Quick review: Micsig STO1104C 4CH 100Mhz 1GSa/s portable oscilloscope
(incomplete)
After much research I decided on this Micsig as my first proper (non-USB) oscilloscope. I purchased it from Appvision Australia with 3yr warranty for 867 AUD with all options included besides 1553B/429 decoding. The other major contenders under 1000 AUD were the Rigol DS1054Z, a classic beginner recommendation, and the more premium Siglent SDS1104X-E (both of which are significantly cheaper). In the end, having a battery powered oscilloscope with smart tablet features appealed to me most. The brand reputation and software polish might not be as good but I was willing to take a chance considering the praise it gets on YouTube/EEVBlog forum for ease-of-use.
I won’t do a full technical breakdown as other people have done this in a lot of detail, but I will note some things that were different or unexpected.
- The tablet runs a stripped-down version of Android 5.1.1(!) and takes around 25s to boot with an extra 15s to launch the oscilloscope app (passable).
- Cannot install any custom APKs besides using the ‘app market’ which only has FTP Server and WPS Office, in addition to the updatable built-in apps.
- Responsive touchscreen and buttons.
- Included probes are fixed 10x, which has its advantages but I prefer having the option of 1x.
- Remote control and file transfer (FTP) over WiFi is very convenient and works reasonably well. There is noticeable screen lag however.
- Unique feature of screen recording. Can only start & stop outside of the oscilloscope app though, which is annoying.
- Good premium feel plastic construction.
- Have not found a way to put it into sleep mode. Display has to be on all the time or you have to power off.
- Screen refresh rate seems a bit low - need to investigate this. Quite noticeable when trying to display oscilloscope music in XY mode.
test Lissajous figure using laptop audio
test serial decoding
test screen recording, picking up 612kHz AM station in FFT