ut81b is it worth it

[Jorge.fv]

Hi I'm from Bolivia and I have the DS1052E for many years now and it has served me very well, but lately I have to do many things on the field and moving a full size DSO is really difficult, so for that situations the ut81 would be really useful, I have seen lots of reviews which show that is not that great but it works and those reviews are from 5 years ago or something.
I would like to get something more  like a fluke or even the hantek or the owon ones but I'm on a really tight butget I can get the ut81b for 150$ delivered to my country which less than many multimeters.
what do you think is it worth it?

I'm also saving for a new scope I'm seriously thinking on the micsig tablet scope but it will have to wait until I got enough money to get one.

[electr_peter]

I would not recommend UT81x series as a replacement for digital or analog scope (I used it before). UT81x does not even come close to normal scope like DS1052 mentioned in the post.

• It does not have enough buttons, interface is very poor. Hard to use daily.
• LCD is low contrast and sometimes hard to read.
• it has very low frequency response.
• DMM inside it is very basic and slow, but good enough as a UNI-T.
• Very limited scope measurement capabilities
• Sensitivity is on the high end (very limited in low voltage measurements)
• AC/DC channel coupling is a joke - works only partly. Input impedance is inconsistent on AC/DC
• it has only one channel.

Main advantages of UT81x - it is portable, battery operated (isolated), can measure mains voltage safely, can measure current waveform directly through internal shunt (probably the biggest advantage).

In short, I would suggest to save more money to get something better than UNI-T UT81x to replace DS1052E. If you already have scopes and don't care about $150, then you can get UT81x as an additional device for special needs (but not as a main scope, no way).

[Jorge.fv]

thank you for your replay
of course I do not intend to use it as a main scope but I really needed to check many times by now the waveform of various outputs on the field, and I had to take the 1052e, to places in the middle of nowhere and it was a really nasty environment, I was worried I could ruin my scope so that is why the ut81 came to my mind, I usually need just one Chanel on the field, but I'm checking other options in the price range, I was also thinking on getting a windows tablet an get a usb scope with it that could also work and could potentially be much better, I'm checking the options but I have not much idea how the market is in the portable style.

so I'm not looking to replace de 1052e (yet) but something i can take to the field without taking something bulky and worrying to much not to damage it.

[daybyter]

There are a few widely unknown scopemeters.
ET521s
ET310a
ET201

Or something like this?
http://m.ebay.com/itm/New-Portable-Mini-ARM-DSO203-4-Channel-Quad-Digital-Storage-Oscilloscope-Nano-US-/361977924021?hash=item544790c9b5%3Ag%3AzMcAAOSwPh5ZFc0K&_trkparms=pageci%253Ad2fe7dc4-3b77-11e7-9160-74dbd18068c6%257Cparentrq%253A198ad73715c0a9cc13b25365fffdebbf%257Ciid%253A4

[Keicar]

Yep, I bought one a few years ago & it did serve a purpose at the time. I can confirm that electr_peter is absolutely on the money - and additionally I'd also mention that it's a bit hard on batteries compared to a regular multimeter - I run mine on eneloops for that reason. Mostly mine gets used as a knockabout multimeter these days - and as such it doesn't represent good value for money.

Cheers,

Karl.

[Jorge.fv]

yep you are right, it may be not worth it, the price is just the amount I have to spend right now, for less I get in to the crappy mp3 player scopes region, and on the +200$ range I get in to the range where I can get an owon or a siglent scopemeter even dual chanel but I don't have that much money, I want to upgrade my main scope and there will go my investment, I only need something that I can get to the field whitowt having to carry the bench dso with me which is quite often lately
It would be great if I could find some used one or something, for field use I don't need anything high end but not that crappy as the mp3 player ones.

[TheNewLab]

I bought one of these a number of years ago. and recently just to play with the first was 2.70 firmware or hardware, the one I just got is firmware 2.81.
What interested me, is they are cheap, and are fully ope source. there was and recently a small community modify and adding functions. the company provides schematics on line. that some contributors have actually modified capability at the PCB level.

The bandwidth is not 72MHz, it is always described incorrectly. it is 72Ms/s.. so about 5MHz max and only with 78 bit resolution.. Auto mechanics like them because, nowadays all autos have on board computers.

If you brick it, there they have firmware reinstalls available on line.  Two people who have spent the most time playing and modifying the toys. are Gabinator and more recently Wildcat. easy Google.

This is THE goto site for electronics enthusiasts and pros, so J\just wondering if anyone on this forum has played around with it.