Their stuff is hackable - the previous 2 channel oscilloscope they made got incrementally more features in it's firmware revisions, and they published the code- see here: http://code.google.com/p/dsonano/
They're a startup, based in Hong Kong (last I checked).
Seeedstudio makes neat stuff, and they're part of the whole electronic hobbyist renaissance (along with sparkfun, Make magazine, etc.) They offer neat stuff, at good prices.
It's perfect for what it's intended for. Audio frequencies and sub 1MHz signals (so I can watch servo outputs and PWM signals from Arduino or RC gear, but not RF or processor bus stuff).
I'm not _quite_ interested enough to save ~$50 by being a beta tester, but if the early reviews turn out positive and it seems this'll let me watch signals on 16MHz microcontrollers I'll happily fork out $200 for one later.
Perhaps this isn't "web startup/entrepreneur" relevant news, but it's _certainly_ "hacker" news...
New ones are, but I got my Tektronix 2430A for free (with all opts) because someone was getting rid of it. Usually you can grab one for around 300. More importantly, it can still be calibrated, traced to NIST, it has a higher bandwidth, and I know that my probes are all going to be up to spec without capacitance problems. On the other hand, it's a lot bigger than this device, but I'd say it's probably just as reliable (and probably still more serviceable). No Math/FFT stuff though.
tl;dr: I'd get this for convenience or as a second device, but I wouldn't really trust it.
Not any more, you can get chinese 2 channel 50-60MHZ DSOs for $250. If you do your homework you can find the same ones that are badged HP or Agilent here
Basically, Rigol spec'd out a 100MHz scope and then crippled it in software to have a cheaper 50MHz model to sell without having two separate hardware lines.
> Basically, Rigol spec'd out a 100MHz scope and then crippled it in software to have a cheaper 50MHz model to sell without having two separate hardware lines.
Agilent is about to do the same thing. Based on some leaked sales collateral they are pitching software upgradeability of bandwidth as a selling point for their upcoming line of entry-level oscilloscopes.
(Hmm, Agilent is currently rebranding the Rigol scope in question as their entry level. I wonder if Rigol will be building the new line for them?)
