DS211 Single Channel Mini Handheld Oscilloscope

If you’ve ever enjoyed the excitement of working out in the field for an Electronics job, or if you simply love to take your advanced projects out into the world to festivals, sporting events or any other fun occasions, then you will be able to understand just how frustrating it can be to arrive with all your gear and equipment, only to find out that something isn’t working. Fortunately, with most basic projects, you can simply swap out some parts or test some voltages and get things back into working order with minimal hassle. However, if you are working on any intermediate to advanced projects, a simple multimeter may not be able to offer the troubleshooting capabilities you need to fix it, and you can’t always lug around an entire spare set of parts for the odd chance that something does go wrong, and that’s when you need handy little pocket-sized Test & Measurement tools like the DS211 Single Channel Mini Handheld Oscilloscope.

This tiny but powerful pocket-sized oscilloscope is a tiny marvel of modern engineering, taking a good chunk of the standard oscilloscope functionality, and shrinking it down into a package that could fit right in a pocket, purse, glove compartment or even a moon bag if that’s your style! It offers a relatively impressive 200kHz max bandwidth, an impressive sampling rate of 1MSa per second, a sampling memory depth of 8K and an integrated storage solution so you can even capture and save waveforms for later analyses or comparisons. Furthermore, and this is something we wouldn’t expect from a pocket-sized-companion, the DS211 can also generate waveforms in the form of Square, Sine, Sawtooth and Triangle, capable of frequencies from 10Hz up to 1MHz, and even offering PWM or duty cycle output for handy applications like servo testing.

In terms of the mechanical features of the DS211, it is small but features an onboard 2.8inch TFT LCD with 320x240 resolution for crisp visuals, with two primary function buttons as well as a basic four direction keypad for navigating between menus and selecting the functions you want. Additionally, to add an awesome extra layer of convenience to this device, it’s also equipped with an integrated 500mAh battery, which should last for around 3 hours of use, with the Micro USB port on the side allowing you to recharge that battery, download and upload specific waveforms, as well as update the open source firmware – allowing for customisation on top of all of the amazing features. So as you can see, the DS211 Single Channel Pocket Oscilloscope has impressed us in almost every regard, and we’re really looking forward to taking these, as well as our TS80P Soldering Irons and DT71 Digital Tweezers out into the field, ensuring that we have everything we need to repair, maintain, troubleshoot, prototype and Make projects while out in the big wide world and away from our workbenches.

Typical Applications for DS211 Single Channel Mini Handheld Oscilloscope:

As any electronics professional will know, having to work out in the field is not often a pleasant experience, commonly involving people and places you don’t know, potentially hazardous environments, a severe lack of working space, and a variety of other small problems that all add up to some serious frustration. This is precisely why we value pocket-sized tools like the DS211, as these kinds of tools let you take your expertise out into the field and repair, maintain, debug and troubleshoot all kinds of basic to intermediate projects.

In fact, as long as you’re not dealing with advanced RF analysis or extremely precise components, you can almost entirely rely on the DS211 while out on a job or at a remote location, after which you can decide whether the fault is complex enough to require a full-sized bench oscilloscope, or whether you can simply fix it on the spot with the reasonably advanced level of analysis that the DS211 offers. So, while the DS211 can’t quite compete with the sheer precision and functionality of a full sized desktop oscilloscope, it also isn’t quite as expensive as a desktop unit, and that’s where the true value of the DS211 lies, in the way that it offers an exceptional level of portable functionality that only a handful of other scopes out in the world can offer.

Additional Resources:

• If you’re eager to see more than just what’s shown in the video below, check out this more comprehensive DS211 Oscilloscope Review and Tutorial from Alejandro Alonso, which goes into further detail on each of the key points, as well as how they might be beneficial for Makers out in the field.
  
  
• Next up, if you’re a Master of the Code who likes to fiddle with firmware and custom coding, then you may certainly be eager to take a look at the Dedicated DS211 Firmware Page at Miniware, which has both current and past firmware versions, which of course are open-source so you can modify them as you please.

Finally, if you’re interested in seeing a quick overview and review of the basic functionality of the DS211 Pocket Oscilloscope, the following video is quick but explains a lot of the core functions and typical use cases for the various analysis and generation features:

Guangzhou e-Design Intelligent Technology, or more affectionately known as Miniware to us electronics enthusiasts, is the brand that created the awesome TS100 Soldering Iron, and this single item is what helped them rapidly grow in popularity, due to the impressive quality coupled with fancy features – all in a beautifully portable design that can even be powered by LiPo Cell Packs!

Although Miniware remained somewhat unknown before the launch of the TS100, they have actually been involved in electronics design since as far back as 2000, and they hold the title of being the first in the world to design a portable handheld oscilloscope in 2009. Since then, however, Miniware has been rapidly gaining popularity due to the impressive level of quality and sophistication of each their awesome products, and how they manage to fit even more features and functionality into their handheld devices than many of the popular desktop devices within the same price range.

With almost every single one of their awesome products being a truly valuable addition to almost any workshop space, Miniware are one of our favourite brands. And while they certainly don’t release new products often, we simply love to get new goodies in from the moment they are prototyped, so that we can enjoy the awesome new features (both novel and functional) that they have chosen to integrate.