Recommended Equipments
- Purchasing
- Essential and Fundamental Measurement Equipment
- Specialised Measurement Equipment
- Essential and Fundamental Assembly Equipment
The goal of this page is to inform and provide you with options regarding the purchase of equipment. Whilst it would be good to make the page quite general, it is kept in mind that the average reader is an undergraduate EE student and thus will be presented and budgeted accordingly. With that said, there is always scope for expansion depending on how much you have to spend (cash is king), therefore, do not see this list as comprehensive and if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.
The question is then how to segment the equipment: performance or cost? The way this is addressed is that the list is given in order of price and thus performance as price versus performance are strongly correlated. At the end "packages" will be recommended, however, feel free to mix and match parts.
Please do note that this guide is not exhaustive, only to give you a rough idea.
Purchasing
One thing to note is that the prices listed on this site are not real-time or accurate, they are just indicative of the expected pricing of the product. The actual price may fluctuate from discounts, inflation, or component shortage.
There are generally two methods of obtaining equipment (theft not included), or perhaps it would be better to claim that there are generally two distribution paths: Direct from the manufacturer or Third party retailer. The latter option is probably the only option available to most people, as to buy directly from the manufacturer you need to have a direct connection/relationship with a representative and they will generally only sell to large purchasers or more importantly, only companies and not sole traders, so be aware of this.
A quick search can reveal dealers that are based in and available in Australia:
- AppVision (https://appvision.com.au/index.php)
- Emona (https://emona.com.au/)
- Trio Test (https://www.triotest.com.au/)
There are other dealers that are global:
- Digikey (https://www.digikey.com.au/)
- Element14 (https://au.element14.com/)
Do note that the second-hand market is most certainly always an option, however, be warned/please note the following:
- Keysight will go tell you to get screwed if your stuff breaks. Just buy new stuff.
- R&S is pretty committed to supporting its legacy equipment.
Regardless of the dealers, you will probably observe that they sell equipment at various price points. I find it is best to classify the manufacturers into two, to three tiers. Whereas Tier 1 represents the "rolls-royce" of equipment and Tier 3 is more "budget" oriented. Remember the saying goes: "You get what you pay for". Again, this list is not exhaustive (i.e. I have omitted Yokogawa).
Tier 1:
- Lecroy-Teledyne (https://teledynelecroy.com/)
- Keysight / Agilent (https://www.keysight.com/zz/en/home.html)
- Rohde & Schwarz (https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/au/home_48230.html)
- Anritsu (https://www.anritsu.com/en-au/)
Tier 2:
- Keysight / Agilent (https://www.keysight.com/zz/en/home.html)
- Rohde & Schwarz (https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/au/home_48230.html)
- Tektronix (https://www.tek.com/en)
- Pico Tech (https://www.picotech.com/)
- Fluke (https://www.fluke.com/en-au)
Tier 3:
- Rigol (https://www.rigolna.com/)
- Siglent (https://int.siglent.com/)
- Micsig (https://www.micsig.com/) - Good probes and a good handheld, battery-powered scope if you need one.
- Aneng (https://aneng.aliexpress.com/store/919484)
Litteral Garbage:
- Owon (http://www.owon.com.hk/index-1.asp)
- Hantek (http://www.hantek.com/)
- Any other cheap brand.
"Litteral Garbage may sound
Essential and Fundamental Measurement Equipment
Before we dive straight into the different sections, the question "What is your budget" must be asked. If you are on a tight budget and you need all of the below equipment and are interested in something that is "a master of all trades and a jack of none", an all-in-one solution would be suitable. In this case, something like an "Analog Discovery 2" would suffice.
 | Name | Analog Discovery 2 |
| Notable Features | All-In-One Power Supply, Oscilloscope, Signal/Pattern Generator, and Logic Analyzer | |
| Price | 280 USD (420 AUD) | |
| Link | https://digilent.com/shop/analog-discovery-2-100ms-s-usb-oscilloscope-logic-analyzer-and-variable-power-supply/ |
Multi-Meter
There are two distinct options when selecting a multimeter: Handheld or Benchtop. Roughly, the main tradeoff between the two is that one is clearly portable, but sacrifices resolution and functionality.