Quick hardware review... Cheap USB scope

From DIY contraptions to sophisticated FreeEMS-specific designs! Plus general hardware development!
Post Reply
nhtshot
TO220 - Visibile
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 5:55 pm

Quick hardware review... Cheap USB scope

Post by nhtshot »

I recently needed a 4-channel scope for some diagnostics. I really didn't want to fork over the $2k+ USD to Tektronix, so I figured I'd give one of those cheap-ass USB machines a whirl. Some of them (Pico) are quite expensive. I settled on the Hantek (Cheap Chinese).

A 4 channel 60Mhz scope for about $300. I really didn't expect much coming in.

http://www.hantek.com.cn/english/produc ... p?unid=122

Bottom line: The English version of the software is quite good. The hardware works pretty well and it has an ethernet, so you can remotely locate the head. It is definitely noisier then my Tek and if you have all 4 channels going, the update speed does drop a bit. Overall, though, great piece of kit. Considering the price, SPECTACULAR piece of kit.

Edit: They don't have a linux version of the software, but they do offer an SDK. Probably wouldn't be hard to interface it to any of the O/S scope viewer tools designed to work with soundcards.

Image
User avatar
Fred
Moderator
Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
Contact:

Re: Quick hardware review... Cheap USB scope

Post by Fred »

Cool, thanks for sharing! :-)
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
User avatar
jharvey
1N4001 - Signed up
Posts: 1607
Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2008 5:17 pm

Re: Quick hardware review... Cheap USB scope

Post by jharvey »

Nice little guy. Looks to cost around $400 to $600 on google shopping. Can you get it lower cost if bought direct from Hantek?

Can the PC software decipher I2C, SPI, ect packets? I'd seen the desktop Tek's can do it, I'm curious if this guy can as well.
nhtshot
TO220 - Visibile
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 5:55 pm

Re: Quick hardware review... Cheap USB scope

Post by nhtshot »

It can't do I2C or SPI, but it can do CAN/LIN bus. For I2c or SPI, the Salae Logic is still a winner and it's also super cheap.

I paid ~$285 USD with shipping from Taobao (Chinese Ebay/Amazon), including an ignition probe. After making this post, I started looking and it doesn't appear that they have a Western world (US/EU) distributor. They really need one.

Perhaps an email to sparkfun is in order.

I don't think the guy speaks English, but if you're interested, I bought it from:

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9952288114


Sean
User avatar
HotCat
LQFP112 - Up with the play
Posts: 110
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:35 am

Re: Quick hardware review... Cheap USB scope

Post by HotCat »

What a cheap price, but I've checked the price on Taobao, it's 1813.00 RMB, it's not cheap, nearly 1/5 of my month salary. BTW, another 1/5 was robbed by Chinese government
Post Reply