a few new tech toys

There is nothing that I don't try to do myself. This is my justification when it comes to tools and equipment and I enjoy learning new things. We live in an era that you can get excellent tools and equipment at very affordable prices. So affordable that rarely it is economical to go rent them especially when it is more than a one project use.


this is my existing analog oscilloscope; it is a great one

I use it for development of electronic projects

 I use it for diagnose automobile electronics

Very often using an analog scope to capture non-repetitive events is just difficult and sometimes impossible. It has been a very long time that I want to get a now so affordable digital storage oscilloscope (DSO). I waited and I just bought one that is 4 channel of 100MHz, for less than a set of track tires for the Mini.

I seized on the opportunity to snatch an opened box deal on Amazon. This one is marked as "used - very good" rating which often means no longer includes the original container.

the scope is protected by the original foam cushion is a good sign

seeing only two probes has been opened is also a good sign meaning someone tested out the scope and for whatever reason decided to return it

everything is there and the scope seems to not have been mishandled

I inspected it carefully for damage or sign of it has been opened/dissembled

power up sequence

I proceeded to check out the probes and all 4 channels of inputs; I could tell no one has yet touch the compensation adjustment of the probes as they are all consistent optimized at x1 setting

I did a quick check on all 4 input channels by comparing their uniformity amongst one another in terms of noise floor and rise time of the built in test waveform

It is an excellent DSO for the price point. It has one of the largest and best display amongst DSO of this performance. There are 14 vertical reticles. Because of the opened box I bought this for merely $22 more than a 4 x 50MHz DSO that is now 5 year old design. This is a screaming bargain for sure and I am very glad that I waited.

Another toy that I just acquired is a digital inclinometer. Wanting to quantify the cambers setting that I made with my own DIY alignment compelled me to buy this $30 tool. It is excellent and more accurate than I need in most use.