My Fluke Scopemeter 190 has been an invaluable tool since i purchased it used about 5 years ago. I've used it on all of my digital electronics projects many of which involved my little Taig desktop CNC machine. But all good things must come to an end and although it still functions, my little scopemeter is just not as capable as i need it to be in this modern age. I've been looking at the Rigol 1052 as a replacement. It has 2 analog channels + 16 logic channels which is great for monitoring serial signals and anything with a clock signal.

We have the scopes at work, and they are quite nice, especially the 730. And may be moddable to 100mhz depending on the software version. I'm narrowing it down to the Rigol 1052D and the Owon SDS7102. Free delivery and returns on all eligible orders. Shop New Owon 100mhz Oscilloscope Sds7102 1g/s Large 8' Lcd w/ 3 Ys Warranty VGA+ LAN.

I used a very nice 4 channel Agilent at my last job but i have a bit of sticker shock for that brand. Can anyone vouch for the Rigol brand or suggest another brand/model? Some of the things that set a professional scope like Tektronix apart from the hobbyist type scopes are: - The variety of triggering modes. That's the one that does it.

Want to trigger if one pulse in a continuous pulse train is shorter than the others? Or longer than 'X' time? The Tek digital scopes, especially the 730 I mentioned, will do that sort of thing. There are 6 'screens' of trigger modes on the THS730, I don't recall what they all are even though I have used a lot of them from time to time. Land rover series 2a chassis numbers. Want to know the actual DC level? The RMS value of the waveform?

You can get it. Try that stuff on your 'chinese special'. Which will NOT have isolated inputs, so everything is ground referenced. That's the one that does it. Want to trigger if one pulse in a continuous pulse train is shorter than the others? Or longer than 'X' time?

The Tek digital scopes, especially the 730 I mentioned, will do that sort of thing. There are 6 'screens' of trigger modes on the THS730, I don't recall what they all are even though I have used a lot of them from time to time. Want to know the actual DC level? The RMS value of the waveform?

You can get it. Try that stuff on your 'chinese special'. Which will NOT have isolated inputs, so everything is ground referenced. JT, do you know of a good (i.e. Inexpensive) place to get the replacement 'Stick' battery those Teks use? Mine is shot and I'm tempted to build one up from tabbed Nicads.

Thanks for all this information. I'm narrowing it down to the Rigol 1052D and the Owon SDS7102 or MSO7102. Although i wish i could afford a Tektronix or Agilent, it's just not in the budget. I'm also moving away from a handheld unit. The fluke scopemeter was purchased because it was a great deal that just happened to be portable. The Owon MSO has the logic analyzer but not great memory depth and the SDS series has great memory depth but no logic analyzer and the Rigol seems to be in the middle. It has 1Mpoint memory depth and a 16 channel logic analyzer.

The prices are all fair so it will come down to features. I'm leaning towards the Rigol but I'll see how i feel in a few days after i have a good think about it.