A number of years ago I bought a used 15 MHz analog dual trace scope at the
Dayton Hamvention for $80.  A better $80 has never been spent.  This has
saved hours and hours of debugging time by allowing me to figure out
exactly what is going on rather than making educated guesses.  The MPLAB
simulator is not a complete substitute because it moves rather slowly
through timing loops when the stopwatch is enabled.  When you are dealing
with the timing of signals, the scope is a much more useful tool.   Given
that I was working with PIC's... mostly at 4 MHz... the 15 MHz bandwidth
limitation was never much of a problem

Recently my employer purchased a really nice Agilent mixed signal
scope.  Of course it does a lot that my old $80 scope won't do.   But I
survived quite nicely for several years with a cheap scope... it was well
worth the money.

John Hansen

At 10:41 PM 2/3/2002 -0500, Gary Russell wrote:
>I am just a home hobbyist (no corporate $$ to help out).
>
>I have a background in software and have just started to experiment with
>microcontroller application development.
>
>Do people consider an oscilloscope a "must-have"? A logic probe just doesn't
>cut-it for rapidly changing pins. Does simulation using MPLAB completley
>eliminate the need for real circuit checking? (I'd be surprised).
>
>I have read very interesting .pdf from Tektronix which really pushes $$$
>DPOs, but I do not have a multi $k budget for my (new) hobby.
>
>Can anyone recommend an entry-level 'scope for use in developing PIC
>circuits/applications.
>
>My budget is not without limits, but I want to get something that will be
>useful. Is spending, say, < $500 a fruitless exercise?
>
>TIA.
>
>--
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>ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

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