The cheapest USB scope I could find online

Reviewing the cheapest dual channel USB PC scope I could find, the Instrustar ISDS205A. It has a few disappointing limitations, but overall it's quite usable (it could be much worse).
and given that my goal was a cheap scope, it's not too bad.

[ThinkinThoed]

If anyone is curious, Windows 7 and Windows 8 drivers *generally* do work in Windows 10, if they're not labeled for Windows 10. Basically the same underlying OS for the most part! :)

[MLFranklin]

Wow, this was pretty cool. I thought you were just an expert at woodworking. I appreciate your diversity of skills and interests.

[mibobalou]

With most instruments like this, if you run the PC on battery power alone, without the AC charger plugged in, you should have significantly lower residual background noise.

[uni-byte]

I got one of these too as a laugh, about a year after you did. I paid $72 CDN for it. For some reason on certain computers the drivers cause issues. Also the bandwidth, in real terms, is not 20MHz. Maybe 7MHz if you're generous. So for digital it's of limited use, even for those of us into retro computing. But for audio it's just fine. All in all I agree that i's a pretty good value and certainly better than no scope at all.

[kwhp]

I am loving these videos more than your woodworking videos. Don’t get me wrong I also love your wood videos, especially when testing joints or new joints you create methods for. There’s nothing wrong with changing what you do and like doing during your YouTube career/journey. I started off learning woodworking and still do, but I have also been teaching myself electronic and appliance work and repair, and very slowly learning microcontrollers. I am not advanced as I would like to be, but the way you use the scope in this video raises an eyebrow of things I never thought of before. This tempts me to try my rigol 1054z in some new ways.

[trainliker]

I liked that he left the part in where he hooked it to the wrong probe. I think everybody does things like. At least I have. I was once working on a developing a very high input impedance high gain op amp amplifier and was reading all sorts of noise. It was driving me nuts. It turns on I hadn't turned on the power supply powering the circuit under test. So, I simply had a crude antenna picking up local radio stations and whatever other electromagnetic radiation was around. Of course, I believe that somebody who never makes a mistake, is somebody who isn't doing anything.

[ATrustInThrust]

Absolutely loving these recent videos! They’re awesome

[imqqmi]

I really enjoy both woodworking, maths electronics and mouse maze stuff, just about everything you show us 😊 I'm sure the cheap scope will serve you well. The best scope is the one you actually use. I love the rigol ds1054z, it has been such an essential tool in many of my projects. Love to see scope plots in your future projects! It's a great visualizing tool for producing videos too.

[ionymous]

I bought one of these about 15 years ago. I've used in on a few hobby projects and it did the job.

[poptartmcjelly]

Looks the same as one of the Hantek cheapies, basically an ADC in a box.
I'd personally prefer the OWON USB scopes, mainly because they have a true scope front end and do all the signal processing in the scope.
I got my VDS1022 for sbout 85€ and it's pretty neat.

[LeonvandenBeukel]

A couple of years ago I also looked for this kind of USB oscilloscopes but could not find many good reviews on them back then. I eventually bought a Rigol DS1054 which is ok for home and hobby use.

[reilly]

I love these nerdier videos! (I live the projects too) Thanks for everything you do!!

[isettech]

Noise you don't like is related to the bit depth. Many USB scopes do not have front end attenuaters for range switching.

[EJEuth]

Very nice your comments, really appreciated.

[pmarintube]

There is an open source signal analysis software called sigrok that I think it supports your device.

[bgable]

Thanks for the updated video on these USB scopes. I can't justify spending ~250.00 to 400.00 for a tool that I will occasionally use for IoT interest/hobby. When the need / ROI occurs, I'll deal will shelling out the $$$.

[Iamthatmike]

I love your woodworking videos and the latest round of experiment and tech videos are just as good.

I would love to see strength tests comparing adhesives similar to the joint strength tests you did a few years ago. How does CA glue, epoxy, and construction adhesive compare to wood glue? Do some perform better on butt joints vs mortise, bridle, etc?

[submarine.seas]

Really excited to see you doing this kind of stuff. I have Enjoyed your wood working videos also. Thank you.

[leightonboster]

I have a similar one purchased for working on vehicles and testing sensors and waveforms. It's an autel unit. Was about $600 I believe but it came with lots of different connectors and leads. Along with reduction coils for watching spark plug wires. The best part I think is it has 4 channels not just 2.

[HowardJohnstone]

You should consider the Instrustar ISDS2062A, this has 12-bit ADC, thus 32V and 320V (x10) at a very small amount ($18) extra. Now, this makes it really usable!