Tektronix tds720a Handheld Oscilloscope Overview

[@repsych]

Thanks: when you say that you can trigger off the multimeter jacks do you mean that they can be used as a signal generator?

[@akashv5622]

At 3:05 how is it 2Vpp. On the oscilloscope it's showing 1V per division.. Shouldn't it be 4V?

[@thetechgenie7374]

It is correct as I didn’t use a 50 ohm terminator, so will read double which would be 4v instead of 2v peak to peak.

[@akashv5622]

@@thetechgenie7374 what does a 50ohm terminator do?

[@thetechgenie7374]

@@akashv5622 it is pretty much a resistor that in the BNC terminator adapter that matches the impedance of the signal generator output which is 50 ohms.

[@akashv5622]

@@thetechgenie7374 do probes usually come with these terminators?

[@nickelectric960]

Hi there, Thanks for your video. I am between two choices, one is to buy the Chinese colour oscope wirh 7" display for $200 and the other is buying one of this which one of the guys wants to sell for almost $400! Which one would you recommend considering the Tektronix is MT 20years old and the Chinese one uses commercialized parts I mean I can replace its 7" colour LCD with $40 if broken!

[@thetechgenie7374]

It really depends on the projects you’re working on. The Tektronix is a great truly isolated oscilloscope where all channels are isolated from each other. This is great if you work with HV, or power supplies as you won’t need to worry about buying a active differential probe and you can use regular probes, or a HV probe if you work with HV. If you are working on regular electronic projects, or a technician fixing stuff the Chinese handheld scopes will be more suitable but get a decent one like the Owon hds272s, or even a bench oscilloscope, it going to likely have faster update rate, more deep memory and the Owon still isolated from mains just not separate channels like the Tektronix. The other problem you have to worry about with the Tektronix is they are over 20 years old and depending if you get a low hour one, the higher hours the more likely screen going to fail, plus the polarizers on the screen delaminate and the HP opto couplers drift and you get DC offset. A good low hour condition one with original accessories and original probe with a good battery can cost 1k, to get one for $400 bucks with everything is rare. So if you can find one that everything included in great shape I mean close to mint condition for $400 definitely go for it as it worth it as a great truly isolation scope, I use mines quite a bit that I bought extra batteries as don’t have to deal with differential probes as work on quite a bit of vintage and tube gear where dealing with several hundred volts to KV range regularly. Plus can trigger off the multimeter jacks. Chinese oscilloscopes also come a long ways. They are good value for money and suit most people needs no problem and usually recommend over the Tektronix.

[@georod9114]

I bought the 720p and 730a for automotive purposes and they work flawlessly fast and accurate despite being from the 90s take em over the chinese ones.