How to Choose an Oscilloscope

Professionals in fields as wide ranging as electrical engineering, automotive repair and physics depend on high-quality oscilloscopes to get their jobs done right. Whatever your need for an oscilloscope, the important thing is to know how to choose the best equipment before you buy.

Instructions

1. Make a list of the reasons you need the oscilloscope and the kinds of features that these reasons dictate. Consider the signal range that you will be measuring with the equipment, whether it needs to be connected to the Internet, whether you want to measure multiple signals at once and what level of precision you need out of the device.

2. Get the technical specifications of the oscilloscope right by ensuring that you need only 2 or 4 channels and checking to see that the equipment has a bandwidth that up to 5 times greater than the device you're measuring. Also, buy an oscilloscope with the right sampling rate, dependent on your application, and check the resolution to see if you need standard 8-bit resolution or more advanced 12- or 16-bit resolution.

3. Choose oscilloscopes that come with a money-back guarantee, especially if they are at the upper end of the equipment quality spectrum. Buy an oscilloscope with a rock-solid return policy and try it out to make sure you can use the equipment properly before deciding that it's right for you.

4. Ask the vendor about software upgrades and product support. Generally, you should only buy oscilloscopes that come with free upgrades and lots of realtime product support (unless you're buying used).

5. Consider buying used oscilloscopes from eBay or other vendors if you're using the equipment for non-critical purposes. If you need higher quality, buy the piece of equipment from a laboratory that can provide detailed usage history of the oscilloscope.