Advice in oscilloscope needs

Thanks Peter and Peter!

I am just a hobbyist so need to keep the price under $200AUD. As far as I can tell the C64 clock runs at 8Mhz so yes it would appear the DS201 probably wont fit the bill. The Hantech 6022BE claims to run at 20MHZ http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hantek-6022BE-PC-Based-USB-Digital-Storag-Oscilloscope-2-Channels-20MHz-48MSa-s-/231040792895?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item35cb1ab93f

There is also this one near me 10MHz Oscilloscope With Probe *** Smith Q1803 Pickup From 4128 OR Post | eBay

In Australia *** Smith was previously a local hobby electronics retailer.

Indeed I am still wondering if a logic analyser would be better for me. I see this one similar to the first: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hantek-6022BL-PC-Based-USB-Digital-Portable-Oscilloscope-16-CHs-Logic-Analyzer-/380925589837?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item58b0ef394d

I know these are cheap and you get what you pay for but I wont need to use one very often and if I can use it to measure the pulse widths and series of pulses of the Megadrive I think that will be all I need.

Thanks again for helping me out.

edit: I am not sure how regular the signal for the megadrive controller repeats so a method to record the output so I can look back over it might be useful? I wondered if the USB/software based logic analyser might do this? need to look into this as well?

It would be at its limits at 8Mhz because its sampling is only 48Mhz so even a 4* overhead would barly give you 10Mhz

An alternate option is to purchase an older analogue scope. there are very good and can be had at quite a good price. Dave Jones of the EEVBlog is always saying this too so Im not alone in this opinion and in some respects this can provide a better learning experiance than a medocure but new digital one

Just a thought

Thanks Peter,

IT might be hard to come by anything decent though? The Q1803 I mentioned above was mentioned last year on eevblog and they said $100 was too much to pay. I found another a qc-1901 on eBay but on eevblog again they said it wasn't very good.

So again I wonder if that hantek logic analyser might be ok for me? I have looked at the articles on the pros and cons of oscilloscope vs logic analyser and it isn't clear cut for me but since I am mainly intrested in low voltage digital signals...? What would be the downside for me with something like that? I often have my laptop on the desk programming arduinos so I don't mind having to hook up to that.

thanks for any help, I just don't want to spend the money and find I can't see exactly the pulse train coming from the megadrive primarily and secondly the c64. I have a logic probe coming in the mail as well so I hope that will help with my diagnostics also.

Thanks Peter,

IT might be hard to come by anything decent though? The Q1803 I mentioned above was mentioned last year on eevblog and they said $100 was too much to pay. I found another a qc-1901 on eBay but on eevblog again they said it wasn't very good.

So again I wonder if that hantek logic analyser might be ok for me? I have looked at the articles on the pros and cons of oscilloscope vs logic analyser and it isn't clear cut for me but since I am mainly intrested in low voltage digital signals...? What would be the downside for me with something like that? I often have my laptop on the desk programming arduinos so I don't mind having to hook up to that.

thanks for any help, I just don't want to spend the money and find I can't see exactly the pulse train coming from the megadrive primarily and secondly the c64. I have a logic probe coming in the mail as well so I hope that will help with my diagnostics also.

A logic analyser isn't much use if you don't have a scope - I would always get the scope first.

You can get a 10MHz Pico scope with 2 channels for £79 but you need to buy probes separately which will take you to about £99.

The Rigol DS1000E is £199 and about the cheapest almost decent real scope on the market.

If it's the most you can afford the Hantek is useable (just) see review here: http://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hantek-6022be-will-it-work-for-me/

(Note: it claims 20MHz bandwidth and samples at 48MHz, the Pico has  a 10MHz bandwidth and samples at 200MHz - imagine representing a sine wave with 2.4 samples and decide which supplier is talking sense !)

The ebay ones you linked looked pretty bad value - if you were local I'd sell you a 20MHz glass screen scope for £10 (if you told  a good story I'd give it to you since I got it off a skip (literally) 12 years ago). Try begging from local electronics places (if there are any).

MK

Thanks michael,

I had seen that review previously and from that and your post I think i will give it a try. For $80 delivered (found a non eBay site in Australia) I can't go too far wrong I don't think. I think for my megadrive project with pulses at around 10 microseconds it should work fine? I also found a YouTube video of a guy repairing a commodore 64 using one so that is a good sign.

i Will keep my eye out though on gumtree and eBay if any good second hand ones come up locally.

If anyone else has any last thoughts (warnings!) I would appreciate it.

Gavin...