Products > Test Equipment
Let’s Talk About LeCroy Scopes, AKA… the “Wuerstchenhund Holds Court” Thread
Wuerstchenhund:
--- Quote from: Howardlong on December 12, 2015, 08:30:15 am ---While I agree that there'll certainly be some gouge on such an option, if it's a passive unit some of the "cost" will be in the cable itself: if it's anything like the Tek MSO LA cables, the multi-way coaxial cable and the final probe wires themselves have damped distributed resistance of one or two hundred ohms. For smallish volumes and runs, the tooling to make such cables is going to be a very significant factor.
As a comparison, the Rigol MSO1000 cables (RPL1116) take a different approach, they use active pods with comparators and simple ribbon cable to avoid the need for special cable and counter intuitively these are almost certainly much cheaper to make than a passive cable with distributed resistances.
--- End quote ---
I haven't seen the WS3k LA cables (which like the scope itself are made by Siglent) in real life yet but I'd bet they are not coax cables but plain standard ribbon cables on active probe pods, similar to Rigol, or my Siglent SDS2204.
bson:
Thanks for all the good info WH. After getting a chance to do a test drive I decided I really like the WS3K UI and controls better and ended up jumping on a WS3054 refurbed and a used but working AP020 FET active probe (for $200!!!). If the probe works well I'll get a second one. The refurb won't include the FG or WS3K-EMB decoder, but even buying the decoder at the ridiculous MSRP ($950) it's still a bargain and I can get it if (when) I find I need it, or hang back and see if LeCroy will push an app bundle at some point. The FG... meh. Pass for my uses although I can see it being convenient for location work or assembly testing. For my uses the button is a waste of panel real estate. I also see the MSO pod available used now (one on eBay for $1k) so apparently the family has been around long enough now to start making its way onto the used market.
I liked so many things about it - the use of the full screen width, automatic scaling, measurement histograms, the fast math, the FFT, the glitch finder, and above all just the nice, quick, accurate touch response. I thought I'd find the touchiness a bit gimmicky, but I really like it. It's just really well done. Now I just want my own sitting on the bench ASAP. :)
Anyway, without your... endorsement... I probably would never have considered LeCroy. :-+
chromex:
Can we software upgrade the bandwith to 750 Mhz?
After some search i now consider a Lecroy Wavesurfer3024...would be nice to see a review and teardown of it made by Dave!
Wuerstchenhund:
--- Quote from: bson on January 31, 2016, 12:32:42 am ---Thanks for all the good info WH.
--- End quote ---
No problem, glad I could help.
--- Quote ---After getting a chance to do a test drive I decided I really like the WS3K UI and controls better and ended up jumping on a WS3054 refurbed and a used but working AP020 FET active probe (for $200!!!). If the probe works well I'll get a second one. The refurb won't include the FG or WS3K-EMB decoder, but even buying the decoder at the ridiculous MSRP ($950) it's still a bargain and I can get it if (when) I find I need it, or hang back and see if LeCroy will push an app bundle at some point. The FG... meh. Pass for my uses although I can see it being convenient for location work or assembly testing. For my uses the button is a waste of panel real estate.
--- End quote ---
Yes, the internal FG (actually, it's now an AWG after firmware update not too long ago) isn't great, like the the generators that come with most scopes these days. Unless you get it enabled for free it's probably better to just buy a separate generator instead if you need one.
The AP020 is an older probe (came out around 1997 I think but has been produced for quite a long time) but it's still a very good one. But I'm not sure it's supported on the WS3000 (although the AP020 works with all newer and current'full size' X-Stream scopes i.e. those running a full copy of desktop Windows), but I would be surprised if LeCroy had stripped support from the software of their embedded scopes. So please, when you get it let us know if the WS3000 works with the AP020.
--- Quote ---I also see the MSO pod available used now (one on eBay for $1k) so apparently the family has been around long enough now to start making its way onto the used market.
--- End quote ---
Well, the WS3000 came to market I think around April 2014, and has sold pretty well, so I'm sure we'll see an increasing number of them appearing as refurbs and used. Considering that the RRP for these scopes was already very low it will be interesting to see how 2nd hand pricing will develop.
--- Quote ---I liked so many things about it - the use of the full screen width, automatic scaling, measurement histograms, the fast math, the FFT, the glitch finder, and above all just the nice, quick, accurate touch response. I thought I'd find the touchiness a bit gimmicky, but I really like it. It's just really well done. Now I just want my own sitting on the bench ASAP. :)
--- End quote ---
I thought the same (touch being a gimmick) before I tried it, but as you said MAUI works pretty well, and that it is a really good UI is shown by the fact that it does so not only on a smaller scope like the WS3000 but also on high end scopes like WavePro or LabMaster which are full with options of which every one has a ton of settings.
The WS3000 is a really nice scope, and because it's still a X-Stream scope it's also pretty fast. It also shows that Siglent can produce really good hardware, an that the end product works well if they are not left anywhere near to software ;)
--- Quote ---Anyway, without your... endorsement... I probably would never have considered LeCroy. :-+
--- End quote ---
That's why I mentioned them, to show some potential alternatives to the trodden path of Agilent/Keysight ;)
Once you get your scope and you have used it for a bit it would be great if you would consider doing a review. I'd guess there's some interest for it.
bson:
--- Quote from: Wuerstchenhund on January 31, 2016, 04:47:24 pm ---So please, when you get it let us know if the WS3000 works with the AP020.
--- End quote ---
I'll start a separate thread for it, just to collect info in one place.
I wasn't able to find any hard info on the AP020, but I'm also looking at the AP034 which is a differential 1.5GHz 1GHz FET probe of roughly the same vintage as far as I can tell. For that one I found a data sheet/overview, which states it's a ProBus device, so I'm kind of leaping to the conclusion the AP020 is as well and might just work unless they made significant changes to ProBus. But I can't imagine they would have rerouted the power, so maybe it'll at least work in a "dumb" mode (i.e. not adjustable from the scope). But yeah, it's a bit of a leap. I figured it probably uses I2C for configuration so cutting SCL and SDA might make it appear and work as a "dumb" powered probe. Or if they dropped support for it make it work in a dumb mode with a warning popup to the effect that reconfiguration is not supported by this scope model. It can also be converted to a dumb BNC probe with the ADPPS power supply; same with the AP034. I'd get one of those with the differential probe anyway so I can use it with my VNA.
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