Rohde & Schwarz offers package pricing for oscilloscopes through December

By Martin Rowe, senior technical editor, test & measurement, EE Times & EDN

Test-equipment manufacturers — especially oscilloscopes — often introduce a series of similar instruments. Oscilloscopes, for example, vary by bandwidth and waveform memory, with several options that you can upgrade with an unlock code. A typical low-end oscilloscope line may have models with 70 MHz, 100 MHz, 150 MHz, 200 MHz, and 300 MHz.

Manufacturers may also offer software packages such as serial-data analysis or spectrum measurements. The bandwidth, memory, and options are often built into the firmware at the time of manufacture, and you purchase unlock codes as your needs change. Oscilloscope makers usually market their products by saying that you don’t have to pay for features and bandwidth you don’t need.

When we cover such announcements, engineers often balk about having to pay extra to upgrade their oscilloscopes when the functions, higher bandwidth, and deeper memory are already built in. Engineers particularly question bandwidth/memory upgrades because the higher-bandwidth hardware is already included. Later upgrades are nearly 100% profit for the manufacturers.

Rohde & Schwarz is trying a different approach, at least temporarily. From now until Dec. 31, 2019, you can purchase products in the following product lines with full features at discounted prices: 

• RTC1000 oscilloscope (two channels, 300 MHz)
• RTB2000 oscilloscope (four channels, 300 MHz, 160 Msamples)
• RTM3000 oscilloscope (four channels, 1 GHz, 400 Msamples)
• RTA4000 oscilloscope (four channels, 1 GHz, 1,000 Msamples)
• RTH1000 Scope Rider handheld spectrum analyzer (500 MHz, 25 Msamples)
• FPC1500 bench spectrum analyzer (3 GHz)
• NGE100B power supply (three channels, 100 W)

Even with reduced pricing for full-featured models, the most price-conscious buyers might still prefer lower prices when they don’t need the full features. Perhaps you don’t need the digital logic inputs. If that’s the case, you can still buy the instruments without the promotional prices and get only what you need.

Will this promotional pricing work for you, or do you prefer “à la carte” pricing?