The O-scopes, as they are often called, are primarily used in the science, medicine, engineering, and telecommunications fields. The tools are used to keep basic maintenance up on electronic and laboratory instruments. Other oscilloscope may be used in automobiles to test the ignition system and there is even an o-scope that measures a heartbeat in the form of a waveform.

The basic oscilloscope is broken into four primary sections, the display, vertical controls, horizontal controls, and the trigger controls. A majority of the time the display screen will be a CRT or LCD screen and fitted with horizontal and vertical reference lines known as the graticule. The vertical section of the instrument controls the amplitude of the displayed signal. The horizontal section of the device is for time based sweeps of the instrument. Finally the trigger is used to start the event of the sweep.

With a number of oscilloscopes to choose from it is important to take the time to browse through the assorted inventory. Each device offers different functionality and characteristics. Circuit Specialists carries a number of assorted test instruments from digital multimeters to frequency counters.