Oscilloscope Recommendations for Fast Signal Debugging on PIC24/dsPIC/PIC32

Hey I'm doing microcontroller experimentation and am interested in fast signals with PIC24/dsPIC/PIC32. 


Wondering if I need an oscope and recommendations for right tool for the job.

For digital only, look at a logic analyzer. See here for Logic analyser basicsIf you are working with non logic level signals as well, then you really are talking about a scope.Logic analyzers  come in many flavours, they can be stand alone, PC based (USB), smart phone,  or built into some oscilloscopes. Depends on how much you want (or have) to spend (look at open source as well), and what your requirements are, and for PC based instruments, if you a running Win, IOS or Linux. What to look for in a logic analszer, well bus width, sampling rate and memory are three that come to mind, additionally, they should support the common serial standards like RS232, I2C, SPI, CAN,etc . No connection with this company, I bought  their  logicport, and have been very happy with it. There is some demo software you can run on a PC to look at its capabilities. There are many more of its ilk, running from tens of dollars up to thousands.If you go the scope way, than you have many choices as well, some of the USB  and smart phone devices have logic analyzer support, as well as a number of stand alone models.I have both a scope, Rigol ( if you have the money then Tek, Keysight  etc) and a logic analyzer, and find I often need both simultaneously, and that having them as separate devices has paid off in terms of flexibility.A search on the web will turn up a lot of information,.Cheers,Richard

I would agree with every thing Richard says.I use a free standing bench dual channel oscilloscope and a 16 channel Saleae logic analyser connected to my laptop for most of my System on a chip debug.It helps if when writing code to provide trigger outputs on your development software / hardware. Only problem with the Saleae  logic analyser I have found so far, is the inability to set up a trigger byte or word on the sampling port lines It has a wealth of communication protocols it can analyse   and has been worth every penny of my pocket money spent.