Need advice on some good old HAMEG oscilloscopes!

[i0s9]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to find a good old Hameg analog oscilloscopes with frequency range 20Mhz -100MHz and 2 or 4 channel. I've been searching and found various models from series starting 200 to 1000 and so on. But only thing is I can't compare them and find the good with extra options. I'll be using for almost all kind of brown goods, consumer electronics and white goods (some internal units) PCB fault findings and other troubleshooting. Based on the work I do I think its better for me to go with good scope with extra features. So far I've been looking into HM604 and HM605 and HMZ65 Component tester and really couldn't find absolute comparison wheres after reading the manuals as I didn't find much difference in features.

So guys please help me in choosing the right ones as I don't mind if you mention from other brands as long as its not expensive and do the work for me.

PS: I'm great fan of german and japan makes

Thanks.

[zaoka]

HM303-6 is what I owned and never had any problem with it.

[oldway]

You can't go wrong with those two models (HM604 and HM605)
60Mhz is enough bandwith for most analog applications, they have a very good CRT with plenty of brightness, very good sincronisation up to 100Mhz, they are easy to use.
Component tester is usefull for diagnose and repair.
I use the rear panel Y output connected to a frequency counter to measure the frequency with precision.
It's an easy scope to repair.
Most commun failures are cold solders and faulty bridge rectifiers.

The HM1005 is also a very good scope but it has no component tester.

[i0s9]

You can't go wrong with those two models (HM604 and HM605)
60Mhz is enough bandwith for most analog applications, they have a very good CRT with plenty of brightness, very good sincronisation up to 100Mhz, they are easy to use.
Component tester is usefull for diagnose and repair.
I use the rear panel Y output connected to a frequency counter to measure the frequency with precision.
It's an easy scope to repair.
Most commun failures are cold solders and faulty bridge rectifiers.

The HM1005 is also a very good scope but it has no component tester.

Yes I did see some good reviews on these models. Only stuff I was bit confused was with that HZ65 component tester as not sure whether its worth buying one, where most of the hameg manuals recommend this part in accessories.

And also I've been surfing ebay for last couple of weeks and seen them going for £70-£100. Do you think they worth that much in used market.

[i0s9]

HM303-6 is what I owned and never had any problem with it.

Yes, might be right as a german brand I like its quality and life of the product. I've seen that 200 and 300 series models in ebay still going at good prices and you know how good they are.

Just to let you know I've recently bought (still on the way to get it delivered) Hameg 303-4 for £45 incl postage.I think this model is also a good basic to semi-pro scope.As per the buyer description its powering up and everything looks good but sold because its unable to test further. Based on this I will do further tests and see If I had a bargain or not

[Martin.M]

hello from germany 

Hameg Scopes was here mostly the mid size of budget, very good for TV repair and most related service companys, also for the use at home.
Very amazing is the perfect service of that company, they still have a ear for the oldies from the tubes time and if theycan help they will do.
Now they are owned by Rohde & Schwarz.

The same deal then in UK where Telequipment was buyed by Tektronix.
The very best scopes in quality was Tektronix (and HP), but also the most expensive.  I am collecting them, here are a lot of old and very old Tek at home what is still working. Many of them from the late 50s and 60s. I would never give away a Tek (made in USA, NL or the channel islands) to get any Hameg.
But there are a lot of people who have worked many years with a HM, they say its fine, and they make it so expensive in the bay.

greetings
Martin

[i0s9]

hello from germany 

Hameg Scopes was here mostly the mid size of budget, very good for TV repair and most related service companys, also for the use at home.
Very amazing is the perfect service of that company, they still have a ear for the oldies from the tubes time and if theycan help they will do.
Now they are owned by Rohde & Schwarz.

The same deal then in UK where Telequipment was buyed by Tektronix.
The very best scopes in quality was Tektronix (and HP), but also the most expensive.  I am collecting them, here are a lot of old and very old Tek at home what is still working. Many of them from the late 50s and 60s. I would never give away a Tek (made in USA, NL or the channel islands) to get any Hameg.
But there are a lot of people who have worked many years with a HM, they say its fine, and they make it so expensive in the bay.

greetings
Martin

Hello Martin

How are you doing? I agree tektronix and hp have given some of the best scopes in the whole history of scopes till now. I haven't used best of them in my career as because the place I've been using was in college/university and they don't spend hefty sum on scopes. But I've seen  in some industrial electronics firms where they use it and was shocked with the features they provide and no surprise why they are very expensive. I must say they are expensive because of quality, internal components life time,complex and advanced features and brand name.

I would not go straight away buying a expensive advanced feature stuff for doing some basic troubleshooting where I end up using basic stuff which doesn't make sense. Imagine if you see a whole bunch of keys like a keyboard in a small spaced box and you don't even know what they are for and you press one instead of one and finally see irrelevant output. haha no way :)I believe If you don't need it don't go for it.


