It does depend on the standards to which they're manufactured, though, doesn't it? I've got two Agilent 2GHz oscilloscope cards in my logic analyzer, and I suspect they're manufactured to more exacting standards than the one you are considering. Be careful what you conclude from the remark that they're made in the same facility. Agilent's instruments are manufactured in many different plants, and just because one plant makes one component for Agilent really doesn't say much.


I'd caution you that a computer implementation of an istrument is seldom as convenient as one with knobs and switches, even if it is computer-controlled internally. Now, I admit, I don't like computer controlled oscilloscopes, preferring the older 1960's generation of solid-state instruments, but one that requires you to operate your computer on each step of the process of debugging your hardware seems a bit more troublesome to me. Have you considered, at all, purchasing an "experienced-but-fully-functional" instrument of the 1960's generation, e.g. a Tektronix 475A with three P6106 probes? You can even get one, such as what I have, which has the DM44 option built in, thereby providing a multimeter, temperature measurement probe support, counter/timer, etc. along with the 250 MHz analog oscilloscope. There's a 100 MHz 465 available, too. eBay is a decent source of "experienced" instruments, though you do have to read the "fine print" in an advertisement. When a seller says he'll refund your purchase price, but requires that YOU pay the return freight, particularly if it's to someplace far away, you should consider that risk.

I recently had someone sell me an arbitrary waveform generator that purportedly came from HongKong, where ethical standards are as high as they get in the PRC, but which actually came from a plant in GuangDung, where fraud and generally low ethical standards have been said to prevail, and had to pay about 1/3 of the cost of the instrument, just to ship it back. It had been packaged very well, which evidenced the fact that it had been packed defective, as no damage was apparent in the packaging, and power-on-self-test showed the item was defective. No ... nothing had been "shaken loose" in transit. I carefully studied the service manuals prior to purchasing it in order to assess the risk. Needless to say, I don't buy used instrumentation from China any longer.

A used fully functional TEKTRONIX 465 tends to cost about $100 on eBay, and the compatible P6105 probes cost about $25 each if they're complete. You do want to use TEKTRONIX probes, as they have the ground pin that tells the 'scope that it's a 10x probe.

RE