[time-nuts] Chinese Scopes (was: Re: LORAN-C at MIT)

[Andrea Baldoni]

On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 09:46:27AM +0200, Attila Kinali wrote:

> > Sadly, the last scope I bought was a Chinese Rigol. (I do have "real"
> > scopes too.) It is getting to the point where Rigol and Instek will make
> > buying boat anchors a thing of the past.
> 
> What's the quality of those chinese scopes?

I never had the opportunity to use good old Tek, HP or Fluke instruments,
because I never had access to them, so when I begun to buy instruments for
myself, I was completely unbiased and I looked to the price and spec sheets
more than the maker.

To start, I wanted to replace my very very old (but very good) analog
multimeter, so I bought an handheld Metex digital multimer. I choose what was
then their top item with thermocouple and PC connectivity.
I had soon to give it away for free to a friend (who needed a wire continuity
beeper) and I bought a Fluke 177. It costed me even more, it has not PC
connectivity and thermocouple, but the Metex was completely unuseable while the
Fluke is very good.

Then it was the time for a scope, a function generator and a lab power supply.
I bought all the three from Instek. The scope was the GDS-820S and as soon as I
had the opportunity, I sold it and bought an Agilent DSO3062A. This Agilent too
is very entry-level, the plastic case cracks easily, in general the quality is
not near the level the other Agilent instruments I late bought (like the
34401A) but the Instek was unuseable while the Agilent is ok.
(I still own the function generator and the power supply: being not precision
items they are useable... but for precision I bought an used Wavetek generator)

To sum it up, my experience is that good instruments are unvaluable, for work
as well for hobby.... (for hobby it's even more important, because it's supposed
you should enjoy doing it!)

Best regards,
Andrea Baldoni