I’m a pro EE, over 35 years, specialising in mixed signal & RF, and have a pretty well-equipped lab with scopes up to 20GHz. But I also have two AD2s, an original AD1 and a Digital Discovery. I think you’re vastly underplaying the value of this device, especially when comparing it to the “cheesy scopes”. The ADs get a huge amount of use on the bench, not least because of their diminutive size and more importantly the Waveforms software, which is overwhelmingly the best software I’ve ever encountered for a USB instrument. For field use in particular they’re invaluable. Sure, I’d love to have the luxury of GHz bandwidth scopes with 4+ analogue channels and multi mega point deep memory when away from the bench, but practically speaking almost all of what I do in the mixed signal microcontroller world can be dealt with using an AD. FWIW, I just don’t bother with the BNC extender: it’s extra bulk and not suitable for the rigours of field use. The AD isn’t just for students, it’s an invaluable pro tool too.
the scope is actually *differential* - which is huge. unfortunately, the bnc breakout just tues negative to ground, so you have to build your own to take advantage of the differential inputs. also, having a signal generator onboard means you cause it as an impedance analyzer for measuring filter networks, inductors, etc. Like a superchardged spectrum analyzer. oh, and you can also use it as a curve tracer, too.
Definitely great having the differential inputs. Buy a two-wire clip to bnc adapter and female to male breadboard wires And you're good to go for the differential probe
@@MrMersh-ts7jlI don’t even bother with the BNC adapters, I find them bulky and just hook up directly, almost always in single ended with the -ve’s tied to ground. At first I thought the differential thing was going to be a negative, but to be honest I’ve not really found it a problem at all, and on the odd occasions you do want differential it’s right there.
Really excited to see this review. Got mine a year ago. The performance of the individual 'instruments' is excellent - check out the options for the arbitrary sig gen. Waveforms software is good and documentation unrivalled - clearly aimed at education, it explains how the device works down to a detailed level. BTW, the BNC board is not standard, it's an extra cost option, but gives better s/n performance for audio analysis. Looking forward to pt.2!
Also check out the similar ADALM2000. It's a bit cheaper, but I still find it very useful for education and hobby use. The ADALM2000 is weaker as a power supply, though. It's true that you can get a much better oscilloscope for just a little more, but you would still need a function generator, power supply, and more. One key advantage of these integrated units is space. My lab is a desk top. I don't have room for a lot of equipment. Try the network analyzer. I think you will find it great for learning about filters.
Looks pretty cool and hackable. Skunkie Designs uses one for testing her amps. It's surprising how this pesky little bugger can functionally replace a whole lab! Of course it's not calibrated nor certified, but hell with that, it's still way better than testing audio gear with a soundcard.
First, oscilloscopes are self-contained and more portable; however, a $300 scope does NOT have function generators (except for 1 kHz probe cal.) nor digital I/O. Second, these are incredibly useful for gathering computer data to analyze numerically and/or to publish (i.e. in TH-cam videos).
There is a cheap Hantek bench scope with a signal generator. Around 250. I purchased it and it was fine. Nothing really bad to say at that price point. I ended up returning it and getting a ride all 1202ze. But sometimes for what I do with it I wish I just stuck with a Hantek because it has the generator.
I have one of these and it’s very much worth the price. I want to learn more on learning projects with this. The Digilent site has some good lessons already eg generating curve trace families for a transistor. As a cardiologist, there are days it saddens me I didn’t go to EE school !
I have one of these - I user it mostly as a logic analyser for my FPGA stuff and it is great. It is a shame the colour coded digital pins are not the resistor colour codes, but that is a minor niggle. I use the protocol decode (SPI, I2C, RS232) a lot as well. There is an impedance box you can get, for measuring LCR, which I also have
I’ll add that the Dupont fly leads lose their grip strength quickly. As a result I’ve started refitting my half dozen flying lead sets, replacing the existing single fly crimps with ultra high force grip strength Mini-PV 48236-000LF.
Aside from the digital IO, this is a really good tool for people who just do audio work. Even the spectrum analyzer, though rudimentary, has allowed me to see 60 hz and 120 hz DB levels, as well as those Spurs either side of the test frequency. It will also do a bode plot using the network analyzer. Just a really inexpensive tool with cheap accessory boards that will curve trace transistors and another board that will measure diodes capacitors and other items on a current tracer. Especially like you said on eBay I got mine for about a hundred bucks. I purchased the BNC board and two other boards and it came out all in 150 maybe.
