I have an eBay discount. What should I get?
Keith Young
Posts: 569
I'm looking for what to get on eBay with my discount. I teach Robotics Programming and Engineering classes to teens, and I make stuff as a hobby also.
So I'm looking for related stuff, such as possibly a Rigol Scope, a real Soldering Iron (I only have RadioShack so far) etc.
Anyway in my mind I imagine some of you have pretty well equipped benches, and you probably have some good suggestions.
Especially things I'll need in quantity such as safety glasses, popular gauges of wire spools, etc.
So I'm looking for related stuff, such as possibly a Rigol Scope, a real Soldering Iron (I only have RadioShack so far) etc.
Anyway in my mind I imagine some of you have pretty well equipped benches, and you probably have some good suggestions.
Especially things I'll need in quantity such as safety glasses, popular gauges of wire spools, etc.
Comments
I vote for the Rigol scope.
Rigol have a 4 channel 50MHz bandwidth scope for 350-400 bucks. Which can be tweaked via reflashing to provide 100MHz band width.
A google search for "rigol scope hacking" or "rigol scope unlocking" will provide lot's instructions for lot's of different Rigol scopes. Especially on the eevblog forums.
A scope is a great investment for the long term.
Should I feel guilty about suggesting this? I don't, it increases Rigols sales, drives down the price of scopes, makes life better for everyone.
On the one hand I bought it and it's mine, but on the other hand... I don't know. They're obviously taking a hit in their margin to make a lower price point item, which is nice. But any chance I have to improve my property I take if it's easy enough.
That would be an interesting philosophical debate.
I do have an old Parallax scope, which has suited me well over the years. But I think this will be a nice affordable upgrade.
Never mind the philosophical debate.
Rigol is in the business of selling cheap scopes, pretty good ones as it happens.
Most business users will be paying for the extra features that more expensive models have enabled. They don't want to mess around hacking stuff and they like the warranty, support and so on.
Then there is possibly an ocean of people who will buy the cheap model and hack it. Perhaps they would not buy a Rigol if they could not do that. There are plenty of other options.
So, Rigol gets more sales. Everyone gets what they want. Life is good.
Me, I'm saving up for a Rohde & Schwarz HMO1202. Why? because it's so cute. And made in my fathers home land, now the Czech Republic. Patriotism and all that.
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Strange. Erco now your robot is back here in NYC and freezing his manipulators off waiting for a crosstown bus.
I mostly travel around to teach, so it will be put in the car like 4 times per day. After looking around I'm wondering if I just need to design my own.
It needs to be robust, and work well without needing calibration every time I drive it around.