Tektronix scopes engendered a lot of loyalty, but time has marched on,
and some of those lower end models of that brand had well known
problems, like the 2215 portable and others earlier. (There were always
tubes to replace in the huge dual beam scopes of the 60's.)
While I will keep my Tek 475 used portable as long as possible, when the
crt goes, its history. No longer available, unless you get another good
475.
Modern import scopes are so good, the main USA vendors Tek and Agilent,
are importing them for their entry level models.
For many years, overseas makers have been watching what works well, and
early Japanese imports were by Leader and others. Later, Philips of the
Netherlands teamed with Fluke to offer cost effective, high quality
scopes. We had seven eventually in our lab at work, and they are all
still there, with minimal problems.
Once the calibration lab apologized to me for there was nothing out of
cal on a model I sent in for periodic certification. The lab director
replaced a chipped ceramic resistor, since he could find nothing to
adjust or replace otherwise. It had a stress crack at the solder lead
from original assembly.
-Stuart Rohre
K5KVH
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