I grabbed mine with the AnDY trainer board from West Virginia Tech EE program. All the attachments, parts bin and component bundle for $60 It beats the Vellerman. But the Vellerman has its perks too.
I used mine a lot for measuring impedances of analog circuits like old telephones and audio-transformers. One thing that annoyed me was that in calibration you can not calibrate for a known load. Like if you have a transformer between the AD2 and the device under test, you must do the math by yourself. Maybe they fixed that in the mean time. In my opinion if you have a Analog Discovery 2 there almost no point to upgrading to 3. It is just slightly better.
It looks like the software is available for a wide variety of computers: "This Digilent WaveForms download is free, and you'll be able to choose download options for Windows, MacOS, Linux, and ARM".
Sold for €580 here in Europe. Okay, that is including VAT, while $350 is I guess excluding tax... but that is way overasked. I'd say that if you don't need professional equipment buying some Chinese low-cost USB oscilloscopes and function generators etc. is a better idea.
The Wave Forms software is excellent, and you don’t get it with low cost Chinese devices. What I like most about the AD 2 are 14 bit differential inputs and the Wave Forms software. I bought mine ~2 years ago and my only regret is that I didn’t got it earlier. It’s addition to my SDS 2504X Plus scope and SDG6052X generator. I use the AD 2 when I work with analog projects < 5MHz.
eh, you'll probably have a very hard time doing a good bode plot with your cheap chinese gear, while this will smash one out. There are definitely horses for courses.
@@ivololI don't disagree with that, but don't underestimate the availability of good open-source software for these devices. My Hantek6022BE oscilloscope is junk with original software, but when OpenHantek it is a very usable oscilloscope. I no longer use it a lot, but it was my default oscilloscope for many years.
I’m a pro EE, over 35 years, specialising in mixed signal & RF, and have a pretty well-equipped lab with scopes up to 20GHz. But I also have two AD2s, an original AD1 and a Digital Discovery. I think you’re vastly underplaying the value of this device, especially when comparing it to the “cheesy scopes”.
The ADs get a huge amount of use on the bench, not least because of their diminutive size and more importantly the Waveforms software, which is overwhelmingly the best software I’ve ever encountered for a USB instrument.
For field use in particular they’re invaluable.
Sure, I’d love to have the luxury of GHz bandwidth scopes with 4+ analogue channels and multi mega point deep memory when away from the bench, but practically speaking almost all of what I do in the mixed signal microcontroller world can be dealt with using an AD.
FWIW, I just don’t bother with the BNC extender: it’s extra bulk and not suitable for the rigours of field use.
The AD isn’t just for students, it’s an invaluable pro tool too.
the scope is actually *differential* - which is huge. unfortunately, the bnc breakout just tues negative to ground, so you have to build your own to take advantage of the differential inputs.
also, having a signal generator onboard means you cause it as an impedance analyzer for measuring filter networks, inductors, etc. Like a superchardged spectrum analyzer.
oh, and you can also use it as a curve tracer, too.
Definitely great having the differential inputs. Buy a two-wire clip to bnc adapter and female to male breadboard wires And you're good to go for the differential probe
@@MrMersh-ts7jlI don’t even bother with the BNC adapters, I find them bulky and just hook up directly, almost always in single ended with the -ve’s tied to ground. At first I thought the differential thing was going to be a negative, but to be honest I’ve not really found it a problem at all, and on the odd occasions you do want differential it’s right there.
Really excited to see this review. Got mine a year ago. The performance of the individual 'instruments' is excellent - check out the options for the arbitrary sig gen. Waveforms software is good and documentation unrivalled - clearly aimed at education, it explains how the device works down to a detailed level. BTW, the BNC board is not standard, it's an extra cost option, but gives better s/n performance for audio analysis. Looking forward to pt.2!
Also check out the similar ADALM2000. It's a bit cheaper, but I still find it very useful for education and hobby use. The ADALM2000 is weaker as a power supply, though. It's true that you can get a much better oscilloscope for just a little more, but you would still need a function generator, power supply, and more. One key advantage of these integrated units is space. My lab is a desk top. I don't have room for a lot of equipment. Try the network analyzer. I think you will find it great for learning about filters.
