

Handy 4-channel digital oscilloscope for $159 - sasvari
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/preorder-dso-quad-beta-test-p-736.html?cPath=174

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proee
Title is misleading. This is not a 4-channel oscilloscope in the classical
sense. Should be called a 2-channel oscilloscope + 2-channel logic analyzer.

Nonetheless, it's perfect for small hobby projects and the price is right.

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jim_h
This is BETA. Just remember that when buy it.

They also have their DSO Nano, which is an older model. It's also half the
price if you just need something basic.

[http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/dso-
nano-v2-p-681.html?cPat...](http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/dso-
nano-v2-p-681.html?cPath=174)

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nuriaion
I don't understand why they only have 4KSamples Storage per channel. The ARM
chip should be able to handle more RAM. Specially for the Logic analyzer part.
If you want to analyze some serial protocol (Serial, SPI, I2C etc.) you are
really limited with only 4k.

I use now the Logic Analyzer from <http://www.saleae.com/> It's a dumb device
and everything is done on the PC. But for simple applications it works fine.

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axiom
Only 7.5MHz bandwidth, and actually only 2 channels. Still $200 is a damn good
price.

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phaedrus
According to the page it's 72 MHz, not 7.5 MHz.

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proee
Actually, it's specced out at 72MHz max sample rate. The actual bandwidth spec
is usually higher and is dependent on the ADC. Would be nice for the OEM to
spec out the two separately.

See: <http://www.bitscope.com/adc/?p=3>

~~~
juiceandjuice
Yeah, actual (acceptable) bandwidth is probably close to 1/4 the sampling
rate. They're fudging terms around here. It's probably somewhere close to
20mhz analog bandwidth.

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mikeknoop
Nearly all engineering instrumentation is expensive. Why? Is it disruptable?

~~~
juiceandjuice
Specifications and reliability. Industrial vs. commercial spec parts, wire
wound resistors, temperature compensation devices, 5ppm oscillators, lots of
reasons.

Some of the old tektronix wiring really is a thing of beauty. The tektronix
360 modules are so lovely.

~~~
mechanical_fish
A few years back I managed to buy a cheap digital voltmeter that was actually
_wrong_. As in: consistently off by 20% or more when measuring voltages in the
range of volts. (!)

Ever since I've been trying to figure out how much to spend to get a voltmeter
that is guaranteed not to suck. I figure it probably still needn't be very
much, but I still haven't chosen one, because I've managed to spook myself. I
tell you, on the day after you catch your test equipment giving you
egregiously bogus misreadings it is hard to resist the impulse to spend the
money on a Fluke or Textronix.

~~~
bcl
You really can't go wrong buying Fluke.

~~~
tesseract
Apart from the accuracy, build quality, etc. one of the reasons I bought my
Fluke DMM is that I was working with some high power circuits (like 600VDC at
60+ amps) and I trust the Fluke more than a random cheap meter not to blow up.
There's a reason the fuses for a good multimeter cost more than the average
discount instrument.

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gallerytungsten
I'd like to see a video of the display. I'm wondering how laggy the display
is, (if that's the case) compared to a regular scope.

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derleth
Why is this interesting enough to have gotten 22 points?

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zdw
A few reasons:

Their stuff is hackable - the previous 2 channel oscilloscope they made got
incrementally more features in it's firmware revisions, and they published the
code- see here: <http://code.google.com/p/dsonano/>

They're a startup, based in Hong Kong (last I checked).

Seeedstudio makes neat stuff, and they're part of the whole electronic
hobbyist renaissance (along with sparkfun, Make magazine, etc.) They offer
neat stuff, at good prices.

~~~
X-Istence
They have been, and still are located in Shenzhen, China:

<http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/contact_us.html>

~~~
zdw
Ah, thanks for the correction.

The last time I ordered something, it came via Hong Kong Post.

~~~
X-Istence
Still does ;-).

Cheapest shipping method for them apparently. Hong Kong post has long had
offices in the mainland though!

