New PicoScopes

[Reboot]

Tonight I went to Picotech to get the latest version of their software.

Seems they have a whole new line of their 2200 series scopes just released; and they look nice!  They are smaller than the old ones and now go all the way to 200Mhz.

I have a Pico 5000 series, 4 channel scope which I really like.  I use it for gathering mountains of data, and for mechanical vibration spectrum analysis.  It is a beast of a pc based scope.  Their software is the best I have ever used for this type of product.

[Rasz]

USB 2.0
plus
"Buffer memory   8 kS   16 kS   32 kS   40 kS   48 kS"

Sounds painful to use.

[JohnnyGringo]

Their software is the best I have ever used for this type of product.

What other software have you used for this type of product? I'm just curious as to your sample size.

[Reboot]

Not that many i guess.  I don't know how many different ones there are, but i have used or demo'ed the more popular ones i think.

I personally have a USBee AX and DX with the software upgrade, a USBinstruments swordfish, parallax USB scope(toy), and a logicport(also good software, but not applicable here). I have a tried a friend's Cleverscope which was ok.

Before I purchased the Pico, I had evaluated the Hantek USB scope software in demo mode.  Bitscope also has an online demo which i checked out.

[JohnnyGringo]

How did you like the USBee?  I've been considering the QX model.

[Reboot]

My DX is a very nice tool.  That being said, it is more of a digital tool (logic) and has a very low sample rate for analog work - 24msps shared between digital and analog.  You have to buy the additional "suite" software to get even basic analog triggering.  Although the software is pretty, it is not so intuitive to use.

The QX is their new one which seems to be more of a real tool.  I don't know if it is easier to set up and use, but to me the software looks the same.  One other thing about the software is that the suite tool is the only app of theirs that is all together integrated which kind of limits it and complicates it all at the same time. (if that makes sense) All of the other individual functions (i.e. scope mode program) are separate applications.

I really like the Pico software a lot better.  It has advanced triggering capability and a host of other features that you find on bench scopes like masking, decoding about everything, and persistence. It will run in demo mode without the instrument, including the function generator, so you can really get a feel for how well it works.  There are also a ton of youtube videos especially showing how to use it for automotive troubleshooting.