Oscilloscope - Tek 2465A, HP 54112D Any experience

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Hi Guys,

The ebay bug has bit and I'm torn between these two scopes:

Tek 2465A - Analog 350MHz, 4 channel - $500

HP 54112D - Digital 100MHz, color, 4 channel - $600


Anyone have an opinion?

Thanks,

Dale

P.S. For my audio diy habbit and the occasional digital microcontroller work.
 
Dale,
the tektronix is a great scope. I never used the HP.
Beware of some of the digital scope in terms of their ability to effectively look at real time signal. I have had some troubles with tek digital scopes before.
Before you go on ebay you should drive down to "Flea at MIT" in Cambrige MA it's next sunday from 9am to 1 pm, they have tons of instrumentation you can touch, feel, test, take home and you have a month warranty. If you are interested it's on the parking lot between Albany St. and main st.??...it's about about a block north-west of the Whitehead Institute.
 
I'd go with the Tek, no question. From my experience with the HP digital scopes, I always felt clumsy using them. The look and feel, user interface with the Tek scopes is a lot nicer IMHO. Also, if this is to be your primary hobby scope, you'll get a lot more mileage out of a 350MHz analog scope than a 100MHz digital. Not only will you have better bandwidth, but analog scopes are way better than digital for most waveforms. The only thing you don't get with most analog scopes is the storage feature. But, it's not very useful unless you're doing lots of digital work, in which case you'll find a logic analyzer much more suitable. I personally have a Tek 2445 150MHz 4Ch. sitting on my bench at home, and I love it. When I need "storage" capability, I grab my digital camera and take a picture of the screen! ;)

BTW - there's another thread on here that deals with pretty much exactly this topic...
 
having worked at Tek for many years I am biassed but......
for ausio work you cant beat a good analog scope!!!

Just have a quick check before you purchase, some old 2465s has an analog IC problem. I am sure they have all been updated bu now but try it first.

Digital scopes are useful but to use one for realtime audio it would cost far too much.

http://www.tek.com/Measurement/cgi-...scopes/faq/2400series/index.html&FrameSet=mbd
 
Dale,
go for the TEK!

me is a big HP fan, i love my HP 1745A, i never found them clumsy and they trigger events that make Tek scopes look like a :car:, just not as fast. :drool:

But: for Audio you need an analogue scope and for digital you need >100MHz bandwidth. A dig.scope is fine to look at signals you know how they look like A->D artifacts, who knows? The analog scope tells you how the signal shape looks.
And it is very interesting to track glitches in a µC circuit if you want to hunt the cause why it does not work as expected.
And for that too you need >100MHz BW.
To have a DSO in addition to and analoge scope is fine. To have a DSO instead, might confuse you.

One hint: buy probes having atleast 3x the BW of the scope. And if you work on tube circuits, buy some spares for the case you fry them.
 
i agree with Dice

don't try to economize with inexpensive probes, the inexpensive ones will lead you to mistrust either your scope or your eyes.

the least expensive "new" tek scope is about $1,100 in the US, perhaps a bit less over there in Sweden.

I have had no problems with my Tek7704A, but it takes up a huge amount of room.
 
Beware also that probe BW goes down when you use them in 10x mode... not obvious when the probe is marked "200MHz" or whatnot. So, good probes are a worthwhile investment (not that I've actually followed my own advice on that one! hehe). Of course, if you're measuring tube circuits, the 10x circuit gives you a much larger input voltage range. Also, at higher voltages, differential amplifiers / inputs are nice. I used to have an <i>ancient</i> Tek analog storage scope (model 645?), and it's vertical amp module had differential input which came in handy several times. Apart from it's enormous size and weight, and a severe bandwidth problem, it was a super scope! Actually, I still have it packed away somewhere... I should dig it up.
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.