Space is definitely one of your biggest challenges. Here’s my rack setup:
I wish more equipment came in rack mount format. I find it very convenient. I can find lots of decent bench top supplies for several hundred dollars, but a rack mount PS is thousands. (I build the PS in the photo myself ~1997)
Scope: Rigol DS1054Z.
Meter: Fluke 77 with 3D printed mounting brackets.
The rack doesn’t move. It’s not fastened down, but with everything in it, it doesn’t move. It spent 4-5 years in one spot at my last house and almost 2 in this spot here.
The scope is just sitting there leaning on some sticky rubber feet to prevent it from sliding backwards. The meter pops out, but I have a nicer meter to carry around with me. The 77 went on the rack as a quick standby when I need to check something. I have a smaller, portable power supply I can take with me if I need to, but it’s not as capable. The workstation came out to go to a Makerspace LAN party in 2019. It’s about 20kg. Good thing it has handles.
@ClubmanPlus850 Woot! That’s awesome it’s back!
Honestly…rarely do I need the extra MHz (also, keep in mind the AD2 is only good to about 10 MHz without their “BNC adapter board”). Almost everything I need the scope for is debugging I/O lines and simple protocols like I2C, SPI, etc. The only thing that came up recently was last week when I was learning about the Raspberry Pi Pico’s PIO, I wanted to check the maximum switching speed, and I needed something that could handle 125 MHz (so, I used my “big” scope).
That 100-200 MHz is a weird range to me. I might need it with fast (~100 MHz) 32-bit microcontrollers to check I/O speeds, but it won’t help me with things like USB (for those, I would need 500+ MHz scopes, and we start talking $1000s). RF is still black magic to me, so I’ll let someone with more experience talk about what’s needed there 
I love having the AD2 on my desk plugged into a USB hub all the time. I find it easier to just throw a jumper wire on one of the connectors than to go get or uncoil a good scope probe. Yeah, it’s not as accurate, but I generally don’t need that level of accuracy for most of my work. The Waveforms software works pretty well, and I like having it on my screen next to my IDE, as most of my work is in firmware (my scopes mostly exist to help me debug firmware).
I’m finding myself in “paralysis by analysis” mode I think… I’m sure I’ll one day want a bigger scope… then I’ll upgrade and still want a bigger scope!
The rigol is double the money, so I’ll rule that out; and I’m not sure the extra $130 is worth it (and lose the logic analyzer function)…
(Also note the CE bundle has the BNC adapter included)
I think the AD2 wins the features:size and features:cost ratios by a large margin.
I was faced with a similar decision when I needed a logic analyzer for a job. While I’d love to have a big scope with the builtin functions, or a standalone analyzer, I couldn’t justify the cost just for that job. I got a Saleae Logic 8, and it worked out great.
@nickb you have a habit of reading my mind it seems… indeed that was the conclusion I came to as well, the flexibility of the AD2 at the price point and form-factor is hard to beat. It will probably cover 90% of my use cases (@ShawnHymel has the same opinion here) and get me through for a while; in the event i need something more I do have access to labs with more advanced equipment, so it’s not the end of the world. I figure that one day when I want/need to move up, if it’s in the next few years, then the AD2 will do well for the kids as well.
Hope this thread helps a few people as well, and it is great that the AD2 is available again, and especially the CE bundle, so hats off to @ChrisGammell for getting that set up
I have several tools that fit different need profiles.
I have an old “luggable” (nee portable) Tektronix 2220 scope for the bang around occasions - if it dies, I won’t weep. 20 Mhz. I already fixed it once (blown sweep driver, iirc - fun debugging a scope without a scope). Old but I love it because it is almost bullet-proof.
I use a Salae Logic-16 LA for PC connected work. It’s great for debugging logic(ish) circuits. My lab has several PCs and I may get an LA for each one since it’s a pita to move. As long as it can do around 10MHz, has 8 channels, decodes the usual suspect protocols and does continuous buffering (to be able see what happened before the trigger), I’m happy. I have never needed more than 8 channels. I could never get sigrok PulseView to work with it. (Or perhaps I should say I simply didn’t try hard enough - PulseView config is kind of a mess.)
And I have a Siglent SDS 1104X scope that doesn’t require a PC. While I like the Salae, there are often times where a PC is an inconvenience. The SDS 1104X has 4 channels and decodes I2C, SPI and Async (maybe more), iirc. Was about $500. You really need 4 channels if you are going to use the decoders. If you go the scope route, make sure you have good quality probes. That is one area where the manufacturers tend to cheap out.
Was chatting with @ChrisGammell overnight and there’s been a change in pricing for the AD2 - student price is up from $217 to $306 which is then putting it pretty much equal with the siglent sds1052dl+ which changes the “bang for buck” calculation somewhat
in driving the kids to school, and contemplating… the conclusion is still the same - although the price increase puts in the same price bracket as the entry bench top DSOs reducing the “bang for buck” i still get the same spread of functionality in one tool but with obvious drawbacks to the standalone scope - but the function comparison remains the same, and so still represents the best value for money…
… and putting the order in… it’s another $60 in shipping 
… you can’t win! 
so, we’re up to $362… and I fear I will have to pay import duties on top of that… which based on previous experience will push me close to $400 all up (nearly double the original CE price of $217 I had calculated on) … and that changes the calculation significantly!
