy from Aliexpress all that often, not often enough to get a good impression, but I sometimes get emails offering a discount on something I searched on but never proceeded to buy. I don't know if it makes a difference or even if I am just seeing a coincidence. I now make sure I login only if I am going to commit to buying.

[CatalinaWOW]

Several big brothers are watching very closely.  If you Googled to find the item you will be targeted with adds.  If you followed links from other web pages you will be targeted.  If you shopped on any of the big sales sites.  For me it takes only a few minutes before the ads show up.  Whether this is a good thing or bad thing is debatable.  It has pointed me to some killer deals, and also pointed me at things I didn't know I wanted and needed.  But it clearly indicates that any illusion of privacy on the internet is that - purely an illusion.  Don't do or say anything you don't mind being broadcast to your employer, your family, your enemies or your government. 

[tggzzz]

What are these "adverts" of which you speak?

Are they the blinkenlights enabled by executing too many JavaScript code segments?
Or perhaps the things that suck latency and screen real-estate that I seem to remember from before *block plugins existed?
Do they require persistent cookies that haven't been deleted when you exit your browser?

[Fungus]

Try:

a) Block "analytics.google.com"
b) Install an ad blocker.

The internet is a much nicer place without all that crap. I often do double-takes when I have to use other people's computers.

[tautech]

Congrats DIPLover, yep the 1102X model is a nice little 2ch DSO and for just $250 impossible to beat.

According to the US and EU websites they're discontinued as the SDS1202X-E and SDS1104X-E are priced for less so of late they haven't sold well.
Still the 8" display is real nice vs the later 7" displays.

[CJay]

Hells that's a good price, cheapest I can find is at least twice that and the local sellers to me are almost triple...

[Brumby]

I think I just lucked out.

I think so, too.

My guess is that someone set up the listing and put a "placeholder" amount in the price field and forgot to update it when it was published.  When your order came in, they realised the error and hurriedly corrected it.  The seller will quite likely honour it in order to maintain good will and they will wear the loss as part of doing business.

Be happy now that it has turned up!

[FuzzyOtter]

Funny you mention this, I bought my SDS1104X-E on Amazon.ca (sold from and shipped by Amazon) for $505 CAD ($384 USD) just two months ago. According to the documentation it came with, it was of very recent manufacture, barely one month old. Looking right now, I see that the SDS1104X-E's price is still only $535 CAD ($407 USD), which is an absolute steal. Compared to the Rigol 1054Z which is essentially identical in price, the SDS1104X-E is a no-brainer. Normally we get shafted on test equipment up here in Canada; it's nice to catch a break every now and then!

[DIPLover]

I think I just lucked out.

I think so, too.

My guess is that someone set up the listing and put a "placeholder" amount in the price field and forgot to update it when it was published.  When your order came in, they realised the error and hurriedly corrected it.  The seller will quite likely honour it in order to maintain good will and they will wear the loss as part of doing business.

Be happy now that it has turned up!

It was "Ships from and sold by Amazon" hence why I think this is algorithmic.
Also, the higher price of $584 canadian has now dropped to $543 only a few days later...

[DIPLover]

Try:

a) Block "analytics.google.com"
b) Install an ad blocker.

The internet is a much nicer place without all that crap. I often do double-takes when I have to use other people's computers.

Of course I run Ublock on top of a pi-hole, so I don't think the "data broker" had anything to do with it.

[Old Printer]

OT I know, but my wife and I share our home internet connection of course, and also have a family cell phone plan. Mostly i phones, i pads her mac-air and a win7 pc. We do not us each others devices or computers. She is constantly getting ads for oscilloscopes and the like on her devices, but I never get any ads for her orchid hobby stuff. What gives?

[maginnovision]

OT I know, but my wife and I share our home internet connection of course, and also have a family cell phone plan. Mostly i phones, i pads her mac-air and a win7 pc. We do not us each others devices or computers. She is constantly getting ads for oscilloscopes and the like on her devices, but I never get any ads for her orchid hobby stuff. What gives?

You're looking harder than she is?

[Illusionist]

That's a nice catch 

In the UK, Amazon's prices for anything sold directly by them go up and down continually. Daily, or even quicker. I had one thing in my basket for just a few hours and when I went to pay it had jumped up by £10 so I bought it elsewhere.

