Author Topic: DSO scopes with a good interface?  (Read 8656 times)

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Offline DIPLover

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Re: DSO scopes with a good interface?
« Reply #50 on: March 10, 2018, 11:31:01 am »
Can’t tell you about the best, but the worst I’ve used in this sense is the TDS744, it may take you 20 minutes to remove the single trigger and go to auto mode again just to give an example.

If you need a portable you may like the micsig.

See, this is why UI is so subjective. TDS7xx series are my absolute favourite scopes of all time! The menu system and buttons on 2 sides of the screen make so much sense! I can get to anything I need in 3 button press tops.

(I agree with your example though. Shift-Single Trig to go to single is fine. Would assume doing it again would put you back on Auto, but no. You have to do Acquire Menu->RUN/STOP only then exit menu and press RUN/STOP)


I Never cared for any later Tek though. Don't like the new Agilent/Keysight 2000-3000 at all. I loved my Rigol 2072A and found the UI better than Agilent DSOX3034A. The menus would disappear to reveal more trace for one. FFT was gross though.

Last summer I could finally afford an upgraded and calibrated TDS744A (internally a 784A now).
It's huge and loud and hot, but the traces are sooo sharp on that weird color-LCD masked mono CRT! And I still find the UI the best.

IT DOES TAKE HALF AN HOUR to activate DPO mode (InstaVu) on my 744A though. The D model is much faster in that regard.
« Last Edit: March 10, 2018, 11:44:17 am by DIPLover »
 

Offline nomadd

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Re: DSO scopes with a good interface?
« Reply #51 on: March 10, 2018, 01:23:44 pm »
Thank you all for the feedback here. It was useful; I ordered a DSOX3014T+DSOXLAN a few moments ago as a result... now time to put a couple of other pieces up for sell on rebay to recoup some costs, lol!

-j

I have to agree with your comments on the Rigol - especially the inability to permanently remove "measure" choices. Drives me nuts. I've just upgraded to the latest firmware this morning in the hope that that "bug" would be fixed, Apparently not, as it's a "feature". :) Still, it seems to have retained the "hacks", so it wasn't a completely lost cause.

As for your upgrade - nice. Still, I personally haven't quite got to the stage where I hate the Rigol UI so much that I'd spend TEN TIMES the price to be shot of it! Let's hope those couple of internal organs you are about to place on eBay bring in the much-needed upgrade cash. :)
 

Offline Muxr

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Re: DSO scopes with a good interface?
« Reply #52 on: March 10, 2018, 04:27:15 pm »
Keysight is king of the UI, has been since the Agilent days
I would say it even started while it was HP still (on later models). My HP 54610B is incredibly quick and easy to use, particularly considering its vintage (being early digital and all). If I am just working on simple analog circuit prototyping I am often tempted to use it instead of my other more capable scopes. Rigol feels like pedaling up hill by contrast.

R&S has decent UI implementation as well, but you're right I think Agilent really nails it. I have two RF signal generators an Agilent and an R&S, and the Agilent one really stands out with how quick and easy the UI is.
 

Offline jasonbrentTopic starter

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Re: DSO scopes with a good interface?
« Reply #53 on: March 10, 2018, 09:24:22 pm »
Keysight is king of the UI, has been since the Agilent days
I would say it even started while it was HP still (on later models). My HP 54610B is incredibly quick and easy to use, particularly considering its vintage (being early digital and all). If I am just working on simple analog circuit prototyping I am often tempted to use it instead of my other more capable scopes. Rigol feels like pedaling up hill by contrast.

R&S has decent UI implementation as well, but you're right I think Agilent really nails it. I have two RF signal generators an Agilent and an R&S, and the Agilent one really stands out with how quick and easy the UI is.

I think I would agree with your statement on HP, although my experience with their test equipment is minimal. On the systems side of the house, some little things in HP/UX are still items I use as a reference point for "how things should be done". For example (c.f. https://docstore.mik.ua/manuals/hp-ux/en/5992-4826/ch01s03.html) to install software, they had a utility "swinstall" that could be used. It provided a text user interface.... personally, I'm a command line guy... but what was awesome about any of the HP Text User Interfaces (TUIs) is that one of the options was to provide you a list of all of the commands it actually ran under the hood. Great for learning, audit trails, etc. It was an amazingly simple concept that was a huge win in my book.

-j
 

Online nctnico

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Re: DSO scopes with a good interface?
« Reply #54 on: March 10, 2018, 09:45:29 pm »
Can’t tell you about the best, but the worst I’ve used in this sense is the TDS744, it may take you 20 minutes to remove the single trigger and go to auto mode again just to give an example.
If you need a portable you may like the micsig.
See, this is why UI is so subjective. TDS7xx series are my absolute favourite scopes of all time! The menu system and buttons on 2 sides of the screen make so much sense! I can get to anything I need in 3 button press tops.
That is what I liked about the Tektronix TDS700 and related series as well. My GW Instek scope has the same arrangement and it prevents needing to dive into many sub-menus like on the Agilent/Keysight scope I used to own.
There are small lies, big lies and then there is what is on the screen of your oscilloscope.
 

Offline jasonbrentTopic starter

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Re: DSO scopes with a good interface?
« Reply #55 on: March 21, 2018, 04:14:17 am »
DSOX3014T arrived today (still waiting on DSOXLAN module)... and all I can say is Wow.

The UI on this is just spectacular and I've only spent about 30 minutes futzing with it. Things just "make sense" and seem to "just work" without a ton of guesswork. HP/Agilent/Keysight definitely put more than a little thought on the user experience with this.

I was thinking I'd keep the 1054Z as a secondary scope, but now I'm not sure...

Appreciate all of the feedback... and yes it is "10 times" more than the rigol in terms of price, but it is likely worth it in the long run.

Thank you all.

*EDIT*: for what it's worth, IMO, keysight has the knob rotation for menu item selection backwards, also.... Maybe it's just because I'm left handed? :) .. Clockwise goes "up" the menu list, CCW goes "down"... I can't explain why that just feels wrong to me. :)

-j

« Last Edit: March 21, 2018, 05:19:32 am by jasonbrent »
 


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