Batboard

My shop is looking at getting a new service monitor, and I'm looking for opinions.

Currently we have 3 R2600 series, one with XTS/XTL Autotest capability, and an R8000 with currently just XTS/XTL Autotest, and tracking generator & cable fault.

And I love the R8000; great performance for me, nice & small & light (after better than 10 years of hauling a COM120B; up & down stairs & elevators & such).

Right now, it's between another R8000, again with all Autotests that we can justify (XTS/XTL, and APX of course) and other bells & whistles, or the Aeroflex 8800S, similarly equipped.

Have a demo 8800 on the hook, watched a webinar on it this past week, and will take it out for some PMs & run thru paces with infrastructure. I'll admit, the stuff in the webinar gave me the vapors (the boss thought I was going to need a private moment, alone) - not just the Autotest & such, but also the built-in inline wattmeter, tracking generator &such. Whew.

Or another 8000. Again, I like it, nice machine. I've never had the need to use it on Autotests, but will be boning up on that soon. R8000 pricing has come down since I got this first one about 3 years ago,


FWIW, 3920 is pretty much out of our price range. (Any thoughts on why it's so much compared to the 8800 set? Does it do enough more tests to make it worth it?)

What are everybodies thoughts?

The 3900 has a lot more computing power under the hood than the 8800 - as such there are a lot of measurements the 8800 takes more time to make than the 3900. There are quite a few more tests the 3900 can perform due to having more power, it can handle simultaneous multi-channel protocols, it can handle wider signal bandwidths, and its RF input can handle more power without an external pad.

The 3900 has the most obnoxious fans I have ever seen. I had one in a small screen room and after a few months I put back the HP8920. I once took it to a noisy basement radio room and the external noise made the unit fine.