At eevblog.com forum Chinese scopes are a daily discussion for over 3 years.
In summary, in the <= 100 MHz level they are very cost effective but there are better and worse. Rigol, Owon and Hantek are on par while Atten and Uni-T are consistently rated less. The criteria for rating them are measurement accuracy and precision, UI, construction quality and tech support. Prices vary depending on country, and local support varies. Those differences will help you choose between the better 3 brands. Rigol is consistent in quality all around, but cost more than the others. Rigol is the only maker with scopes that compete with Agilent or Tek, in the 1-4 GHz level. Support is mostly via the sellers. In the USA, Rigol has a subsidiary that provides responsive support. Owon and Hantek offer larger screens, more features and better GUI, but can be plagued with construction flaws. Its acceptable if your seller will exchange any defective units you purhcase. Owon has provided tech and hardware support directly from China, including spares. Atten and Uni-T glitches are concerning, as they tend to provide erratic measurement. At 04:19 04/16/2012, time-nuts-requ...@febo.com wrote: Message: 7 Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:46:27 +0200 From: Attila Kinali <att...@kinali.ch> To: li...@lazygranch.com, Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement <time-nuts@febo.com> Subject: [time-nuts] Chinese Scopes (was: Re: LORAN-C at MIT) Message-ID: <20120416094627.f245ebdfd5df7305dd528...@kinali.ch> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII On Sun, 15 Apr 2012 22:42:31 +0000 li...@lazygranch.com 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 could need a "modern" DSO as addition to my stone age 2ch 50MHz Tek. But there isn't any usable surplus market in europe and used scopes cost nearly as much as new ones. Ie Tek, Agilent and LeCroy are out of my budget, even if used. But then, i'd rather spend 2000chf on a new Scope than get one for 500 that isn't half usable. Attila Kinali _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
