Guide to Choosing a Scope on a Budget

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationA really low cost option for an oscilloscope if you have a soldering iron is this kit from ebay. It is less than $30 and is surprisingly good. I bought mine several months ago and am amazed at its features including storing the trace and calculating max, min, avg voltage in the trace as well as duty cycle, frequency etc. I have not had an occasion to use it on my cars yet but did diagnose and fix problems on a powered loudspeaker and a signal generator. You can find several listings on ebay but here is one:

I know this topic is about budget scopes, but ill add this anyway.

If you are a technician and do a lot of diag or want to do a lot of diag, just buy a pico. Yes it is more expensive, but it is so much better than even a snapon scope. But think about this, how much was your toolbox? Youll spend $10k+ on a box but complain about spending $2-3k on a scope kit. When you get the pico set it up on a smaller box or cart, that way it is always ready to go, you will use it more that way

I found a cheap power probe like the p100 on line for 60 dallars I havnt used it yet but I been studying sample rates . I think snapon samples at 200 times per second I had bought a dso pocket scope similar to that one ,gave to my son in Sweden everything high dallar in Europe. I suppose be great for checking for signals but not fast enough to catch fall outs or spikes on intermittents. but u got the old ford Wiggle test for grounds and opens.

I purchased a sainsmart 2 channel dso for quickness,i have a 20:1 antenuator and wanted to get an opionion before i try it on c.o.p. testing

The Sainsmart should be Okay although like most of these Chinese scope I think you find the software is a pain in the neck to use and it won't have a setting for an x20 attenuator as these are only really used for automotive work so you will need to use the x10 setting and multiply by 2.
Thr alternative is to buy an x100 attenuator for coils and an x10 for normal gasoline injectors.

wes p wrote: I found a cheap power probe like the p100 on line for 60 dallars I havnt used it yet but I been studying sample rates . I think snapon samples at 200 times per second I had bought a dso pocket scope similar to that one ,gave to my son in Sweden everything high dallar in Europe. I suppose be great for checking for signals but not fast enough to catch fall outs or spikes on intermittents. but u got the old ford Wiggle test for grounds and opens.

200 samples per second is a graphing volt meter a useful tool but not a scope , actually most automotive work can be done with a fairly low spec scope, although my own scope samples at 100gs/s I would trade most that speed for memory depth which is one of the many areas Pico scores top marks. Where Pico falls down is it is tied to a Notebook/Laptop. Hand held and tiny palm sized scopes including the uScope and DSO Nano are super handy for working away from base or when working under the dash.
The cheapest scope I have seen that I think could do useful work is USB scope called the "SimpleScope" it is made in the Ukraine it occasionally appears on eBay and sells in £20/25$/22 Euro price I think I will buy one just to see if it could be a useful tool.

I'm willing to buy Launch ScanPadII and it's Labscope; are you aware that Launch's Labscope is pretty well or PicoScope is more better?
Im giving more value to Launch over Verus because Launch allowed much extra access to resets.
Give your suggestion please

The launch is a hantek. Pico is go to be a lot better

I have a Hantek 1008C and when I turn on a third channel it freaks out. You can see a video here:

I was thinking about getting a Pico 2204a, but shipping and customs is a big issue. But since the hantek works ok with two channels, I'll probably just wait.

All multi-channel DSO work by splitting the bandwidth between channels. The Hantek is not a very fast scope to start with but if you try looking at a fastish signal with multiple channels the scope won't keep up also I noticed some channels on the 1008 are just noisy than others.
A faster scope not only collects more data points but each data point is an average of x number of readings. My own scope is rated at 1giga Samples/second and 100mhz bandwidth. I truth each channel will only give 1/4 of that but compare that 25mhz with the performance of the Hantek 1008. The 1008 also lacks filters in the software so any high frequency noise can be an issue -- the easy answer to is to make a simple low pass hardware filter that connects between the scope and the signal you looking at.

Having said all that the Hantek 1008 is quite useable tool but with major limitations. Hantek make better scopes although like most Chinese made oscilloscopes they have major limitations and the software has limitations.

I was also looking at the hantek 6074BE which is a 4 channel 100mhz scope for about $200. The problem is that it seems to more or less use the same crappy software as the 1008c.

All the Hantek scopes use similar versions of the same crappy software. Seems like they could make some big improvements relatively easily.

A friend picked up a 6074 scope & it kept locking up on him. I tried it out & it locked up the two computers that I tried it on also. He returned it.

If you do pick one up, make sure that you get from someone that has a good return policy. Don't buy from over seas. Return shipping can be cost prohibitive.

You can download & install the Hantek software & run it in "demo" mode. Limited, but gives you an idea of what it can & can not do.

Avoid the 1008 scope. It is an OK 2-channel scope, but after that it falls on it's face. Don't know what they were thinking making it an 8 channel scope.

