Which USB scope is the best deal?

[Joerg]

Hello Folks,

When looking at that market there is a myriad of options. Which one is
the best from a price performance point of view? Does anyone have good
experience with a particular model?

USB, 2-Channel, 500MS/sec or more would be nice. SW-FFT, decent doc
capabilities, the usual. If it needs a separate supply that's fine.

I don't need it in the lab so much but more on the road. Noise hunting
etc. I wish someone would also make a somewhat decent spectrum analyzer
for USB but that market still looks totally untapped.

There comes a point in most people's lives where the lower back doesn't
want to schlepp heavy lab gear or you run the chance of not being able
to move the next day.

 

[[email protected]]

Hello Folks,

When looking at that market there is a myriad of options. Which one is
the best from a price performance point of view? Does anyone have good
experience with a particular model?

USB, 2-Channel, 500MS/sec or more would be nice. SW-FFT, decent doc
capabilities, the usual. If it needs a separate supply that's fine.

I don't need it in the lab so much but more on the road. Noise hunting
etc. I wish someone would also make a somewhat decent spectrum analyzer
for USB but that market still looks totally untapped.

There comes a point in most people's lives where the lower back doesn't
want to schlepp heavy lab gear or you run the chance of not being able
to move the next day.

About five years ago I used one of Pico Technology Ltd's slow PC-based
scopes - 12-bits at up to 7kHz - which plugged into the parallel port.
Farnell still stocks something like it - the ADC42 (order code
318-0827, 134 euro).

It worked fine, and the software that came with it was fair easy to
use, and didn't crash.

Farnell now carries a bunch of their faster USB-based scopes, with
sampling rates up to 200Msamples/sec. The A/D converters are strictly
8-bit parts. Prices run from 600 euro to 1200 euro depending on speed.

Farnell also stock two Picoscope Oscilloscope/Spectrum analysers
offering a 12-bit A/D sampling at up to 50 or 100Msamples/sec, the
ADC-212/50 and the ADC-212/100. They plug into the parallel port can
cost 700 euro and 950 euro respectively.

They might be worth looking at.

Farnell don't stock the whole Picoscope range

http://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope-specifications.html

 

[linnix]

About five years ago I used one of Pico Technology Ltd's slow PC-based
scopes - 12-bits at up to 7kHz - which plugged into the parallel port.
Farnell still stocks something like it - the ADC42 (order code
318-0827, 134 euro).

It worked fine, and the software that came with it was fair easy to
use, and didn't crash.

Farnell now carries a bunch of their faster USB-based scopes, with
sampling rates up to 200Msamples/sec. The A/D converters are strictly
8-bit parts. Prices run from 600 euro to 1200 euro depending on speed.

Farnell also stock two Picoscope Oscilloscope/Spectrum analysers
offering a 12-bit A/D sampling at up to 50 or 100Msamples/sec, the
ADC-212/50 and the ADC-212/100. They plug into the parallel port can
cost 700 euro and 950 euro respectively.

But they don't meet the requirements. You can get a reasonable A2D
converter (in price and power consumption) for 200 MSPS. But for
500MSPS (as requested by OP) or beyond, it's ridiculously expensive
and hot (in power).

 

[David L. Jones]

Hello Folks,

When looking at that market there is a myriad of options. Which one is
the best from a price performance point of view? Does anyone have good
experience with a particular model?

USB, 2-Channel, 500MS/sec or more would be nice. SW-FFT, decent doc
capabilities, the usual. If it needs a separate supply that's fine.

500MS/s knocks out all of the low and middle end USB scopes. At this
level you kind of start not worrying about the cost, and make your
decision based just on the performance you need.

Picoscope make a new one in this performance range but I have not used
it:
http://www.picotech.com/picoscope5000.html

It's got a massive buffer which is excellent. Sample rate drops to
500MS/s with two channels though.

Dave.

 

[Ben Jackson]

USB, 2-Channel, 500MS/sec or more would be nice. SW-FFT, decent doc
capabilities, the usual. If it needs a separate supply that's fine.

Well, the Tek TDS2012B has a USB port, 1GS/s, 2 ports, SW FFT, very
portable. Of course the computer is optional. Since it came out,
the non-B models have come down in price.

You can thank me for the arrival of the B series, it happened right after
I bought a TDS2014.

 

[[email protected]]

But they don't meet the requirements.

The "requirements" appear to be a wish list, rather than non-
negotiable constraints, and I mentioned where the units I put forward
fell short of the requirements.

Why do you think it is necessary to waste bandwidth by reposting this
information?

You can get a reasonable A2D
converter (in price and power consumption) for 200 MSPS. But for
500MSPS (as requested by OP) or beyond, it's ridiculously expensive
and hot (in power).

The "ridiculousness" of the price depends on the application, which
Joerg didn't spell out. There other aspects of A/D performance which
can also be important in some applications, but since Joerg was asking
about units that he could buy rather than devices that he could use to
build his own, this isn't all that relevant to this thread.

 

[linnix]

The "requirements" appear to be a wish list, rather than non-
negotiable constraints, and I mentioned where the units I put forward
fell short of the requirements.

