Best Oscilloscope for Electrical Engineering Student Under $700

[JerryG]

I am currently an electrical engineering student and I am considering buying an oscilloscope. Since I'm in college, I'm looking for a fairly inexpensive one, but I also don't want to throw money away on one that is too cheap. I saw that frys has a LeCroy waveace 40MHZ oscilloscope for $680.
http://www.frys.com/product/6156019?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG"

I would like to use it for constructing audio amplifiers and pre-amps as well as school stuff. Can anyone tell me if this one is any good or do I really need to spend more money to get one worth having?

 

[vociferous]

My recommendation would be to check Craigslist. Just doing a quick search:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/?areaID=1&subAreaID=&query=Oscilloscope+&catAbbreviation=sss

shows that there are a lot of cheap, good quality used scopes out there.

 

[Mike_In_Plano]

I've got one off of EBAY and another from a Pawn shop. Both were excellent for performance vs price and less than half of what you would pay at any store.

 

[sumit sawai]

go for www.freescale.com you may order for free sample there

 

[waht]

Check out the Rigol DS1052E. They go for $550 on ebay, and use a similar if the not the same firmware as Agilent's low end scopes. There is a nice review of it on youtube, and many people I've heard give it thumbs up.