The 10 Best Handheld Oscilloscopes
Special Honors
Fluke 190-204 ScopeMeter Test Tool There aren't a lot of individuals who are going to pay for this particularly expensive offering from one of the top names in the industry, but business owners who need reliability, precision, and extreme durability should seriously consider it. It has a 200 MHz bandwidth, a battery that can last for five hours, and the capacity to store two days worth of sample data. It's also IP51 weatherproof rated to withstand exposure to dust and very small amounts of water. fluke.com
Editor's Notes
December 07, 2020:
If you're concerned about sacrificing too many features compared to a full-size oscilloscope, you're going to want to spend the extra money to get something like the Hantek 60MHz 5-in-1 Portable or the Siglent SHS806, which do all they can to keep many of the physical buttons you are probably used to using for things like channel setting and menu navigation.
But that doesn't mean there aren't offerings that have all those same features for less money — like the All-Sun 3-In-1 EM115A and the Fluke 125B Industrial ScopeMeter; they just have a tendency to bury those capabilities in menus and submenus, making them a bit more of a pain to use. For an occasional user tinkering in the garage, this might be fine, but if you rely on your scope for daily professional use, you might want one of the big boys.
One thing that's inevitable with large handheld models is that they are more difficult to hand hold than pocket sized selections like the SainSmart Mini DSO213. For that reason, you'll often see a little strap attached to the side that wraps around your non-dominant hand for added security. There's even one on the exceptionally large Fluke model in our special honors section.
December 07, 2018:
There's a pretty direct relationship between cost and sample rate among these devices, though that doesn't always mean that the most expensive model is best. Both the Hantek and Siglent selections are prime examples of enough speed for most users, with a slew of great features and tested accuracy.