bigmessowires said:

. . . I have to say I didn't love it. Maybe it's a case of wrong expectations rather than anything fundamentally wrong with it:

I'd say this almost isn't a logic analyzer at all. It's more like an 8-channel, 1-bit oscilloscope. The software has no state analysis features at all, and only the most rudimentary support for parallel busses. Given that, I guess I understand why the hardware doesn't have more channels, because the software just isn't designed for working with that kind of system.

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You also can't connect an external clock source to determine when samples are captured. That means you have to run the Saleae's internal sampling clock at a few times faster than the clock on the system under test, oversampling the signals.

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Maybe I'm being too hard on this thing, or my harping about state analysis and external clocks reflects a "legacy mindset" that's only relevant for bus-based systems. If you were using the Saleae unit solely to troubleshoot an SPI, I2C, or other serial connection, it would probably be fine, though even there some basic features seem to be missing.

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I'm not really sure what kind of audience Saleae is aiming for. It seems like it may be the casual hobbyist or Arduino user, but $400 - $500 for a tool in that marketplace is pretty expensive.

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The Logicport LA1034 that trag mentioned is in the same price range, and from what I can tell it has most of the features the Saleae is missing. Even the open source hardware "Open Workbench Logic Sniffer" has many of those features, and it also has 32 channels and only costs $50.

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