But as you said hamegs range are good for simplex structure and good quality and service. If I'm gaining more and more experience and expanding my business then defo I'll be having some of the best scopes from tek or hp

Don't mind at that time I might ask you one If you have that collection

[oldway]

According to my opinion, you should either choose a simple analog oscilloscope with mechanical switches without cursors and other sophistications, or you buy a modern digital oscilloscope that offers memory and many facilities of measurements.

I do not like those analog oscilloscopes who wanted to look like the future digital oscilloscopes.
They use digital circuits totally outdated and difficult to repair.

Some say the Tek 2465 oscilloscopes are the best ... I do not think so
They are difficult to repair and a digital oscilloscope do much better than them.

For this reason, my favorite analog oscilloscopes are:

Tektronix:
465B
2235

Hameg
HM605
HM1005

HP
1740A
1725A

[i0s9]

According to my opinion, you should either choose a simple analog oscilloscope with mechanical switches without cursors and other sophistications, or you buy a modern digital oscilloscope that offers memory and many facilities of measurements.

I do not like those analog oscilloscopes who wanted to look like the future digital oscilloscopes.
They use digital circuits totally outdated and difficult to repair.

Some say the Tek 2465 oscilloscopes are the best ... I do not think so
They are difficult to repair and a digital oscilloscope do much better than them.

For this reason, my favorite analog oscilloscopes are:

Tektronix:
465B
2235

Hameg
HM605
HM1005

HP
1740A
1725A

Yes I agree with you. Considering digital scope I'm gonna  go for rigol range in 2 months after getting some profits from my business. And also I'm already in hunt for the models you mentioned, so hopefully I will find a good bargain.

Thanks for sharing your valuable experience.

[nfmax]

I have a Hameg HM605 I got as 'payment' for a job I did for some shyster back in about 1990. It's a late model, with HT voltages of 110V & 55V, instead of the earlier 140V & 68V. It doesn't get used much now, but recently I wanted to do some XY displays (chaotic oscillators!) and I found it wasn't working properly. The problems were a cracked shaft coupler (fixed with Araldite & thread lock) and general out-of-adjustment-itis. Now it's calibrated and working a treat. Good solid 'scope, with a sharp, bright display. I have every intention of keeping on using it! I would certainly recommend a good HM605 if you can find one.
One thing about analog 'scopes is the good ones (like the HM605) will trigger on much higher frequencies than their rated bandwidth, which can be very useful. Modern DSOs with a digital-domain triggering system tend not to. Obviously you can work round this in single shot mode, but it's not as handy.
The HM605 uses no vendor-specific hybrids or IC and it's eminently mendable. Hameg were happy to send me a manual when I emailed them.

[Fungus]

Yes, might be right as a german brand I like its quality and life of the product. I've seen that 200 and 300 series models in ebay still going at good prices and you know how good they are.

I've got a Hameg HM307 that I found in a store-room clearout in about 1982-ish. It wouldn't have been new even then. It's only single channel, 20MHz but it still works a treat.

[oldway]

I'll be using for almost all kind of brown goods, consumer electronics and white goods (some internal units) PCB fault findings and other troubleshooting.

The best choice for you is the HAMEG HM605. (easy to use and component tester)

[georgebc]

Hameg 604 and Hameg 605 plus several Hameg oscilloscope available on Roller's Auction Website in Colorado.  Current bids are super cheap at $10.  The one hitch is they won't ship but maybe we can work something out??

[dom0]

I don't know what country you're in, but at least here Hameg scopes are often more expensive than equivalent scopes of other manufacturers (including Tek).

[mos6502]

I used to own a HM605. It was OK. Fairly basic. No readouts or cursors or anything. It does have an adjustable trigger delay that uses a multi turn pot so you can "zoom in" on signals.

What's the big deal about the component tester? Seemed pretty useless to me. It only works at 50 Hz. So it's only good for small caps or large inductors. Otherwise you just get flat lines. For semiconducters, a multimeter is faster and easier.

The good thing about Hameg (well, at least the HM605) is that Hameg used only off the shelf parts, i.e. BCxxx transistors and 74xx/40xx logic. No special ICs or transistors, so if anything should get fried, it's easy to get replacement parts.

I sold the scope on eBay one or two years ago and got around 150 Eurobucks for it, not including shipping.

[Fraser]

I used to sell Hameg CRO's.

The 200 series are very well built and reliable. The 300 series are less reliable and known to have weak power supplies. The 600 and 1000 series are very reliable, like the 200 series.

The later analogue CRO's such as my 2000 series are sufferers of the dreaded capacitor failure that is so common these days. Almost every Electrolytic should be treated as suspect in these later scopes.

I have around 15 Hameg scopes in my garage. They range from the 20MHz models, through to the 30MHz, 60MHz, 100MHz and 200Mhz models. All the later units need a capacitor rebuild and await my attention.

Aurora