Tektronix Logic Analyser 1241 reviews?

Hi,

Would anyone have any reviews/views on the 1241? I'm considering buying
one, with the colour shutter / psuedo arrangement concerning me. Just
wondering what else I could get for my money.

Have an R&S LAS5 at the moment but with no pods or system disks, so a basic
LAS with 6 inch signal cables..; http://www.retro.dial.pipex.com/las5

Thanks,

Alison

 

I am not sure about the 1241, but I have the Tek DAS9100 series logic
analyzer that I think was the lab system released about the same time.
The 9100 is a pretty nice system, not fast by modern standards, but very
usable. The biggest shortcoming of that system was the capture lengths
were short. The longest capture configuration that I have is 512 samples.

In my opinion, the nicest of the older Logic Analyzers were the HP 16500
series. They were fast, had great capture depth, good triggering and
lots of options. They are regular ebay items.

Good Luck,
Bob

 

Thanks for replying. Yes, the HP16500, trouble I'm finding with those is
that the people selling them haven't a clue what they're worth. Offered a
guy £250 for one who was open to offers, "Oh I couldn't possibly accept
that," quoting one of the reconditioning sites selling them for £1000+.
Most put out at the suggestion, such that the companies involved and him
will sit on them indefinitely. A new portable Tektronix can be had for
£650ish.

Alot of this old kit is worth two for a penny, not what the sellers want to
hear but what quite a few of us 'know'. Anyone want to buy a 14" EGA
monitor, cost £800 new, yours for £200 kind of mentality going on.

Trouble is I need something that works, the R&S LAS5 is so powerful don't
get me wrong but too many unknowns without CP/M disks, pods, documentation
etc.; http://www.retro.dial.pipex.com/las5 One company want £200+ for a
service manual, EGA monitor anyone?

Thanks again for replying

Aly

 

Hi,
The pods on your R&S may be expensive or tough to find. When I bought
the first of the DAS 9100's, it came without pods. Pods cost me $500 US
for the first 4 of them. After a lot of scavenging I got the next 8 for
about $200 total. Docs cost another $200. It was painful.

You might have some luck with Ebay.

Good Luck,
Bob

 

Yes agreed. It seems ok at the moment with short leads which are patched
straight into the circuit being tested. The R&S kit is silly expensive
although they discontinued their range of LAS machines some years ago, have
been in contact with them.

There is that 1241 for sale which I'm toying over. It's about £120 at the
moment (about $200).

You guys in the States seem more realistic about the pricings of these
things. Actually considering buying in the States and having a 16500A
shipped over, even with the shipping likely still cheaper.

Bye for now,

Aly

 

I will soon sell mine on ebay for some 150 euros.
I dont use it and dont want to invest more on probes...
I dont have any probe but it's full with cards..
You will have less shipping if you live in the uk...

regards.

 

Go for the HP16500 or the R&S. clearly outperforms the Tek to my
experiences I made with it.

just my 2 cts.

Andreas.

 

Yes acknowledged. The Tek is now upto £225inc which somewhat I feel has
gone into silly territory;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7610546519 . Any
assesments welcome? 4 hours left.

The R&S I only paid £28 for, seemingly that today's 'engineers' want things
nice n small which shiny switches on them. To give the (old) LAS5 it's due,
it's money's worth, and at 40kgs + however I can't carry it or just dump it
on the workbench. One huge criticism of the Tek 1241 is the amount of power
it draws, 500VA in specs. The R&S takes in about 180VA.

Your 2 cts is influencing me Andreas Just mesmorised by all those pods
and rom packs with the 1241 up above.

Aly

 

Hi Jean,

Thanks for replying. To be honest it's really the probes and expansion
packs that are influencing me with the 1241, without them these old bits of
kit can be a bit inoperable especially at high Mhz.

Aly

 

one 1241 with probes sold recently on ebay uk for some 500 euros !
you can get a probe for some $80 on ebay us from time to time...
as you want !

 

Yep this one I was looking at here went for £336 + £20 P+P, so £350!!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7610546519

I don't think something 20 years old is worth that much when a new TTI can
be had for £650. The beauty of the R&S which I have (still going on about
that) is that it appears to take TTL signals reliably without any pods.

A 100Mhz USB 16 channel LAS goes for £200, and that's with no hassle getting
the information onto a PC for reproduction.

Call me shrewd, just believe alot of this older kit is having it's value
hugely exagerated.

 

they are quite rare with all these accessories and probes.. you can get
cheaper if you collect every piece of the puzzle.. but it takes more
time.

I'm looking for the "logicport" : (when I sell my 1241 !)
http://www.pctestinstruments.com/index.htm

I aggree !

 

I'd recommend the Tek DAS9200/SE series (SE means speed enhanced - and well
worth it when you have a 128,000 word memory.) Get the 92A96 acq boards,
not the 92A90, which is a lot less flexible. There's also the TLA510
series, which
is basically the identical hardware in a smaller box. With the 92A96, at 96
channels/board, you don't usually need the big box.

The pods on this system are passive, so you could make your own. The
decent acq
boards on the 124x and 9100 had active pods, which are great until you
can't get enough
of them, at 8/9 channels each. The 92A96 breakout modules support 24
channels
per cable.

Jon