How do I buy an oscilloscope?
The days of being able to get most things in the high street seemed to have passed by. How do I buy an oscilloscope? Unfortunately if you want to see and touch something before you bought it you can’t. There are some things that can only be bought on the internet and the oscilloscope is one of them. At least it is if you live anywhere near me.
If you are still at the stage of wondering if you need an oscilloscope then read my article “is an oscilloscope worth buying”. This will help you decide if your going to get your money’s worth from getting one.
So where on the internet do you get one from?
Well your not stuck for choice. There are plenty of people wanting to sell you an oscilloscope. There is eBay for example, they have plenty of sellers. unfortunately I wouldn’t buy a large expensive item from them any more. I did buy an item from eBay at just under £200 and I didn’t receive the item. Somehow the item had been marked as delivered on their system.
Even though I had no goods or any proof that it had been delivered. Even though I proved to them I hadn’t had the item. After about ten phone calls and scanning post office letters I was left helpless by them. They could understand my frustration but couldn’t or wouldn’t help so at least I learned one thing from the experience. Never to but items through eBay again.
There are still plenty of other online stores and I’ll happily try them, but not with an item that’s going to cost in the region of a few hundred pounds.
Where do I buy an oscilloscope?
So that leaves me with Amazon. I’ve bought stuff before and had the odd problem but they quickly sorted it out. I’m more confident that with Amazon if there is any issue they’ll help because they have in the past.
In my opinion the best place to buy an oscilloscope from is Amazon and more specifically Amazon prime. With Amazon prime you can get free next day delivery. If your not a prime member you can get a free 28 day trial. For you free Amazon prime trial click the link below.
Even if you don’t intend to carry on after the 28 day trial you may as well use it for the free next day delivery of an expensive item like an oscilloscope.
I had the trial for 28 days and bought a few other items in that period. I loved next day deliverer so much I couldn’t go back to waiting days so I carried on being an Amazon prime member.
Amazon have a few models and specifically the one I was interested in. I got my oscilloscope next day and ordered it on a Thursday. Knowing I had the Friday off to get it and play with my new toy. I don’t know if its for any Amazon delivery or only Amazon prime but not only do you get a rough time slot of when is going to be delivered, but when it gets near to your location a map pops up and you can track where it is. More specifically it will tell you how many stops away you are and you can see it getting closer to you. This is actually really useful if you busy doing something or want to do something that will stop you getting to the door.
How much does an oscilloscope cost?
To buy a real oscilloscope its going to cost you between £250 and £400. There are some options that are cheaper but £250 will buy you a proper all in one oscilloscope with decent specifications. When I say decent specifications I’m meaning 100 MHz bandwidth, dual channel, digital storage oscilloscope.
There are cheaper options that you may find suitable for your needs.
There are kit options for around £20. If that is something that interests you check out my article here on the DSO138 oscilloscope kit.
Although these can be extremely useful they obviously won’t give you the same level of performance of a proper oscilloscope but if that’s all you can afford then a £20 kit oscilloscope is better than no oscilloscope.
You could also build your own sound card oscilloscope. If that is something you are interested in check out my article here “build a soundcard scope” for full instructions.
Summing up about how do I buy an oscilloscope
Hopefully this article has helped you with the question how do I buy an oscilloscope?
For me an oscilloscope was quite an investment. I don’t spend £300 lightly so not only was there the consideration of the model that I wanted to buy, there was also where to get it from. Would you trust a £300 purchase from company that you weren’t really sure about? Amazon are cheap enough but I would sooner pay £20 more for the piece of mind that I’ll get it.
Check out buying guide “best hobbyist oscilloscope” for some help, tips and advice so you get the best oscilloscope that suits you and your needs.