Whats a good noob scope under 400$usd?

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beamin

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Im new to electronics and I'm to the point where I could use a scope to see what my circuits are doing. My budget is 400 and under. What do you guys use?
 

rescue161

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You could probably find a good Tektronix scope for well under that. I'm using a TDS-210. It's a light-weight, compact 2-channel 60 MHz scope with a monochrome LCD display. I works well for me, but I'd rather have a 4-channel with a color screen. I like Tektronix because it's what I learned on years ago and they've been around a long time. There are cheaper Chinese units out there that may work okay, but I'll stick with Tektronix. I thought the 4-channels would have come down by now, but they are still expensive. Keep an eye out for a TDS2024. You can find deals if you look.
 

slicerwizard

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There are low cost DSO's out there that will do everything you want. Don't even need to hit that $400 limit.

https://www.amazon.com/Hantek-DSO5072P-Digital-Oscilloscope-Bandwidth/dp/B00RJPXB6Y

These days, they auto-range and auto-measure for you. How long does it take that signal transition to settle down? It says it's about 10 us. No need for old school division counting, unless you're into that sort of thing. On screen display of most parameters (AC/DC coupling, volts/div, sec/div, trigger channel, trigger voltage, trigger on rise/fall/pulse, signal primary frequency), one button save scope screen image to .bmp file on USB stick, weighs a couple of pounds and is about the size of a football, yadda yadda...
 

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rescue161

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There are low cost DSO's out there that will do everything you want. Don't even need to hit that $400 limit.

https://www.amazon.com/Hantek-DSO5072P-Digital-Oscilloscope-Bandwidth/dp/B00RJPXB6Y

These days, they auto-range and auto-measure for you. How long does it take that signal transition to settle down? It says it's about 10 us. No need for old school division counting, unless you're into that sort of thing. On screen display of most parameters (AC/DC coupling, volts/div, sec/div, trigger channel, trigger voltage, trigger on rise/fall/pulse, signal primary frequency), one button save scope screen image to .bmp file on USB stick, weighs a couple of pounds and is about the size of a football, yadda yadda...

Very nice! May just have to get one of these and ditch my old TDS210.
 
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