Often Amazon's own price will match or beat any competitor's price, instantly and automatically changing as competitors' stock levels and prices change. Probably other aspects too, like how well it's selling or current exchange rates, or how many people have it in their basket. There's clearly some automated algorithm behind it, acting all the time.

A few weeks ago I lucked out on an 18ct gold chain for my wife for £145. The cheapest* I could find elsewhere for a similar chain was £160 and that was less than half the weight of the Amazon one and not really good enough. Even second hand ones at half the weight were dearer. The next day (after I bought it) the price went up to £450. Right now it's £275.

It's well worth watching the prices if there's something expensive that they sell and you can wait a while. I also used to do that with Kraken rum. Periodically, the 1L bottles would drop in price to the less than the 70cL bottles in our local supermarket. Then I would stock up.

I've also missed out on a few super bargains over the years by procrastinating too long.

I'm sure they are watching us and acting on the information even more, and in more ways, than we think. I do have pretty much everything blocked here: pihole, recursive DNS, google container, uBlock Origin, no social media, etc.

*I'm not usually a cheapskate when buying pressies for the Mrs, but the chain was the last part of a very expensive pressie (18ct hand made pearl cage pendant, some nice Tahitian pearls from Hawaii) and I was running low on dosh. Had to sell a crossbow and some other kit to pay for it.

[Brumby]

Interesting to think that pricing could be so dynamic - but we've had "Big Brother" watching us for so long that it shouldn't be too much of a surprise to see things progress down that track.  I'd call it the equivalent of automated "fly fishing".

I can see such tactics playing strongly into a person's "urgency response".  That is evil.

[dalhend]

So any of you ever got a deal like that on Amazon and seen the price skyrocket afterwards? I guess I must be thankful to some AI algorithm somewhere...

I had a similar experience but not as lucrative as yours...Congrats!!  In my case I bought a 300Mhz TPI Probe for a $33 cost (there were 2 left), I then thought about it for a bit and decided to go back for the final one, so I'd have a matched set.  The final one was pushed to $54... kind of surprised me, but then I then "supply and demand" popped in my head... I wrote it off at that and bought the last one anyway.  I have a Siglent 1104X-E and just love it.

[myf]

Hello,

Amazon changes its prices very often.

The site http://camelcamelcamel.com saves a lot of prices of Amazon's articles (not all) and traces its variations. If you open an account on this site, you can then record the price of any item, track variations and receive mail when an item passes under a price limit ... Also this site works in agreement with Amazon !

I get the history of your SDS1102X with the query SDS1102X on http://camelcamelcamel.com and get this history page.
http://camelcamelcamel.com/Siglent-Technologies-SDS1102X-Digital-Oscilloscope/product/B01410O5D2?context=browse
The code "B014O5D2" at the end of this link seems a tracking number. I don't know if it tracks this Siglent item or the human user. Many sites have reader trackers in its address. 

In France Amazon articles are not necessarily the cheapest. For some items the other internet sellers and ebay in Europe are sometimes at the same price or cheaper.

Have a nice day !

F.

[thm_w]

Hello,

Amazon changes its prices very often.

The site http://camelcamelcamel.com saves a lot of prices of Amazon's articles (not all) and traces its variations. If you open an account on this site, you can then record the price of any item, track variations and receive mail when an item passes under a price limit ... Also this site works in agreement with Amazon !

Here is the link for the one OP purchased (CA): https://ca.camelcamelcamel.com/Siglent-Technologies-SDS1102X-Digital-Oscilloscope/product/B01410O5D2?context=search

The lowest price was actually $313 CAD (237 USD).

[tytower]

These things are $305 AUD from hong kong . Thats about $200 USD Free post


https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/OWON-SDS1102-Digital-Oscilloscope-100MHz-2-Channel-1GS-s-Smple-Rate-7-LCD/312174600584?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D57481%26meid%3D132e56e999384abba786fb9460bc4192%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D183498819667%26itm%3D312174600584%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

[tautech]

These things are $305 AUD from hong kong . Thats about $200 USD Free post


https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/OWON-SDS1102-Digital-Oscilloscope-100MHz-2-Channel-1GS-s-Smple-Rate-7-LCD/312174600584?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D57481%26meid%3D132e56e999384abba786fb9460bc4192%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D183498819667%26itm%3D312174600584%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

Nope, wrong brand !