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SainSmart DSO213 Mini Digital Oscilloscope

SainSmart DSO213 Mini Digital Oscilloscope

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Product Description
Great for hobbyists and tinkerers, the SainSmart DSO213 mini four-channel oscilloscope allows for observation of varying signal voltages and currents. It features a 3-inch capacitive touch display with a 400-by-240p resolution Read More

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ForbiddenEra
1
Mar 11, 2019
Thanks, Massdrop. I wrote a huge review to accidentally tap off to another drop and lost it all when pressing back, the field should have repopulated. Anyway, I will have to keep this shorter because I am now frustrated! This is a good scope, in my opinion. Not the best out there, but decent and a great size. I own an automotive comoany doing electronics and car audio. For these uses, it is indispensable. It can handle anything within the audible frequency range quite easily. It is also useful for analyzing circuits. I have to admit that I did not live with the stock firmware on this device for very long. I quickly swapped it out with the WildCat firmware which, IMHO, makes the device easier to use while adding some good functionality. There are also some hardware modifications that can be done easily tomincrease the analog bandwidth of the scope. http://www.minidso.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1718 is a link to a thread discussing such modification, from that thread I quote: "For reasons beyond my meager comprehension the analog bandwidth of the DSO203 seems to be set artificially low. The C73 and C74 (feedback capacitors on U17 and U18, respectively) limit the bandwidth to about 4.4 MHz, even though the analog bandwidth is often reported as being 8MHz.  And this is when it is not being bizarrely misreported, like mistaking the 72 MHz sample rate for the analog bandwidth. Towards improving that low bandwidth, I offer the following suggested circuit component changes. " To sum it up, IMHO: The Good: - small, portable, lightweight & battery powered - can load customized firmware & 'programs' - popular with lots of information and modifications available - perfect for any audio-related work - good for a lot of automotive work - the cost, it is relatively cheap (in the world of scopes) - multiple channels (imho the 1 channek nature of the nano and others makes them much less appealing) - frequency generator output can be useful - ability to analyze rs232/ttl/uart signals with custom f/w The Bad: - stock software can be limiting / hard to navigate - the charge IC on mine blew up when plugging it in to charge in the USB port on a crappy deck in a clients car (deck died for 10min after that too) and now, while it charges, it always thinks it is charging thus keeping the screen & charge LED on all the time,ndraining the battery. This was likely somehow my fault, but thought I would mention it anyway - screen could be a higher resolution, it is not touchscreen - going on that last point, this model (while the hw version has been updated) has been around for more than a few years, something newer should've come out by now, IMHO. - ability to decode rs232/1wire/canbus/etc out of box would be awesome (some can be done with custom fw) - the cost (yes, I listed this as a pro too), IMHO this scope shoukd be 129.99$ USD max. Should you buy it? I would say it depends. I don't regret my purchase, even if I do regret overpaying for it (paid like 350, went on sale a week later at the place I got it, should have ordered online, would have saved more but I did support a local small business..) If you are a hobbyist looking to measure Arduino or other simple circuits, do audio tuning or anything like that, then definitely. If you are looking to do logic analysis specifically, do some Googling - I have read about other sub-200$ devices for logic analysis with more channels, from the same manufacturer, they have a la104 analyzer. There are also many USB-based (Analog Discovery) portable scopes/analyzers with more channels in the same price range but all require a host device (laptop) to be useful. If you are doing serious work, then you will be aware of the properties you need to measure for your work - if the specs say it can measure what you need to measure, than I say give it a shot. If it can't, then you'll have to find something better which will likely cost more and be bigger.
Ahhpancakes
19
Mar 9, 2019
I was really excited about this drop until I read this:
  • “Horizontal sensitivity: 100 nS/Div–1 S/Div(1-2-5 sequence step)“
My exacting hobbyist elektrikle engineer standards require a minimum horizontal sensitivity of AT LEAST 100.00005 nS and a Div(1-2-23 sequence step). Also it only comes with only 10 probe analyzers. I analize A LOT of probes, you guys. A lot. I feel like they are judging me by only including 10. Ah well. I’m sure there’s a portable oscilloscope for me out there somewhere. It’s a big world and there are so many wave forms to visualize. So many wave forms.
Recent Activity
Thanks, Massdrop. I wrote a huge review to accidentally tap off to another drop and lost it all when pressing back, the field should have repopulated. Anyway, I will have to keep this shorter because I am now frustrated! This is a good scope, in my opinion. Not the best out there, but decent and a great size. I own an automotive comoany doing electronics and car audio. For these uses, it is indispensable. It can handle anything within the audible frequency range quite easily. It is also useful for analyzing circuits. I have to admit that I did not live with the stock firmware on this device for very long. I quickly swapped it out with the WildCat firmware which, IMHO, makes the device easier to use while adding some good functionality. There are also some hardware modifications that can be done easily tomincrease the analog bandwidth of the scope. http://www.minidso.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1718 is a link to a thread discussing such modification, from that thread I quote: "For reasons beyond my meager comprehension the analog bandwidth of the DSO203 seems to be set artificially low. The C73 and C74 (feedback capacitors on U17 and U18, respectively) limit the bandwidth to about 4.4 MHz, even though the analog bandwidth is often reported as being 8MHz.  And this is when it is not being bizarrely misreported, like mistaking the 72 MHz sample rate for the analog bandwidth. Towards improving that low bandwidth, I offer the following suggested circuit component changes. " To sum it up, IMHO: The Good: - small, portable, lightweight & battery powered - can load customized firmware & 'programs' - popular with lots of information and modifications available - perfect for any audio-related work - good for a lot of automotive work - the cost, it is relatively cheap (in the world of scopes) - multiple channels (imho the 1 channek nature of the nano and others makes them much less appealing) - frequency generator output can be useful - ability to analyze rs232/ttl/uart signals with custom f/w The Bad: - stock software can be limiting / hard to navigate - the charge IC on mine blew up when plugging it in to charge in the USB port on a crappy deck in a clients car (deck died for 10min after that too) and now, while it charges, it always thinks it is charging thus keeping the screen & charge LED on all the time,ndraining the battery. This was likely somehow my fault, but thought I would mention it anyway - screen could be a higher resolution, it is not touchscreen - going on that last point, this model (while the hw version has been updated) has been around for more than a few years, something newer should've come out by now, IMHO. - ability to decode rs232/1wire/canbus/etc out of box would be awesome (some can be done with custom fw) - the cost (yes, I listed this as a pro too), IMHO this scope shoukd be 129.99$ USD max. Should you buy it? I would say it depends. I don't regret my purchase, even if I do regret overpaying for it (paid like 350, went on sale a week later at the place I got it, should have ordered online, would have saved more but I did support a local small business..) If you are a hobbyist looking to measure Arduino or other simple circuits, do audio tuning or anything like that, then definitely. If you are looking to do logic analysis specifically, do some Googling - I have read about other sub-200$ devices for logic analysis with more channels, from the same manufacturer, they have a la104 analyzer. There are also many USB-based (Analog Discovery) portable scopes/analyzers with more channels in the same price range but all require a host device (laptop) to be useful. If you are doing serious work, then you will be aware of the properties you need to measure for your work - if the specs say it can measure what you need to measure, than I say give it a shot. If it can't, then you'll have to find something better which will likely cost more and be bigger.
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