I need an oscilloscope

[Tone Meister]

My Tek 475 was ruined in the last hurricane and now is the time to replace it. Obviously any working 20 MHz scope is more than adequate for the basic stuff I tinker on.

What units do I need to be looking at these days without breaking the bank?

[xtian]

What's your budget? If you can afford $200-300 for a DSO, you'll be mightily thrilled by the modern features, size and weight.

[Tone Meister]

What's your budget? If you can afford $200-300 for a DSO, you'll be mightily thrilled by the modern features, size and weight.

I would be willing to spend that much for something solid and reliable. However, I don't really want to spend any more than that. Do you have a particular unit in mind that you would suggest?

[xtian]

For entry level, I like Hantek DSO5072P

Hantek DSO5072P Digital Oscilloscope, 70 MHz Bandwidth, 1 GSa/s, 7.0" Display

Inexpensive, and more than good enough for amplifier work.

[tedmich]

people like the Rigol DS1052E ($250) including the EEVBlog and Ave
the latter guy reviews oscilloscope music here, which works better on old analog units

Rigol has a newer version (DS1054Z) with 4 channels (1MHz) and a bigger screen for $375

https://www.rigolna.com/products/dig...1000Z/ds1054z/

[Tone Meister]

Either of those will do the job. What about longevity, reliability, and accuracy?

[tedmich]

The cheapie Rigol has been around for over a decade and remains well regarded,
its the first review EEVBlog ever did!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUwbtG6z6pI

EEVBlog newer review, with reference to newer models
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TSr9nFN1GU

a full newer review here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBQsH4D92Ys

That said it is the cheapest scope of passable quality you can get; a super precision instrument it is not, those cost >$2k

[Tone Meister]

The cheapie Rigol has been around for over a decade and remains well regarded,
its the first review EEVBlog ever did!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUwbtG6z6pI

EEVBlog newer review, with reference to newer models
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TSr9nFN1GU

a full newer review here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBQsH4D92Ys

That said it is the cheapest scope of passable quality you can get; a super precision instrument it is not, those cost >$2k

The only thing I do with any real precision is play guitar. All I'd ever need to measure would be on tube and SS instrument amplifiers and basic audio components.

I'm not opposed to a solid used scope. I luckily stumbled onto the Tek 475 years ago when a friend of a friend was retiring from IBM. That was way more scope than I ever needed but I got it dirt cheap and it came with several high end probes.

[nevetslab]

The only thing I do with any real precision is play guitar. All I'd ever need to measure would be on tube and SS instrument amplifiers and basic audio components.

I'm not opposed to a solid used scope. I luckily stumbled onto the Tek 475 years ago when a friend of a friend was retiring from IBM. That was way more scope than I ever needed but I got it dirt cheap and it came with several high end probes.

Hopefully you still have the probes. I've had such great success with Tek probes all my life.

[Tone Meister]

Hopefully you still have the probes. I've had such great success with Tek probes all my life.

Yep, probes I still have. And as y'all well know, great probes are far more important to me than a high end scope.

[Tone Meister]

Picking up a very clean Tek 2236 for $70. Fairly recent calibration (2017) and initial spot checks indicate it's still pretty accurate. Certainly accurate enough for a hack like me.

[nevetslab]

Picking up a very clean Tek 2236 for $70. Fairly recent calibration (2017) and initial spot checks indicate it's still pretty accurate. Certainly accurate enough for a hack like me.

Ah.....my kind of price! Back in the day before ebay and internet, every month, last Saturday of the month, was the TRW Radio Amateur's Technical Swap Meet in Redondo, Beach, CA....early AM hours. After the industrial and military auctions of pallets full of gear were sold, so much of that showed up on the parking lot for pennies on the dollar. That's an excellent price for the 2236. May not having the current generation digital processing tricks, but there's something reassuring to see a real clean signal on a HV CRT that has clarity! I bought into Tek's 7000 series back then, with enough plug-in spares to keep me going.

[Tone Meister]

Yep, how about this. I stumbled into a service & repair facility and they hooked me up with these verified working units.

Tek 2236 100MHz scope w/counter-timer-DMM $70
Agilent HP Keysight 3465A 4 1/2-digit Digital Multimeter $30
Fluke 8012A 3 1/2-digit digital multimeter $30
Agilent HP Keysight 6200B and 6206B DC power supplies $30 for both
Instek GFG-8015G Function Generator 0.2Hz - 2MHz $40

So $200 to pretty much complete my humble little bench.

[Randall]

I'm still using the only scope I've ever owned, a small portable Leader dual trace 20MHz analog unit I got 35 years ago when I worked in broadcasting. Aside from the battery pack dying decades ago, it has been rock solid, never giving me a glitch of any kind.

[Gregg]

After I fried my Hantek 6022BE I got an OWON VDS1022l (USB isolated) for around $76 from a sale on Ali. Plenty enough for audio stuff.