Looks pretty cool and hackable. Skunkie Designs uses one for testing her amps. It's surprising how this pesky little bugger can functionally replace a whole lab! Of course it's not calibrated nor certified, but hell with that, it's still way better than testing audio gear with a soundcard.
There's also add on cards semiconductor curve tracing and impedance analyzer . I find them to be quite useful.
First, oscilloscopes are self-contained and more portable; however, a $300 scope does NOT have function generators (except for 1 kHz probe cal.) nor digital I/O. Second, these are incredibly useful for gathering computer data to analyze numerically and/or to publish (i.e. in TH-cam videos).
There is a cheap Hantek bench scope with a signal generator. Around 250. I purchased it and it was fine. Nothing really bad to say at that price point. I ended up returning it and getting a ride all 1202ze. But sometimes for what I do with it I wish I just stuck with a Hantek because it has the generator.
@@MrMersh-ts7jlI have a Hantek too, it’s just gathering dust, the Waveforms software for the AD blows the Hantek out of the water.
I have one of these and it’s very much worth the price. I want to learn more on learning projects with this. The Digilent site has some good lessons already eg generating curve trace families for a transistor. As a cardiologist, there are days it saddens me I didn’t go to EE school !
I have one of these - I user it mostly as a logic analyser for my FPGA stuff and it is great. It is a shame the colour coded digital pins are not the resistor colour codes, but that is a minor niggle. I use the protocol decode (SPI, I2C, RS232) a lot as well. There is an impedance box you can get, for measuring LCR, which I also have
I said the same thing about the color codes. I made my own breakout and employment the resistance scheme to the logic analyzer IO.
I’ll add that the Dupont fly leads lose their grip strength quickly. As a result I’ve started refitting my half dozen flying lead sets, replacing the existing single fly crimps with ultra high force grip strength Mini-PV 48236-000LF.
Aside from the digital IO, this is a really good tool for people who just do audio work. Even the spectrum analyzer, though rudimentary, has allowed me to see 60 hz and 120 hz DB levels, as well as those Spurs either side of the test frequency. It will also do a bode plot using the network analyzer. Just a really inexpensive tool with cheap accessory boards that will curve trace transistors and another board that will measure diodes capacitors and other items on a current tracer. Especially like you said on eBay I got mine for about a hundred bucks. I purchased the BNC board and two other boards and it came out all in 150 maybe.
Oh man, this is getting good now. Next week the 3
I grabbed mine with the AnDY trainer board from West Virginia Tech EE program.
All the attachments, parts bin and component bundle for $60
It beats the Vellerman. But the Vellerman has its perks too.
MPLAB has some great starter kit's also!! even though U love Arduino!! good luck!!
I used mine a lot for measuring impedances of analog circuits like old telephones and audio-transformers. One thing that annoyed me was that in calibration you can not calibrate for a known load. Like if you have a transformer between the AD2 and the device under test, you must do the math by yourself. Maybe they fixed that in the mean time. In my opinion if you have a Analog Discovery 2 there almost no point to upgrading to 3. It is just slightly better.
It looks like the software is available for a wide variety of computers: "This Digilent WaveForms download is free, and you'll be able to choose download options for Windows, MacOS, Linux, and ARM".
The software is the best I’ve ever used on a USB based instrument, by quite a long way.
cool thanks!
Sold for €580 here in Europe. Okay, that is including VAT, while $350 is I guess excluding tax... but that is way overasked. I'd say that if you don't need professional equipment buying some Chinese low-cost USB oscilloscopes and function generators etc. is a better idea.
The Wave Forms software is excellent, and you don’t get it with low cost Chinese devices. What I like most about the AD 2 are 14 bit differential inputs and the Wave Forms software. I bought mine ~2 years ago and my only regret is that I didn’t got it earlier. It’s addition to my SDS 2504X Plus scope and SDG6052X generator. I use the AD 2 when I work with analog projects < 5MHz.
@@jeremycyclist6269100% bang on. The AD isn’t a toy, unlike the cheapo Chinese scopes which are.
eh, you'll probably have a very hard time doing a good bode plot with your cheap chinese gear, while this will smash one out. There are definitely horses for courses.
@@ivololI don't disagree with that, but don't underestimate the availability of good open-source software for these devices. My Hantek6022BE oscilloscope is junk with original software, but when OpenHantek it is a very usable oscilloscope. I no longer use it a lot, but it was my default oscilloscope for many years.