EEVblog 1625 - Electronex: Scope Wars: The Rise of Uni-T

Uni-T are making a surprising move into the mid end instrument market with some custom ASIC based oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers, signal generators and a bunch of other instruments.
A talk with Mark Isherwood from Rapid-Tech, the Australian dealer for Uni-T.
rapid-tech.com.au/uni-t-instr...
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#ElectronicsCreators #Electronex #oscilloscope

[@IanScottJohnston]

Been talking to Uni-T EU recently, they've got a nice up & coming high end *something* that should be coming my way for review. I did mention to them it's very clear they have moved up a level in terms of quality/functionality and target market. Good on them!......and it should help drive prices down hopefully.

[@EEVblog]

I'll do a teardown and review of the 500MHz sig-gen they sent soon. No competition in the market for it at all.

[@voltlog]

I think the performance, quality, price ratio that UNIT has with these newer instruments is unmatched right now. I've reviewed several instruments from UNIT recently.

[@schytdemijn5398]

So what exactly is that price ?

[@schytdemijn5398]

And may I add one's have quite a bit to explain having read only a small bit of reactions below ! Hopefully Dave will come to me / our rescue ?

[@mohsenSL]

I bought a uni t. oselscope was a big disappointment! Uni t looks like a children's game compared to rigol The biggest uni t problem is in quality then the user interface

[@jatag100]

Need the prices on their website. Even large companies want to see a small quantity price immediately.

[@beehphy]

I bought a UNI-T arbitrary waveform generator, but could never get accurate waveforms. After diving way too deep into the calibration with my fluke it became clear, every calibration point during the factory calibration sequence was adjusted to within 15mV and left there. Intentionally. 1v requested, 1.015v produced. - 7v requested, - 7.015 produced. I reached out to UNI-T, and they told me to buy a better one. So, they intentionally gave me a bad cal and then blamed me for not buying a better product. They intentionaly make $#!+ with a bad cal to make you to buy better. Eff off! Never again!

[@LaLaLand.Germany]

Same with Behringer. Thought I´d do me a solid and buy me a new Guitar. Saw one in a review I liked, bought it and it sucked. It needed a setup, the factory setup was ...meh and the bridge made weird sounds. I complained, the thing went back and forth three times until I gave up. I´m gonna set it up myself one day. "Well, if You´d have bought a better guitar" they said. That´s the new normal.

[@VEC7ORlt]

So you're bitching over 15mV? Thats like single bit diff on DAC output.

[@mrsurname9217]

I have a Uni-T scope from some years back. It would be nice if it didn't have firmware bugs that make it practically unusable. Their response at the time was to completely ignore reports of the problem. They did release a firmware update, but it doesn't work. Their customer support is appalling, I will never touch them again.

[@tomschmidt381]

Interesting development, I have several Uni-T meters nice to see they are expanding their product line.

[@PapasDino]

I just pulled the trigger on the new Uni-T UTS3036B 3.6 GHz spectrum analyzer that was on the demo desk; they're "hungry" to get into the market and had a significant show price discount at the recent Dayton Hamvention with 36K folks in attendance. Been a Rigol fan boy for years but thought this was a real step up in both performance and price!

[@AFpaleoCon]

Using a network analyzer everyday for electronic warfare work, I can tell you NO newcomer will be able to develop software and an entire platform capable of fulfilling the needs of heavy users. Even Keysights PNAs are getting updates daily to fix bugs that we find and their software and RF teams are orders of magnitude larger.

[@tommihommi1]

yeah the real money in test equipment is for the software to do specialized things The PNA-X might be the single most extreme example for this, I was in a 6 hour seminar by joel dunsmore where he gave a *surface level overview* of various things it can do

[@adrianramos2229]

This video could be also called "Clone Wars"

[@ivegotpetercriss]

Worked in the NRTL testing field and there are plenty of Uni-T meters around, they're not bad! (Although I always reach for the Fluke if it's not checked out)

[@Maltanx]

Always liked the uni-t handheld multimeters. It's my go to brand for everything good quality but not ridiculously overpriced. But I admit that for scopes I'm a huge siglent fanboy (for now) . Really looking forward to see detailed reviews of these new products. I wouldn't mind a uni-t scope or awg...

[@2oqp577]

I use to rep brands in Canada like Mark. It's a fun business, you meet a lot of people, techs and engineers working on interesting projects. I learn so much, there is no end to what I can teach today to students that come in for internships. There are more jobs in electronics than one that involves holding a soldering in one hand and a scope probe in the other. There are procurement jobs, costing jobs, inventory management jobs, sales and representation jobs, etc., etc., etc.

[@axis5design630]

Great to see Uni-T stepping up. This is what is always needed to keep everyone else on their toes. Some will succeed, some will not, but everyone on the top always gets keeped in check by those coming up from the bottom. Wishing Uni-T the best and hope you do it right.