Why do you think it is necessary to waste bandwidth by reposting this
information?

Because your suggestion is off-base, he asked for 500 MSPS USB and you
suggested 100 MSPS parallel port.

The "ridiculousness" of the price depends on the application, which
Joerg didn't spell out. There other aspects of A/D performance which
can also be important in some applications, but since Joerg was asking
about units that he could buy rather than devices that he could use to
build his own, this isn't all that relevant to this thread.

Cost of the chip is definitely relevant to the devices available on
the market. If it can be made with reasonable price, it will be
available.

 

[Joerg]

About five years ago I used one of Pico Technology Ltd's slow PC-based
scopes - 12-bits at up to 7kHz - which plugged into the parallel port.
Farnell still stocks something like it - the ADC42 (order code
318-0827, 134 euro).

It worked fine, and the software that came with it was fair easy to
use, and didn't crash.

Farnell now carries a bunch of their faster USB-based scopes, with
sampling rates up to 200Msamples/sec. The A/D converters are strictly
8-bit parts. Prices run from 600 euro to 1200 euro depending on speed.

Farnell also stock two Picoscope Oscilloscope/Spectrum analysers
offering a 12-bit A/D sampling at up to 50 or 100Msamples/sec, the
ADC-212/50 and the ADC-212/100. They plug into the parallel port can
cost 700 euro and 950 euro respectively.

They might be worth looking at.

Farnell don't stock the whole Picoscope range

http://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope-specifications.html

I've looked at PicoScopes, mostly because an engineer from a client
bought one. He didn't run it through the paces yet because that the
purchase was very recently.

Don't know if they are from England but the US prices seem highish,
could as well get a Tek portable for that money. Or a Chinese knock-off ...

 

[Joerg]

500MS/s knocks out all of the low and middle end USB scopes. At this
level you kind of start not worrying about the cost, and make your
decision based just on the performance you need.

Yeah, I've relaized that :-(

Picoscope make a new one in this performance range but I have not used
it:
http://www.picotech.com/picoscope5000.html

It's got a massive buffer which is excellent. Sample rate drops to
500MS/s with two channels though.

That's the one I was eyeing. A bit pricey for a USB scope but if it
works good that may be ok. Anyone used it for tricky stuff a lot already?

 

[Joerg]

Well, the Tek TDS2012B has a USB port, 1GS/s, 2 ports, SW FFT, very
portable. Of course the computer is optional. Since it came out,
the non-B models have come down in price.

You can thank me for the arrival of the B series, it happened right after
I bought a TDS2014.

Thanks, have to check that out. As long as it isn't as <censored> as
that TDS220.

 

[[email protected]]

Because your suggestion is off-base, he asked for 500 MSPS USB and you
suggested 100 MSPS parallel port.

Grow up. Note that the Picoscope wb-sited that I posted includes two
devices - the 5203 and the 5204 offering 1Gsample/sec and a USB
interface. Both are expensive, and Farnell doesn't stock them (which
may mean that Picoscope can't make them in volume, which might - in
turn - have something to do with the yield on the A/D converters being
used).

Cost of the chip is definitely relevant to the devices available on
the market. If it can be made with reasonable price, it will be
available.

Dream on. USB-oscilloscopes aren't high volume products. They have to
use chips that are predominantly made for other, larger, markets.
These chips aren't always reliably available to low volume
manufacturers - if the main market takes off the low volume
manufacturers find themselves with six month delivery times. I can
still remember buying up the last 36 of a particular single chip
processor available from Dutch distributors for my ex-employer in the
UK, when Volkswagen had bought up every one that Siemens was producing
for the next six months ...

 

[Barry Lennox]

Hello Folks,

When looking at that market there is a myriad of options. Which one is
the best from a price performance point of view? Does anyone have good
experience with a particular model?

USB, 2-Channel, 500MS/sec or more would be nice. SW-FFT, decent doc
capabilities, the usual. If it needs a separate supply that's fine.

I don't need it in the lab so much but more on the road. Noise hunting
etc. I wish someone would also make a somewhat decent spectrum analyzer
for USB but that market still looks totally untapped.

There comes a point in most people's lives where the lower back doesn't
want to schlepp heavy lab gear or you run the chance of not being able
to move the next day.

Have you looked at the Cleverscope? See http://www.cleverscope.com/
Their comparison chart at
http://www.cleverscope.com/resources/Cleverscope Comparison chart.pdf
claims it's pretty good, but there may be some selective data
presentation there. It's a bit down on sample rate, but has a lot of
storage and good resolution. It's small and light, and the software is
pretty nice.

I have only "played" with one at a demo, but have a customer who
swears by it.

Barry

 

[Joerg]

Have you looked at the Cleverscope? See http://www.cleverscope.com/
Their comparison chart at
http://www.cleverscope.com/resources/Cleverscope Comparison chart.pdf
claims it's pretty good, but there may be some selective data
presentation there. It's a bit down on sample rate, but has a lot of
storage and good resolution. It's small and light, and the software is
pretty nice.

I have only "played" with one at a demo, but have a customer who
swears by it.

Thanks, Barry, but 100MS/sec isn't going to work for my usual projects.