While digital scopes have made great advances over the last 10 years or so, there is still a place for capable analog scopes at reasonable prices. In this GW Instek model, we have a scope with a foot in both camps but with many of the operating attributes of an analog scope.

At first sight, the GRS-6032 looks quite conventional, as an analog scope. It uses a conventional cathode ray tube and so it has quite a deep case. Front panel measurements are 270 x 129mm while the overall depth is 410mm, including the rear feet which double as power cord storage. The CRT screen is 102 x 85mm and it has a conventional graticule 10 divisions wide and eight divisions high. Weight of the unit is 8.5kg.

On the front panel there are 11 knobs, four large and seven small, and there are 28 pushbuttons, some of which have associated illuminated legends. All of these light up in sequence as part of the scope's self-test procedure when you first turn it on.

It is not until you start to use it that you realise that the GRS-6032 is different from analog scopes in the past. It is also a CRT readout scope in which the CRT text takes the place of much of the labelling on the front panel controls.