[@BMRStudio]

Be honest, nothing wrong with Uni-T. I just realized now, my toolbox is full with Uni-T small, cheap, red, plastic instruments. With some Fluke things off course…. Anyway, definitely a keeper. So when you lose a 400 USD multimeter, next time, you buy a bag of instruments from Uni-T, and believe me, for some reason, You never lose them! 🤔 What can be a reason 🧐

[@good_deeds_always_get_punished]

No Dave. Quite a few 'average persons' want all the niche and high end stuff, including myself. All of us kind want a wall, a room, full of these instruments. Just like what you, Shahriar Shahramian and Paul Carlson, to name a few. Do we we need it? NO Will we ever use all of them? NO Do we want it? YES

[@ChrisDreher]

Uni-T is the scope that the Jawas use in the Scope Wars movie.

[@nopelindoputraperkasa5869]

Nice sharing Vidio.. very inspiring and useful ❤😮

[@radarmusen]

Uni-t making scope. They have been under my radar.

[@zebo-the-fat]

Nice, been using their multimeters for years, very good value for money, was not aware that they had a "high end" section to the business!

[@gabest4]

Buy this 8 channel scope if you are not familiar with I2C!

[@frankgrudge8823]

Am i the only person who laughed at the CNT meter? Aussie AF

[@69woodburner]

No. I laughed in the UK.

[@nonsuch]

Don't judge an analyzer by its plastic. 😂

[@lasskinn474]

uni-t is pretty popular in thailand. as in it's the 'better' multimeters that are in local shops. had one for quite a while now, it's okay for what it cost for random uses. the shops here still have like cheapo analog multimeters for like 3 bucks too, so a cheapo digital one that has a company behind like uni-t is 'premium' here (you can of course buy stuff like flukes here as well, most people just wouldn't, since they feel more expensive than they would feel in the west, even if you have money).

[@markburton3306]

I wonder what kit the uni-t engineers use themselves?

[@thefixer6973]

great vid Dave i love electronics as a old noob

[@paulpkae]

Hi Dave, I Couldn't help but notice the Flir sign in the background. Was that a separate stall or is there some link between Unit-T and Flir? I'm intrigued because we are currently deploying a Flir CCTV system at Paddington Station in the UK.

[@hqiu6828]

Uni-T caters to the electronic hobbyist market.

[@kevincozens6837]

I wasn't sure about Uni-T as a brand. I'll have to take a closer look at them. In particular I want to see what are the features and price of their SAs. I have thought about getting the Rigol DSA815-TG but it is more that I want one rather than need one.

[@cowasakiElectronics]

My first new scope was a uni-T. It was one of their higher tier models and four channels. I still have it but it’s rather dated now.

[@ICNIRP]

Great vid, but I have never heard "food chain" mentioned this many times in a electronics video before 🙈😂

[@KeritechElectronics]

Lots of cool gear! Uni-T and Keysight, woooooow. Loveliness. The EMC scanner is quite interesting.

[@johnwest7993]

I don't think I'd class Uni-T with Keysight or Rohde & Schwarz just yet. Perhaps in 20 years.

[@KeritechElectronics]

@@johnwest7993 that's just different market segments. Uni-T does a good thing with entry-level / intermediate test gear; I'd say they're competing with Siglent or Rigol here, and that's fine. R&S, LeCroy, Tek or Keysight is major leagues.

[@tommihommi1]

​@@KeritechElectronicsthe big players also have lower priced options that will tend to actually work somewhat reliably

[@ford1546]

Hello. I have a UNI-T multimeter that I ordered from China. But I don't think many people have the special large bag with the UNI-T logo all over the bag

[@LawpickingLocksmith]

You promised the answer to them cheapies on the Element 14 stall.

[@andymouse]

Lol ! Somebody tell them if they want to roll with the big boys don't start a product number with ' CNT '.......cheers

[@calholli]

After seeing your review.. I snagged a dho800.. I just need to learn how to 'hack it now and give it the full beans.

[@tommihommi1]

the interface on that spectrum analyzer does remind me a bit of r&s...

[@shazam6274]

This guy is good! "Keeper", knows his products and how to gently sell. Even with "up to 35%" off, the Keysight EXP on display costs more than all of the other stuff on his display, COMBINED !! 😂

[@eliotmansfield]

yeh he will slog his guts out building the brand in oz, then will dropped like turd once the market is established and they start selling direct

[@evilrslade]

Budget brands are great, but you pay for build quality. Will they drift? Will they be in Spec in 2 years? A customer of ours sent 10 cheap brand Multimeters to us (New) for Calibration, 3 of them failed the manufacturer given spec and the selector switch was broken on another. There are some bargains to be had, Rigol in particular, but if you want stability that always costs. I get UNI-T are trying to build trust but from what i've seen so far they have a way to go. Let's see.

