i tried searching this already but not much came up for it, im looking for a cheap oscilloscope, like real cheap, i dont need much i just want to see a wave that shows me if the signal is clipping or not. ive seen one on ebay a velleman or something and its 130$ im wondering if thats enough for what i need? i looked on ebay too the oscopes themselves are only 80$ and old as hell and the shipping is like 160$. any suggestions, anyone?

 

some handheld scopes have the max input voltage too low for amplifiers, take a look on that.

 

A cheap oscilloscope will have poor resolution and a low sampling rate. Making what you want to do harder, or impossible.

When I was briefly looking for one, this one caught my eye.
OWON 7.8"color LCD OSCILLOSCOPE 25MHz PDS5022S warranty on eBay.ca (item 170380118555 end time 04-Apr-10 12:37:35 EDT)

Pricey,but not really and it looks half decent(spec wise. has a battery!).
TBH expecting an oscilloscope for <$200 is dumb when considering most pay in the upwards of thousands of dollars for them.


Oh yeah, and make sure you use a cheater plug on the scope (if its plugged into a AC outlet) Car ground =/= earth ground. The difference will be settled over the scope surly damaging it and possibly your amp(s) too.

 

If you only want to see the shape of the waveform an old analog scope will be fine. No cheater plug is necessary because the grounds are separate. I don't know what old scopes go for but you might want to consider a PC 'scope. It plugs into a usb port.

Plan B: If you want to be ultra cheap you can just use your sound card. You will have to be smart about input scaling to prevent damaging it (resistive voltage divider). It will give you a lot of powerful processing options like THD+N, Fourier Analysis, filtering, and built-in signal generator. PM me if you want some options.

 

^ good advice.. a PC based scope that uses your sound card is the cheapest option, although it will require the most leg work to get setup...


I've got a velleman HPS40 and I don't think you can beat it for the price...

 

If your asking this question at all, you are probably out of your element... are you comfortable using an o-scope?

at best a used scope (ebay) or the USB based PC route otherwise you have to pony up real money.

 

kevins post was exactly what I was going to say, there are some cheaper pc usb scopes (there are also a lot of very good ones)
another idea is
DSO nano - the pocket size digital storage oscilloscope DSO nano - the cheap, low cost micro digital storage oscilloscope [TOL114C3M] - $89.00 : Seeed Studio Depot, Boost ideas, extend the reach
or build one like
Digital Storage Oscilloscope with Panels [TOL106C3M] - $49.00 : Seeed Studio Depot, Boost ideas, extend the reach
keep in mind like said above you NEEED to have voltage divider to make sure you dont go over the max input voltage. Also make sure to get appropriate probes based on your measurement voltage.

 

BTW my less than sunny post is due to my experience smoking some pricey test equipment once due to ignorance once due to faulty test regimen

 

Oh come on, we know you were still drunk.

 

I picked up a Velleman Scope a few years ago. Works great for everything I've needed it for.
Velleman 10 MHz Handheld Oscilloscope

You might be able to hunt around for a better price.