Hobby Components USB 24M 8CH 24MHz Logic Analyser

This superb little unit works very well with the freeware PulseView software. I spliced into the USB cable to pickup a +5v supply (red wire) to simplify its use with 5V sensors, see attached pic with it connected to 433Mhz remote receiver also pic showing captured received signal pulses. Vary fast delivery from Hobby Components and a neat well-built unit - an absolute bargain.

I was pleasantly surprised by this little device. The build quality is pretty low (though surprisingly better than I expected for the £9 price tag). Though I did have to clean the plastic housing with a scalpel to make the lid fit properly. I've not tried it out with anything very taxing (it claims 24M Sample/sec – which is faster than you'd likely need for most applications); but for monitoring and diagnosing I2C / SPI / Serial (which is what most people will want it for) it works very well. Is it as good as one you'd buy for £250? No... But I'd say it favourably compares to anything else I've seen under £100. It's ideal for hobby or educational use (e.g. it's really cheap and it works!). If you're a pro then you'll probably want something a bit higher spec / more robust for the lab bench (but then someone else will probably be paying!) – but this would make a nice second unit: it's cheap enough that you can throw it in a field kit box without worrying about it. All in all, it's well worth the price.

Hardware is great. Up to 24Mhz sample rate (depends on PC performance). Software is the best part. I was using this to help set up i2C and CANBUS comms on a project. A scope is fine to check the signal is there, but using the PULSEVIEW software deciphers the signal and tells you what the messages contain and if there are any signal errors etc. Invaluable.

I was going to buy a more expensive logic analyser, but as my requirements were limited, I took a chance on this very inexpensive device. It arrived within six hours of ordering, so no complaints there, but when I opened the package the device and it leads were loose in a large Hantek plastic bag along with the anti-static bag which should have contained the analyser. The anti-static bag was already ripped open and its contents loose it the outer bag. Clearly the device was not new. Nevetheless I tested it on a function generator and on a SPI bus and it seemed to be OK. Connecting to the input pins is very awkward, but for £12 what can you expect. The open source Pulseview software is excellent and makes this logic analyser a very useful piece of equipment.

I've had this bit of kit for several months now and it is excellent! Does exactly what I need. I've used it at work and at home to debug I2C & SPI problems, spy on Modbus transactions. The free GUI is really good... very usable and the decoders are handy. I've even written some of my own for a couple of I2C devices to make looking at the traces easier, which really helped. Writing the decoders in Python is pretty straight forward and there are loads of examples and the docs aren't too bad either. Worth every penny!

I wasted about an hour trying all of the different drivers that come with Saleae's Logic2 program, after having read here that it identifies itsself as a Saleae device. I tried all of those drivers, in all cases: ( Logic 4, Logic 8, Logic 16 Pro, Logic 8 Pro...) A: Sigrok/Pulseview couldn't find the device (as a Saleae or fx2lafw) B: Saleae's Logic2 would either connect to 100% then fail, or just crash After about an hour, for some reason, after selecting a deliberately wrong driver (Saleae Logic Pro 16 by going into the Device manager (devmgmt.msc) -> update -> have disk -> browse -> logic 2 directory -> drivers -> saleae.inf), it somehow, randomly showed up a fx2lafw device, with the warning triangle. At that point it clicked, install Sigrok/Pulseview and fire up zadig.exe in that directory. This installs the open firmware to the (I presume) cypress chip, and lets you use it in Sigrok. That worked. This took me about an hour to figure out, and maybe 10 minutes to type out. Would probs have been an easy 5 star if the seller had bothered to do this.

This is a great little device, and it really is little - just 55 x 25 x 12mm. Crazy value for money - especially when you can get these for under £10. The supplied USB lead works fine. Go to [...] to download the free open source software. For Windows just remember to install the USB driver using Zadig - this is included in the download. There's a great deal of documentation on this so not worth repeating here. This is better for logic analysing than using my Rigol oscilloscope. Checking I2C bus data is much easier now. It's very unfair that others have given this a bad review based on their own limitations. If they find it too difficult to download the software and set up a USB port why are they buying a logic analyser in the first place?

The good news is I got this working on Windows 10 with no fuss at all - when I remembered to run the Zadig USB driver installer which comes with the pulseView download from the sigrok website - I just accepted the defaults offered and hit the install button. Now, I'm just a hobby enthusiast so I reckon the data capture rates are adequate for my purposes - often I just need to see if a pulse exists. I tried this out on an ultrasonic sensor and monitored the trigger and echo pulses - nice and clear. The trigger pulse was 10usec long and clearly visible on the trace followed by the much longer echo pulse. Nice to see. Very pleased with this, especially at the price.