[@SP6QKX]

[@ame7165]

is there any reason for anyone to use the UV yellowing plastic in 2024? is it cost? it's strange to me to see brand new products using the crap that turns yellow. i know it doesn't matter in the end, but if it's going to sit in front of our faces, it would be better if they use non-pee-colored plastic methinks. petty complaint, i know, but it doesn't make sense to me. but i'm glad to see more variety out there in a world of rebranded monopolies

[@MrCarGuy]

I like it. My white Tek that's over 20 years old hasn't yellowed at all.

[@ame7165]

@@MrCarGuy yeah it definitely has the nostalgic thing going for it. i certainly haven't let it stop me from GAS symptoms. mine haven't yellowed much, but they're not near any UV sources, so that probably helps

[@mp1454]

😮😊👌👍🏻

[@alch3myau]

mailbag is still more interesting.

[@justinromang9113]

hey Mark ; hi dave ' tis *_mui_* --- justin -- 'tell mE THATz nEw

[@nameredacted1242]

Until the industry starts making oscilloscopes with fully differential inputs and probes AS DEFAULT, I DO NOT CARE about anyone's scope!

[@bobert4522]

Why? There’s higher spec models that do have those as default. You pay for what you get.

[@tommihommi1]

if you need differential probes you buy them. If you don't need them, why spend literally tens of thousands of dollars on them

[@nameredacted1242]

@@tommihommi1 Ever heard of ground loop, and what the scope does to the circuit being measured (ties it to hard Earth potential whether the circuit likes it or not)?

[@nameredacted1242]

@@bobert4522 Name some.

[@SimonBauer7]

i mean there is the owon vds 1022i for cheap. that is usb isolated up to 400v. the scope ground isnt referenced to the usb ground at all. but both scope grounds are still tied together. or use any usb scope with a laptop that isnt plugged in.​@@nameredacted1242

[@jakobh.4422]

Great vid, but aint it unfair to be puting Rigol in the same branch as Uni-T and Siglent and these other semibrand from China, like Fnirsi, Hantek, Owon There is Fnirsi, Siglent, Hantek, Owon, UniT. then there is a step up, where you find Rigol, GW Instek, Yokogava, Lecroy. and then the top tier with the 3 big ones Tektronix, R&S, Keysight. Fungus.. we are going places, next year it will be the top four.... Rigol Forever, Forever Rigol (RFFR patch-brothers for life)

[@LawpickingLocksmith]

You say: Lecroy is crap? I used to work in a lab in Europe where we had gear to put Rhode and Schwartz to shame.

[@EEVblog]

Many would say that Siglent is beating Rigol these days. As for Lecroy, they are one of the "big 4", always have been. Uni-T is now competing (or close to competeing) with Rigol and Siglent in feature/price regardless of where you place them in the market overall. And when you have developed your own ASIC chips, that automatically takes you up a level with the other players. So yes, it's fair to compare them now.

[@m80116]

Don't get me started... I got one of those brands as my firs DSO. It was an Hantek but could have been any one of those I am sure. It's two years since I got my 100 MHz Uni-T. I am usually not happy with low end stuff, in fact I saved big bucks initially buying 1st price and then regretted and moved to Uni-T. At the time I've got mine it was something like 800 bucks for a basic Rigol, 600 for a basic Siglent and 450 for the Uni-T. Until then I saw mixed reviews about the Uni-T scopes but it was a recent model that had improved features and interface, needless to say I never regretted the scope and I am firm believer the price it had was to undercut the competition. And I actually prefer it to other brands that use chunky traces, with my Uni-T I can tell millivolts of difference between two channels with a simple glance.

[@mdfyui8000]

They will have to find a way to stoke the hearts of the enthusiasts much more to make a stand in the weekly Rigol-Siglent punch-ons

[@stargazer7644]

@@LawpickingLocksmith Yeah, his ranking of Lecroy erased all of his credibility.

[@codernov]

I don't take UNI-T serious.

[@motosystemltd]

What is that for?😂

[@qwaqwa1960]

Huh, always thought they were Japanese...

[@LoraMinadan-er9fe]

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[@NianLisa]

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[@NancyH-mi6xc]

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[@jeffbox1torres]

The key is diversification. Personally, I delegate my investing to an advisor, cos my job doesn't permit the time to perform market analysis myself. Thankfully, my once ago stagnant portfolio has now 5X in barely 4 years, summing up almost 7 figure as of today.

[@arloc24]

You mention your advisor & that caught my attention. I'm eager to learn more and potentially seek her guidance. Could you share how I can get in touch with her???.

[@jeffbox1torres]

Well the name is 'Evelyn Infurna'. Just research the name. You'd find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment.