New Zoyi multimeter+oscilloscopes - ZT-70xS, up to 50MHz/250MSps (nov 2022)

[indman]

What are you comparing it to, to have such a negative opinion?

I have at home and at work many different models of oscilloscopes of varying levels from amateur to professional. But pocket and toy oscilloscopes, which now flood the market, I did not have and hopefully will not. Perhaps I am too demanding in terms of comfort and convenience of work with such devices, but I have not been able to adapt to work normally on ZT-703S yet.

[koks1960]

In the latest firmware, there are no AUTO button errors, it pleases. And the FFT function is heavily clipped. Without frequency and level markers, it is useless.

[csuhi17]

No auto doesn't work well. See the image. And it is slow. You can see on the screen that it is running over the V/div settings very slowly.

True, I misled myself.
If there is no signal on the channels, it is placed in the middle.
If there is, then to the old wrong place.
But its speed is better, about 4 seconds. for 1kHz

[RAPo]

Yes the images are from 1.4.2

No auto doesn't work well. See the image. And it is slow. You can see on the screen that it is running over the V/div settings very slowly.

Is this with FW 1.42?

[nikbry]

No auto doesn't work well. See the image. And it is slow. You can see on the screen that it is running over the V/div settings very slowly.

I noticed in your pics the sig generator is outputting a 10Hz signal, yet you are capturing a 1 kHz one. Were you using an external source or is it yet another bug?

[xfint34]

With FW 1.4.2:

>=200ms time division has changed some how. The waveform scrolls continuously from right to left. It used draw the waveform from left to right in a ring buffer manner. I don't know enough about scopes to know what this is about.

Auto range with CH1 enabled and CH 2 disabled leaves the trigger on CH 2. Have to switch CH 2 on and off to get the trigger back to CH 1.

[koks1960]

For me, when AUTO mode is turned on, the trigger switches to channel 2, but after that it returns to 1. AUTO mode works at a signal level of 400mV.

[sergkz]

Firmware v1.42

where are versions 1.40/1.41?

[RAPo]

I used an external sig gen, so no error there.

No auto doesn't work well. See the image. And it is slow. You can see on the screen that it is running over the V/div settings very slowly.

I noticed in your pics the sig generator is outputting a 10Hz signal, yet you are capturing a 1 kHz one. Were you using an external source or is it yet another bug?

[xKertx]

Autoset will change the trigger to the CH2 only if there is no input signal.
With the test signal it stays on CH1.
Autoset now works.
Yes the waveform is on the top of the screen and not centered, but long press on the Move button will bring it down.
But atleast it detects the signal.
With v1.38 and v1.39 it was completely useless.

I don't understand people complaining about clumsiness.
It's a 70€ device not a 700€ or 7000€. What did you expect?

[Spirex]

I don't understand people complaining about clumsiness.

This is professional fatigue, snobbery.

[xfint34]

It's not unreasonable to expect the advertised features to work without bugs. This has been like beta testing a prototype. The price is irrelevant.

Anyways. I stumbled upon something I did not see documented anywhere. On the third menu in oscilloscope mode. Press the Auto button for 3 seconds. It brings up some kind of setting that allows you to set the y-axis position for each channel. I can't tell what it effect it's supposed to have. Perhaps simply another way to move the the y-axis.

[indman]

I don't understand people complaining about clumsiness.
It's a 70€ device not a 700€ or 7000€. What did you expect?

I don’t understand people who buy crap and then try to make candy out of it?
I have a USB Owon VDS1022i, it cost me $65, even less than the ZT-703S, but working with it is much more comfortable and enjoyable than with this toy.

[csuhi17]

I don't understand people complaining about clumsiness.
It's a 70€ device not a 700€ or 7000€. What did you expect?

I don’t understand people who buy crap and then try to make candy out of it?
I have a USB Owon VDS1022i, it cost me $65, even less than the ZT-703S, but working with it is much more comfortable and enjoyable than with this toy.

Don't compare Owon with these.
Owon has been making scopes for a long time, and they rarely make such basic mistakes.
Is this Zoyi's second?!?!

[Aldo22]

I don't understand people complaining about clumsiness.
It's a 70€ device not a 700€ or 7000€. What did you expect?

I agree with you that one should compare these devices within their price range.
As much as I appreciate Zotek for inexpensive DMMs and the LCR Tweezer, I believe (from what I've seen) that Zeeweii and even Fnirsi with the DPOX provide more sophisticated low-cost handheld oscilloscopes.

[apollo11fan]

Upgraded from 1.39 to 1.42 using the link posted above.

I agree, the FFT function would be much better if it supported cursor movement, and showed Amplitude and Frequency in a rectangular box as the cursors are moved, with the ability to toggle LOG mode for Y-Axis.
It's not bad... it's quite promising actually, but without at least the frequency displayed (when moving the horizontal cursor), it's not currently what I hope it could become.

See the image attached here. It appears that in 1.42, the discontinuous trace problem is back (circled in blue). 

Back to the FFT, there's a good bit of code that goes into the fast fourier approximation to the z-transform and this depiction of the approximation to the magnitude of the power spectrum.
You'd really want that code space dedicated to existing oscope functionality first, then FFT being icing on the cake.

I am not complaining since these releases seem to be getting better and better, the device more valuable. I do not view this as a toy, but rather a tool, and ZOTI seems to be making it better and better with subsequent releases. YMMV.

[indman]

Don't compare Owon with these.

Why not compare? These are products in the same price category under $100.

Owon has been making scopes for a long time, and they rarely make such basic mistakes.

I agree with you on this, but I was hoping that ZOYI would do the oscilloscope part a little better, having enough experience in the development of multimeters. Unlike FNIRSI, which you also know well for its "quality". I see your signature in red - "Fnirsi oscilloscope = waste&regret."

[nikbry]

I don't understand people complaining about clumsiness.
It's a 70€ device not a 700€ or 7000€. What did you expect?

I don’t understand people who buy crap and then try to make candy out of it?
I have a USB Owon VDS1022i, it cost me $65, even less than the ZT-703S, but working with it is much more comfortable and enjoyable than with this toy.

I'm not sure why you consider it a toy vs other scopes?! I think you are going too far with your criticism. It's certainly not a toy.

It's a multimeter, a function generator and a 2CH 40MHz oscilloscope, all in one. It has its faults and buggy software, but it is a tool that gets the job done within its limitations. On top of that it has decent build quality, big buttons and a nice display, it's ergonomics are better than many more expensive ones. As to the software, I personally like the menu navigation, given the limited number of buttons and the replacebale battery plus runtime are nice too...
It's a tool hobbyists and students could only dream of not too long ago.

As to the comparison with the Owon VDS1022i, which I own since 2019, if you are late to the game, you may have missed the total disaster that the software shipped on the CD was!!!... Thanks to some community developers now we have decent software, but not thanks to Owon... at least Zotek seems to keep trying...

[indman]

I'm not sure why you consider it a toy vs other scopes?! I think you are going too far with your criticism. It's certainly not a toy.

I am well acquainted with how a good and inexpensive oscilloscope should work and have the opportunity to compare with other products and I honestly call such things toys, if they do not perform their functions, have a lot of childish errors in the software and they are uncomfortable to work with. That's my opinion and you don't have to agree with it.

As to the comparison with the Owon VDS1022i, which I own since 2019, if you are late to the game, you may have missed the total disaster that the software shipped on the CD was!!!... Thanks to some community developers now we have decent software, but not thanks to Owon...

No failure of software for OWON has ever happened! There have never been such elementary errors in functionality as the ZT-703S. With alternative software from florentbr it is certainly more comfortable to use VDS1022i, but also the latest official versions from OWON are quite workable.

[xKertx]

I have a USB Owon VDS1022i, it cost me $65, even less than the ZT-703S, but working with it is much more comfortable and enjoyable than with this toy.

I think you are comparing apples and oranges. Ofcourse a USB scope is more comfartable to use. But it also requires more space because you need a computer with that. I haven't seen any handheld scope that isn't clumsy to use.

I'm not saying it's perfect. And i definetly dont think this is a professional tool.
But for the hobbyist it's a nice to have.
You have a working multimeter and oscilloscope in same package that is easy to carry with you.

But i agree that advertised functions should work.

[nikbry]

No failure of software for OWON has ever happened!

Just to refresh your memory, here's the forum thread you were quite active on dealing with the numerous software bugs on the Owon back in 2019. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/owon-vds1022i-quick-teardown-(versus-the-hantek-6022be)/325/

Here's the list of some of the bugs in those versions I was referring to....

Delay in bringing up 'Display' menu
Math function broken Ch1 - Ch2 defaults to 5V range, changing it results in flat-line
Doesn't remember timebase settings across program close
Crash when zooming horizontal when in stopped mode

[indman]

Here's the list of some of the bugs in those versions I was referring to....

These are not fundamental small mistakes! They have been fixed a long time ago and do not cause any problems in the operation of the device.

[nikbry]

Here's the list of some of the bugs in those versions I was referring to....

These are not fundamental small mistakes! They have been fixed a long time ago and do not cause any problems in the operation of the device.

 I do disagree with you. In those days the interface of the Owon software was sluggish, unresponsive and not intuitively structured and had bugs. In fact it was so unsatisfactory someone made an alternative software, which I use and never looked back. Glad to know Owon after all these years got their act together and fixed it.
In my mind it's not much different than Zotek when comparing similar stages of deveolpment in time.

I won't continue this discussion, since it's drifting into off-topic territory.

[csuhi17]

Even with these bugs, I find it more usable.
First of all, don't expect a perfect scope from a company that used to produce DMMs.
Their products are good for the price...

If you want perfect for the first time, don't buy these half-finished Euro items, but look for something that has been on the market for a while, there are videos, teardowns and everything is perfect.
Or, as was written before me, choose from the +1000 Euro category.

Anyways. I stumbled upon something I did not see documented anywhere. On the third menu in oscilloscope mode. Press the Auto button for 3 seconds. It brings up some kind of setting that allows you to set the y-axis position for each channel. I can't tell what it effect it's supposed to have. Perhaps simply another way to move the the y-axis.

I don't understand that setting option in the third menu either, I didn't notice that it does anything.
or dont save it.
Occasionally, the auto range would center CH1, but CH2 would always be two DIVs below.
I hope Zoyi provides an explanation soon.

[bobuhito]

Another bug (maybe related to the "discontinuous trace problem" mentioned above) is that the displayed waveform can completely drop pulses.  I would guess the ADC data is just somehow getting misordered for display.  Here is an example in video:

 

I see similar problems on other time scales in "single-trigger mode".  I see this bug on both firmware versions 1.3.8 and 1.4.2.