Need some advice about choosing DSO (digital oscilloscope)

[hugobross]

Hi all!

First of all I want to say I'm back! I've been away for a while after I graduated and started working in the IT-sector.

Right now I'm getting bored of programming, so I decided to go back to my other passion: electronics!

I've been looking around to buy me a new digital oscilloscope.
On Ebay I saw several interesting low budget scopes (like Owon and Welec), but I've read in reviews that most of them are just a pile of junk. I don't know if this is true, but I really don't want to waste my money.

I've heard some good stuff about Rigol, but there are almost no dealers for this brand in Belgium. And I want some good support/warranty if necessary.

Recently I discovered this online shop (also for Belgium):
http://be.farnell.com/
I think these scopes are among the most interesting (imo):

GW-INSTEK GDS-1062 - 797€ (incl VAT)
Bandwidth:60MHz
250MSa/s Realtime Sampling Rate
25GSa/s ET Sampling Rate
Time, rise:5.8ns
more info: http://be.farnell.com/gw-instek/gds-...our/dp/1563799

GW-INSTEK GDS-2062 - 1058€ (incl VAT)
Bandwidth:60MHz
1 GSa/s Realtime Sampling Rate
25GSa/s ET Sampling Rate
Time, rise:5.8ns
more info: http://be.farnell.com/gw-instek/gds-...mhz/dp/1277402

Uni-Trend UT2062C - 890€(incl VAT)
Bandwidth:60MHz
500MSa/s ~ 1GSa/s Realtime Sampling Rate
25GSa/s ET Sampling Rate
Time, rise:5.8ns
more info: http://be.farnell.com/uni-t/ut-2062c...col/dp/1563729

Uni-Trend UT3062C - 890€(incl VAT)
Bandwidth:60MHz
500MSa/s ~ 1GSa/s Realtime Sampling Rate
25GSa/s ET Sampling Rate
Time, rise:5.8ns
more info: http://be.farnell.com/uni-t/ut-3062c...col/dp/1563733

I'm really doubting between these (and other) types.
I just want to buy a decent scope with good value for money. I want to use it for all round purposes, I've chosen 60 MHz bandwidth for the types above because I want some headroom for future/advanced projects (in comparison with 20 MHz). I also decided to go digital because it saves some room and those DSO's have some nice features as printing, USB interface, math functions (Add, Subtract, Divide, Reverse and FFT), ..

Can anyone give me good advice for making a choice?
What about real time / equivalent sampling rates, rise time, etc??

Other suggestions / opinions are also welcome!


Thanks in advance!

HB.

[Conrad Hoffman]

Upfront, I haven't used any of the scopes you're looking at, though I do have some familiarity with Insteks other instruments. You need to describe what you want to do. I use a lot of low end Tek digital scopes at work, and they get simple design jobs done, but seem to fall short on tough jobs and especially analog. It's only when you get up above the $8k range that I prefer digital scopes to almost any analog scope. My biggest complaint is 8-bit vertical resolution. It's just not enough for seeing subtle analog problems. The best combination might be the digital scope with the most digital-centric features you can afford, plus a used analog scope of moderate bandwidth.

[forr]

Looking for advices about the Uni-Trend DSO, I discover that Farnell does not sell them anymore. Do you know the reason why ? Are they reliable ?