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Say for up to a few hundred quid? Daughter is playing around with arduinos and simple circuitry at the moment, and although you can do a fair amount with a multimeter a scope is more useful for seeing what is going on. Probably no real need to be able to see stuff up at clock speed (8-20MHz I think), more useful for seeing what is going on with outputs or signals in the analogue sections
I've seen various USB devices that require a computer and would be fine but there does also seem to be some stand alone machines in that price range. Looking for two channel and if it comes with a 3rd channel as a trigger all the better
Any tinkerers out there with suggestions?
thanks
I'm no expert, being a mechanical person not electronics, but I use USB picoscopes a lot at work and they seem pretty good. Prices start at around £100. You can never have too many channels!
Agree about the Pico stuff. We also use it (temperature data logger) and it's well made and works well. I've been thinking about getting a scope for the same reason as the OP and Pico will be top of the list.
Edit: Just to say, obviously, the USB scopes aren't as fast as a 'real' scope, but for this sort of thing should be fine.
The pico stuff is looking very nice indeed. Up my budget a little and I can get what looks like 8 channel digital and 2 channel analogue which would be perfect. I'll keep hunting though
The last oscilloscope I owned was a Solartron thing. 2 channel, valve, could just about manage 100kHz at a push 🙂
I've got a hantec something or other 100mhz. Does me for most electronic stuff in the non high speed world of interfacing sensors etc to muC.
I’ve got a hantec something or other
Looks good as well and might be slightly more available, thanks
I have a Bitscope micro:
http://bitscope.com/product/BS05/
As long as you don't mind driving it with a computer, it's pretty good for mixed signal stuff.
Looks good as well and might be slightly more available, thanks
Sorry I couldn't get to find the exact model. Found a link. This isn't the exact one but it's pretty similar specs but mine is a few years old.
Personally I prefer a separate unit (I did try a Pico once but only for an afternoon). I found having knobs to twiddle was nicer to work with than using a mouse. Plus I was frequently programming so didn't want to be swapping windows.
Good point on the knobs and messing with windows, especially when debugging code. Not sure I want another big bit of kit in the house though but I'll add that to the mix thanks
Bitscope is an alternative to the Pico USB scopes, and a little cheaper as well. I think it also comes with bits to allow you to write your own software for it too...
Serves me right for not updating before responding... it's already been mentioned!
Just thinking... it your daughter is playing about with micros, then unless you are only doing something analogue then you might be better off with something that also includes a logic analyser as it'll give you more channels when looking at digital signals.
It's that sort of functionality which the Bitscope is really good at.
Yep, I spotted that the picoscope also offers that in it's mso versions. My problem with the bitscope is that it doesn't look very robust, but I do have a habit of allowing scope drift (ahem) and buying something a lot more than I need
I have a Hantek DSO2C10 which cost me £190. Very capable and easy to use. I restore ZX81s with it
My problem with the bitscope is that it doesn’t look very robust, but I do have a habit of allowing scope drift (ahem) and buying something a lot more than I need
The Bitscopes are more robust than they look. In part because they are very small. I have very expensive scopes to play with at work if I need to twiddle knobs.
When I bought my bitscope, they had much better cross platform support (i.e. they don't just run on windows) than the competition.
They are not super accurate/quiet, but I use them to play with microcontrollers and the like where you may want to monitor digital signals along with analogue outputs. For a kid getting into this stuff, I would imagine they would be more than adequate.
Recommended what you own - I have a Fluke123 industrial 'scope, portable and rugged enough for shop floors but probably overkill and over budget but they do hold their value well if you can bag a cheap one?
Would love a Fluke123 but that is quite firmly over budget 🙂
Hantek DSO5102P
Nice little Tektronix DSO should do the job:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tektronix-TDS210-60MHz-Oscilloscope-2-probes-/304112567802/
The 100MHz version of that Tektronix scope was my goto everyday scope at work for about 10years 🙂
I could have used more complex kit but it was so simple for most jobs it was perfect.
That Tektronix has me feeling all nostalgic now although I only ever used older models of their stuff. Too much choice now but good choice