The kit's that Hantek sell are pretty nice, for the price. A lot of leads & adapters for the money. Cables are of surprisingly good quality. Avoid their amp clamps, they are as cheap as they come.

I've had a DSO-3064 scope for more than five years & it works OK. There is hope.

Also, the 6074BE scope is a 70MHz scope. Still more than enough, if it works properly.

www.hantek.com/en/ProductDetail_13_10163.html

What about some of the discontinued Pico models:

www.picotech.com/discontinued

Can a decent discontinued 4ch usb scope be picked up cheap?

SailorBob wrote: What about some of the discontinued Pico models:

www.picotech.com/discontinued

Can a decent discontinued 4ch usb scope be picked up cheap?

Used PicoScopes come up for sale from time to time. Automotive scopes usually go for a premium or are overpriced to begin with. Watch out for Manufacture specific scopes that were sold to dealerships. They only run on the software that is supplied to the dealer & will not run on the generic PicoScope software that is available for public download.

There is a guy on Ebay that keeps trying to sell the same bare 2 channel automotive PicoScope. He has "sold" it several times in the last year & ends up relisting it several weeks later. I suspect that the scope is being returned when the buyer finds out that it wont work with the newer software. He is vague in the description & very selective with the pictures. He doesn't show it in the pictures, but by the model number, the scope is from a Toyota dealer. I contacted PicoScope about this & this is the response that I received:

"Hello Arbez,

All the Toyota branded TIS Techstream 4223-12 and 4423-12 Picoscope's are sold to the dealerships only, not the techs. Therefore I wouldn't suggest purchasing it, as it should not be for sale and is likely stolen.

Also, the Toyota PicoScope's came with Toyota specific PicoScope software which is downloaded through a subscription to Toyota's Dealer Technical Information System.

Regards,

Richard Boyd"

~~~

Non automotive Picoscopes are available, but don't work with the special automotive software. If you do chose a non automotive scope, make sure the spec's of the scope will do what you need. Some of them have low voltage ranges (maximum of 5V) & many other limitations. You have to know what you are looking at. The automotive scope is built for automotive use, so the ranges are exactly what you need them to be.

If you are just starting out the Hantek scopes are a good choice. When I bought my Hantek scope, 5+years ago, I thought I would outgrow it & move up to a PicoScope. Here we are 5 years later & I still use it all the time. Yea, the software stinks, compared to the Pico, but is still very usable. If you are up for a little more of a learning curve, the Hantek is a reasonable choice at 1/10th of the price.

trying to delete this post because I realized I was asking questions that were already answered

I would look at what Auto Ditex are offering proper automotive scopes
Link to Auto Ditex Youtube Channel Link to Auto Ditex Youtube

shop.autoscopeology.com USA Agent
www.scantool-direct.co.uk/ditex-shop.html UK Agent

Andy.MacFadyen wrote: I would look at what Auto Ditex are offering proper automotive scopes
Link to Auto Ditex Youtube Channel Link to Auto Ditex Youtube

shop.autoscopeology.com USA Agent
www.scantool-direct.co.uk/ditex-shop.html UK Agent

They don't really list many of the spec's. A lot of the cables look like Hantek parts. Software looks different, but it wouldn't be the first time someone had rebadged a Hantek scope. Can you find anyone that has actually used it?

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configuration

Secondwind wrote: A really low cost option for an oscilloscope if you have a soldering iron is this kit from ebay. It is less than $30 and is surprisingly good. I bought mine several months ago and am amazed at its features including storing the trace and calculating max, min, avg voltage in the trace as well as duty cycle, frequency etc. I have not had an occasion to use it on my cars yet but did diagnose and fix problems on a powered loudspeaker and a signal generator. You can find several listings on ebay but here is one:

I just picked up with of these and will start building it soon. Straightforward instructions. I'm not so good with small component soldering, so we'll see if it works when I'm done.

Sent from my Moto G Play using Tapatalk

arbez wrote:

Andy.MacFadyen wrote: I would look at what Auto Ditex are offering proper automotive scopes
Link to Auto Ditex Youtube Channel Link to Auto Ditex Youtube

shop.autoscopeology.com USA Agent
www.scantool-direct.co.uk/ditex-shop.html UK Agent

They don't really list many of the spec's. A lot of the cables look like Hantek parts. Software looks different, but it wouldn't be the first time someone had rebadged a Hantek scope. Can you find anyone that has actually used it?

Actually look at the scopes. what I do know of Auto Ditex is unlike Hantek Auto Ditex are actively developing their scopes and automotive software. The scopes themselves are nothing like Hantek and the specialist probes they make such as the pressure pulse probe and COP are very different from other ones on the market --- I haven't tried their scopes but I have both of these specialist probes and I am pretty impressed with the quality and value for money. Ditex are an Eastern European company demo software and demos Full specs and demo software can be found on the Ditex ( autoditex.com/ ) or Scantool Direct sites