Scopes offer 1-GHz bandwidth for less than $16,000

Tektronix's new TDS5000 series addresses the "sweet spot" in the DSO market—a combination of price and performance that stops short of the widest bandwidth and deepest memory (Picture). Still, such scopes match most users' needs and cost only about one-third to one-fifth as much as top-of-the-line instruments. The Windows-based TDS5000 series includes three models, whose base prices range from $10,500 to $15,990.

Units with 500-MHz bandwidth have two or four channels. Those with 1-GHz bandwidth provide four channels. All units use patented DPX (digital-phosphor) technology to capture as many as 100,000 waveforms/sec in real time. The scopes take 5 million samples/sec in single-channel mode, 2.5 million in two-channel mode, and 1.25 million in four-channel mode. Single-channel-mode sampling is fast enough for real-time capture of 1-GHz signals. In the two-channel-mode, the scopes can capture 500-MHz signals in real time. Base units offer a memory depth of 100,000 samples/channel in four-channel mode, 200,000 in two-channel mode, and 400,000 in single-channel mode. Memory as large as 8 million samples in single-channel mode is optional for $4995 or less, depending on the depth you order.

The package is shallower than those you are probably familiar with in scopes that offer this level of performance, yet it has room inside for both an optional strip printer and an optional CD-RW drive. A touch-sensitive screen is also optional. You can install and run familiar Windows-based applications for mathematical analysis and for creating reports and presentations. You can copy waveforms into these applications directly from the screen or from the built-in hard disk. You can also connect an external monitor and use it for the added applications, even as the scope's built-in color LCD screen continues to display live waveforms. An easy-to-understand graphical menu helps you to quickly select among complex triggering modes.

Tektronix Inc, 1-800-426-2200, www.tektronix.com.