USB Oscilloscopes?

Hi All,

Does anyone own or ahve owned a USB occiloscope similar to this?

I think an oscilloscope would be useful to have, but I don't have the budget for a 'real' one.

Also having a portable one that I can use with my netbook seems like a good idea.

It's garbage Sorry to be so blunt, but that's the sad truth about almost all USB O-scopes. You generally need to spend good money to get a decent scope, and failing to do that means you are stuck with an instrument who's test outputs cannot be guaranteed. This is a bad thing, since you generally want to isolate electronics problems down to one variable if possible. A bad scope means that you have a minimum of 2 variables by default... Not good. If you do want a quality USB scope, look at the Picotech scopes. I own one, and have recommended them with great success to many members on this site as well as others. If you are on a budget, try to see if you can find a used analog O-scope on ebay, or look on an electronics forum. There are plenty of unused, but perfectly functioning analog Oscopes around, it's just a matter of finding one.

I agree at all with Chris. Cheers

Ahh, yeh, that was what I was kinda' expecting. Thanks for the hint for PicoTech. Even the cheaper (relatively) 2200 model seems to have a good range of functions. What model do you have? I'll keep an eye out for analog ones in my local area. I was thinking of seeing if I could pick up an old one from the university, but I suspect that they would only part with one if it was totally fubar.

I don't know whether could be interesting for you, but I write down...maybe for someone else.
In the shop where sometime I going to buy elec parts, there is an used HP digital scope. I don't remember the model, but I remember 60MHz, 2-channels, CRT and 450Eur. It might be the HP-54603B here: it looks like that.
I guess the price could be trimmed a little, but I don't know how much...
Anyway, for anyone is interested I may drop the shop's email (hoping the guys are able to read/write in English).
If anyone needs some proof (e.g. CRT ageing, etc), I may go and test by myself (maybe even take some pics).
Cheers

I don't know whether could be interesting for you, but I write down...maybe for someone else.
In the shop where sometime I going to buy elec parts, there is an used HP digital scope. I don't remember the model, but I remember 60MHz, 2-channels, CRT and 450Eur. It might be the HP-54603B here: it looks like that.
I guess the price could be trimmed a little, but I don't know how much...
Anyway, for anyone is interested I may drop the shop's email (hoping the guys are able to read/write in English).
If anyone needs some proof (e.g. CRT ageing, etc), I may go and test by myself (maybe even take some pics).
Cheers

Mario,
The Rigol DS-1052E is US $399 (~282 EUR) + shipping. Its 50 MHz (but a firmware hack will turn it into 100 MHz), two channel. If you use the code "CHAT5" you get an additional 5% off. Which in my case was enough to make shipping "free"

-dan

I already own a pretty good scope. The notice was for someone of you that may be interested. I don't know the last generation of Agilent scopes, but I used a lot that kind of model (150MHz) over 10 years ago. It is simply fantastic: HP was undoubtely a quality brand (at that time). Finally, for EU people it is not so advantageous purchasing from USA. For example, if a good is 100US$, you must add VAT (20%), shipping and customs. Roughly speaking, the actual price is the same expressed in Euro. Cheers

I think an oscilloscope would be useful to have, but I don't have the budget for a 'real' one.

Oscilloscope is very useful tool indeed, but depending on what exactly you want/need to do, a logic analyzer may be better choice. If you are going to work mostly with analog signal (or properties like duration of edge transitions, noise, etc. on signals that are supposed to be digital) and seeing 2 channels simultaneously is enough (*), get the scope. If you are going to work with digital circuits (microcontrollers) and you need to capture state of multiple signal lines, analyze data protocols on buses etc., get the logic analyzer.

Saleae Logic is a decent one, there is also new Logic16 (16 channels, includes input protection), there are also cheaper clones available (Mini Logic).

* 2 channels is really minimum for practical use.

Has anyone got any experience with these units?

DSO Nano v2

Stuart, last Jan I need a decent scope, just for hobby.
I've seen this one, and I've bought still in beta (150$).
Anyway, the "beta" was only related to the firmware (pretty buggy indeed), but not to the hardware. Unfortunately, it calls "HARD-ware" because you cannot modify it, instead the SOFT-ware.
I was maybe the very first user to test seriously that scope, using some pro-instruments of our lab. Briefly:

• the ad stated "72MHz", but it was 72Ms/s...the bandwidth about 3MHz (even less);
• absolutely too small: imagine a cell-phone...very tedious pressing the buttons;
• a "treasure-hunt" menu system: dozen of funcs you may reach by combinations as were a security key.

I've sold as soon.

Now, I own an Uni-T scope: pricey, but it is really full-featured (DSO, Logic-Analyzer, Multimeter, etc). It worth the money, I guess.
Anyway there are many cheap brands offering decent scopes: Atten, Uni-T, Rigol, etc.
I buy the mine on ebay: I'd suggest to do the same. They're unknown Chinese guys, but they're kindly and reliable.
Another tip is to look for some used scope, as Stefan does...Maybe he was even too lucky, but try to dig a little...
Cheers

EDIT: you should first answer to a question "what will do I with a scope?". For me and others is a passion, and part of my job...if you look for a scope just to play some month with a Netduino, maybe think it about a little more!

Edited by Mario Vernari, 20 July 2011 - 11:47 AM.

I got one DSO Nano and pretty happy with it. Don't expect a whole lot from it, but for my amateur work, this is pretty good thing, plus it is very portable!