21 Feb
2016
21 Feb
'16
8:57 a.m.
On Sun, Feb 21, 2016 at 12:46 AM, Curious Marc <curiousmarc3 at gmail.com> wrote:
Like most others, the favorite is the one I use! So we
are all biased by definition, and I have an HP 1670G. In general I?d go straight to Tek
for vintage scopes and HP for vintage LAs, and be very somewhat leery about doing the
opposite... I chose it because it is small and portable, has a boatload of channels, the
pattern generator, LCD color screen, integrated keyboard, and mine had the 2M deep memory
option (important). And I collect HP instruments, so it fits right in. Rarer, more recent
and expensive (but still very affordable) than the dirt cheap CRT based 16xx series - has
a hard disk and the memory humph. I don?t use it often, but when I do it?s critical. It
saved me on two projects so far, developing my HP 7970 tape HP?IB driver and repairing my
Documation card reader (all documented on my YouTube videos if you want to get a feel for
it). The one downside is the lack of a touchscreen, you need a mouse and a lot of clicking
around. The 15000/16000 series is better for that but a much larger unit, it would be a
step up though. If you want to save $ go in the other direction for the B&W 16xx
series. At their current price points, any of them is an absolute steal compared to what
they can do for you, and they are all perfectly usable. Good time to buy one.
Marc
If I was looking at traditional HP / Agilent / Tektronix logic
analyzers and wanted a small self-contained portable systems an HP /
Agilent 1670G with Option 2 (2M sample depth) would be the most
interesting to me. Of the 1660/1670 self-contained portable series the
1670G is the most recent, has the highest speed and sample depth
capabilities, and a nice color LCD display.
The 1660A Mono CRT. 4K sample depth. Floppy only. No LAN.
The 1660C Mono CRT. 4K sample depth. Hard drive. LAN optional.
The 1660E Color LCD. 4K sample depth. Hard drive. LAN.
The 1670A Mono CRT. 64K (optional 500K) sample depth. Hard drive. LAN.
The 1670D Mono CRT. 64K (optional 1M) sample depth. Hard drive. LAN.
The 1670E Color LCD. 1M sample depth. Hard drive. LAN.
The 1670G Color LCD. 64K (optional 256K or 2M) sample depth. Hard drive. LAN.
There are also built-in scope and pattern generator options available
on some of those.
Unfortunately the 1670G series usually seem to come at a price premium
compared to other choices, at least on eBay. The asking prices I
normally see are at least $200 and usually significantly more, and
often without Option 2 and/or the lower channel count 1671/1672/1673G
versions. I haven't seen one go by cheap enough to grab one for
myself. For the same price you could get a much more capable and
expandable 16700B system, but then it is larger and no longer
self-contained and easily portable.
The best deal I see today on eBay for 1660/1670 series is a 1670D
Option 030 for $150 + $30 shipping. (
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321867912004 )
-Glen