Cons
Let’s get the cons out of the way first. First: the leads. The ones in the box would work for many common automotive uses assuming they were pretty low in terms of voltage. (Pete called this shortcoming a mile off—as soon as he saw the ‘scope.)
Also, the leads form a Y. The total length is only about 20”, and the individual sections won’t spread past about 10” or so, so I’d say this is the Achilles’ heel of this scope. Most scopes use pretty common BNC connectors. This little guy, however, accepts a tiny connector I had to look up: the MCX. In fact, if you get the fancy-lead version of this tool it comes with a fruitcake MCX-to-BNC adapter I’ve never seen before. I’m also pretty sure this connector ain’t gonna live a long and happy life, as there is no support for it. But hey, it’s thirty-some bucks. If you bust it, get another unit.
One thing I wasn’t aware of when I purchased is that the company that makes this sells a different kit that includes a high-voltage lead. So yes, the unit is capable of dealing with the 400V it claims, but you need a different lead to make that happen.
As it so happens, the alternate unit costs just five dollars more. I think it’s a bit of a false economy to opt for the cheaper version. Here’s why.
You probably can’t find a compatible high-voltage lead after the fact and buying one wouldn’t make sense given the cost of the unit. Buy the fancier one! Why am I so emphatic about this? Well, you may have good reason to check higher voltage systems. Heck, you may want to work on 120VAC electrical equipment in your shop and at home, but the included leads won’t handle 120VAC. The sine wave flat-tops and you can’t actually see the waveform. No bueno. Once I picked up the high voltage lead, I could get a perfectly visible 120VAC sine wave to show on the scope.
Next gripe: there is no means to export information. No screengrabs, no recording of data. So handwritten notes or a cell phone shot is the best you’re gonna get. At the price point, this seems very acceptable to me.
Another minor niggle is that this is a single-channel scope. It’s obvious and it’s not a knock against the unit, but my guess is as a professional tech, you’d be better served by at least a two-channel. Off the top of my head, a two-channel would allow you to do a few things you might want your scope for:
- You could check a CMP and CKP signal together to verify a timing belt had not snapped
- You could perform a better relative compression test (A one-channel scope will show you if you have a dead hole. A two-channel would let you see which hole.)
- You could check a starting and charging system all at once
But that costs more, both for the capability and the additional test leads. This scope is a single channel and entry level. That’s plainly stated and also completely acceptable given the price point.
So now let’s talk about what I liked, because that outnumbers my complaints by a pretty wide margin.