Nice, so I'll get even more entertainment out of it!
The equipment that's bought and sold at the electronics flea market typically isn't used as a means to an end, it is the end. There's disappointment when you buy something there and it just works. There's no fun in that.
I'm blanking on the exact models I used; I'm fairly certain they were tds700s or tds71xx, but a lab I ran had about a dozen units and we had nothing "fry" in the 4 years I worked there. What applications would result in these catastrophic failures?
We had some "ghosting" on the displays on a few now that you mentioned it, but they were still 100% usable. I guess my expectations were lower since I never had to foot the bill for the lot of em (which at 20k/unit I guess I'd be upset about when one was faulty)
i thought maybe it was just something regionally here or the way people stored em, but i was in a position to refab many a few years ago and totally agree. tek had 100% repart rate and seemed like anything else (brand wise) was always in better condition internally even when way older.
I've got one, they are very cool. I also have a 7834 (storage tube), cool in a different way. On the other hand, they are taking up a lot of space... I also have two 485s, one with a broken trigger.
Thanks for answering, not surprising. I think the transition from all-hardware to Windows-driven digital hard on Tektronix and many other storied engineering teams.
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Give it a month and the acquisition ASICs will blow up and the caps will eat through the board traces. Can’t stand these scopes.
Nice, so I'll get even more entertainment out of it!
The equipment that's bought and sold at the electronics flea market typically isn't used as a means to an end, it is the end. There's disappointment when you buy something there and it just works. There's no fun in that.
I don't really have a use for a R&S AMIQ, but replacing all the PC motherboard caps taught me a lot about good desoldering practices. https://tomverbeure.github.io/2026/06/28/Rohde-Schwarz-AMIQ-...
Yeah agreed. I’ve fixed more Tek equipment than most people out there. In the order of hundreds of units.
These are just exceptionally bad.
I'm blanking on the exact models I used; I'm fairly certain they were tds700s or tds71xx, but a lab I ran had about a dozen units and we had nothing "fry" in the 4 years I worked there. What applications would result in these catastrophic failures?
Over the years, I've had 5 TDSxxx series scopes, and I still have a few. The common issues are:
NuColor CRT displays going bad. Bad capacitors. Dallas NVRAM units battery running out of juice
Fried electronics are pretty rare.
We had some "ghosting" on the displays on a few now that you mentioned it, but they were still 100% usable. I guess my expectations were lower since I never had to foot the bill for the lot of em (which at 20k/unit I guess I'd be upset about when one was faulty)
i thought maybe it was just something regionally here or the way people stored em, but i was in a position to refab many a few years ago and totally agree. tek had 100% repart rate and seemed like anything else (brand wise) was always in better condition internally even when way older.
I’ve seen rust in a newish (Danaher era) one.
A little while ago I bought a 386 laptop. It pretty much had everything wrong with it. Spent weeks repairing it. Best $40 I ever spent.
That feeling when it finally works is great. I spent $40 on this basket case: https://tomverbeure.github.io/2025/12/24/Repair-of-SRS-DG535.... Took me ages to figure that one out.
For a brief second, I thought this was about an original 7104.
Are there specific TDS models that you have found to be better, btw, reliability-wise?
I've got one, they are very cool. I also have a 7834 (storage tube), cool in a different way. On the other hand, they are taking up a lot of space... I also have two 485s, one with a broken trigger.
Other than the very bottom end ones, no. Mostly went to Hp/Agilent instead.
Thanks for answering, not surprising. I think the transition from all-hardware to Windows-driven digital hard on Tektronix and many other storied engineering teams.