Cell's VDS2152B

The display is neat and tidy and I found it the easiest of the three instruments to operate without instructions. There are only two text pull-down selections. All other operation is by push-buttons, and what I particularly like is the ease with which you can Hide features that you don’t want on the display. All three scope modules in the survey have so many features that it’s too easy to end up viewing a mishmash, which only serves to confuse and complicate operation. The default black background display with yellow and blue traces conveys the impression that you’re viewing a real bench DSO. One disappointment is that the usual MS-Windows Maximise button is inoperative so you can’t fill your PC’s screen. This may be a clever design move because large displays magnify digitising noise and waveform discontinuities. Cell’s unit also has a useful Autoscale button that, after the hardware makes several clicking noises, never failed to display a sensible waveform. Moreover, if you leave an input selected but open circuit, your PC will continue to make a discrete click to remind you. A lot of imagination has gone into the design of Cell’s front panel and it’s hard to stop playing with it.

Printing is also easier because this module doesn’t occupy your PC’s printer port. Exporting waveforms to MS-Excel is also very straightforward.

Cell’s basic unit costs much more but it does have 1M/ channel memory and a 150-MHz bandwidth. Note that the persistence display, FFT, Excel transfer, and automatic functions are options. A newly introduced fixed-configuration Slimline series (256k/channel memory) costs around 1000 euros. Contact Cell, Saint-Quentin-Yv. Cedex, France, +33-1-39-44-70-39, www.cellinc.com.