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Budget/hobby oscilloscope recommendations?

OffGridVT

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Joined
Feb 21, 2020
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I have half heartedly been in the market for an oscilloscope for a while. I have never used one, but have had a number of instances where I think an oscilloscope would be useful for diagnosing a problem (how bad is the voltage ripple is my wind turbine after a rectifier and capacitor? how clean is the power out of the generator and inverters?)

I’m not in a position where I can spent a ton, how are the lower cost off-brand oscilloscopes? Does anyone have any experience with the cheaper offerings out there? Would I be better off with a used name brand one, or do they tend to have problems?

I am imagining an oscilloscope in the $100-$250 range. I like the idea of the handheld battery operated ones as then I have flexibility with grounding.. but thats not a must.
 
Check out the Hanteck 2D72 70MHz handheld oscilloscope, DMM multimeter, and wave form generator all in one. Simple effective and portable. It will not be as good as a Tecktronix or HP but dragging these beasts about really isn’t a lot of fun. I have both and for simple quick look, especially for in the field, these handheld ones are perfect. I got my Hanteck unit off eBay but Amazon has them or order off AliExpress,...
 
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FYI- Not sure if there are auction houses near you but where I live there are two that auctions off Amazon, Walmart, Lowes, an Home Depot returned items. I’ve seem several nice digital oscilloscopes auctioned off and they are typically 1/2 the price of full retail. So another place to keep an eye out. But do look on the other selling sites like Craig’s list or Facebook selling... These sites typically have the big older units for a fair price.
 
Thats an idea, I am in a quite rural area, but I will look into the local auctions
 
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