I've used the Agilent 1000 series in the field (i.e. outdoors, in varying conditions). It seems capable, and is reasonably portable, though for fieldwork the screen washes out way too easily, and the resolution of the screen means that one encounters aliasing effects which could be confusing (and downright annoying) when looking at signals on a long timebase (this is often true in the lab, too). The scopes are slight enough that if someone is putting force on the BNC connectors, the scope will likely just fall over. The BNC connectors are secured to
the front casing, so that they'd likely have to break that before
putting (much) stress on the board connections.
Those comments all go for the Tektronix 2000 scopes, too, though the BNCs are NOT secured to the front casing. I have used these in the lab; I haven't noticed any flexure of the connectors, and they're pretty solidly anchored, but I don't know what's holding them in the scope and on the board. I will check that today at work, and if I notice anything which seems important, will report back to this list.
For teaching purposes, either of the scopes might be OK, though I think I'd personally prefer the Agilent for very new oscilloscope users. The Tek has a varying timebase zoom and some other features which I find confusing and so do my colleagues. Of course, if we hadn't been raised on 50-year-old analog scopes, maybe we wouldn't find these newfangled doohickeys so threatening.
Again, aliasing is a real problem on both scopes. Looking at long signals and trying to see short bursts is sometimes impossible because of this effect. If students are expecting to use these for pulse-echo experiments or something similar, they might be sorely disappointed at the useability.
In slightly related news....
I'm using a Tek AWG3022B for arbitrary function generation in an experiment, and it's been a real bear to get data transfer to work using Python codes (GPIB interface with pyvisa). I have some LabView code which works to do this (and works well), but I don't want to have to run the entire LabView suite, nor compile some executables for this. If anyone happens to have any hints for me, I'd very much appreciate it!
--C.O.
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As a species, we are forever sticking our fingers into the electric socket of the Universe to see what'll happen next. It's a trait that'll either save us or kill us, but by god it's what makes us human beings. I'd rather be in the company of people who look at Mars than people who contemplate humanity's navel -- other worlds are better than fluff. ~~Sir Terence David John Pratchett
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________________________________
From: Ian Tolfree <itolfre1@jhu.edu>
To: phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
Sent: Mon, April 12, 2010 9:53:18 AM
Subject: [Phys-l] Tektronix vs. Agilent Scopes
Can any one offer opinions on which is more durable?
We have a high volume lab class that uses scopes, so durability is major
concern for us. We have experience with older Tektronix models, and are
wondering how durable the Agilent (1000 series) or newer Tek (2000
series) models are. Our major issue has been the BNC connectors
breaking off of the board.