I can get the ADALM2000 locally for $289 delivered which is looking to be my best option (i have not been able to find a better deal in order to get a scope and logical analyzer for the price)
During the AD2 scarcity, 4 months ago, I used a buying hack for craigslist.
Over the years, I have found odd items or great deals using this. In Google search “site:craigslist.org analog discovery 2” to find all listings across CL. I picked up the AD2 plus accessories from a college student (austin, tx) for $150. Other ways exist on facebook marketplace also using the 50p miles search radius.
My favorite find with this technique was a Kurta calculator for $300 a few years ago.
Cheers, Steve
Cheers @skatsaros - unfortunately it’s the curse of not being in the US… 
It’s sometimes a little surprise, you have no idea you need to pay import fees (or how much they will be) until it’s too late; case in point digikey won’t tell you, but ups does after it’s arrived in the country; and oshpark - the import fees were more than the boards themselves… I have the same with Adafruit, sparkfun… mouser… etc
Looking at a couple old digikey receipts, and doing the math, my back of the envelope says the AD2, by the time I get it will be nearly $500!
I have been on the other end of the import fee BS. About half of my customers are international (i.e. not in the USA). When I ship with the US Postal service, there are no brokerage fees (maybe taxes, though). It is slow - some of my packages take 3 weeks though most are around 10 days.
But shipping UPS (and I assume FedEx), there are some nasty surprises. Brokerage fees and Taxes will add up fast. The last item I sent via UPS (to Ireland), the broker added 22 Eur (about 26 USD) “Tax” on a 46 USD item along with a 15 Eur brokerage fee. There is a 20% VAT but that didn’t seem to be applied. So, I no longer ship via UPS - their Irish broker is a thief and I suspect this is true of all other countries.
So, the lesson - if you can get things shipped via US Postal service, it will get to you slower but a lot cheaper.
Import and duty is a complicated beast. The cost of shipping is often included in the basis for calculating whether your package meets the minimum threshold for duty – some countries like Canada has a very low threshold - 20 CAD - while the U.S. has a $800 threshold. Ireland is 150 EUR. Go above the amount and your shipment gets slowed down for processing, is assessed the duty, and also the customs brokering fee. The particular HTS code associated with the shipment will also affect what the rate will be.
Carriers will charge the brokering fee even if there is no duty due if the particular importation requires an entry to be filed. National mail services (in my experience) do not charge for handling entry.
This might be useful: https://www.easyship.com/countries
(p.s. sorry for the hijack/tangent)
Before we change to import duty and all manner of shipping issues - does anyone see a better option than the ADALM2000?
Thanks for the easyship link. Will take a closer look.
The 150 Eur threshold for Ireland was way above the declared value of the goods (same as selling price). Thus my Thief comment. The broker has you over a barrel and can basically do what ever they want - there is little recourse. I complained to UPS but they basically made it like pulling teeth. I didn’t have the time to fight it all the way.
Ok! I reckon I’m ready to give up! 
Had a look into the ADALM, and the software may have some issues running on the pi I have available for it (the AD2 will happily run on the pi)
Had a look at shipping the AD2 to a friend in California… $4.99 shipping (win) but $30 tax! 
so we’re still at $340 and need to ship internationally - so, best case $360-$370 maybe…
The scope gods are against me! Next plan…? Siglent sds1052 and worry about the rest another day!
(I did speak with digilent hoping to be able to buy from a local distributor, but the CE bundle isn’t available from distributors and distributors won’t take the CE coupon, so that’s a bust unfortunately as well)
well, the saga is finally over! and I am pretty sure that everyone in this forum will be glad to hear of it!
I got to the point where i couldn’t delay any more and put my order in for the AD2.
For finalization, and just in case it helps someone in the future
AD2 vs Siglent 50MHz + USB Logic Analyzer vs ADALM2000
ADALM was out due to poor software support and really not that much cheaper (easy choice!)
My need really boiled down to scope + logic analyzer; when i put the two options against each other though, the prices came out close enough, but the ADL2 had a better logic analyzer compared to what i could get, and the portability - i can put it in my laptop bag and be good to go anywhere anytime - even in a hotel room. I don’t need the extra 20MHz bandwidth at this stage, and the extra functionality in the AD2 is a bonus (again, portable power supplies, AWG etc on the road might be very helpful)
All in all, im very happy with the decision (it took long enough!) - having this tool with so much functionality will show what my upgrade path should be based on what limits i hit.
So, signing out of this topic; can’t wait for it to arrive and get back to work - thanks to everyone here for their invaluable contributions, insight and advice… and for sitting patiently whilst i rubber-duckeyd!
@ToyBuilder Could you recommend your carrying bag? Because of the virus I’m not traveling these days. But being able to conveniently carry my Rigol to client’s sites would be good.
BTW, since this topic started, I bit the bullet and got the Rigol DS1054Z that seems to be low-cost workhorse of portable scopes. Keep in mind that as a consultant, I haven’t had access to “real” oscilloscopes in many years, but I am suitably impressed in the performance and features they’ve packed into this “lunchbox” scope for the price. In hindsight I wished I’d splurged and gotten the function generator and logic analyzer options as well.
