Okay, there are a lot of reviews (on this site, as well as others) of scopes between $300 and $600 US. The ones that jump out are the classic Rigol DS1102E (and it's little brother), the Hantek DSO5102B (and it's siblings), and the Owon SDS7102. Then, of course, there are the other ones that are the same scope, just a different brand name. But it seems, being in the states, that these are the big 3 in the ~$600 or less arena.
From what I can gather, the Rigol is pretty solid, but at this point, a bit dated (small screen, no real standout features, etc). The Hantek is extremely hackable (as per the 100 page thread on it here). And the Owon is similar to the Hantek with a few more bells and whistles, but is also missing some things (which I guess the company is adding now with newer firmwares). Also, I note that all these units are from at least 2011 and older. Coming from computers, 2 year old models are pretty old. How often are scope models updated?
I don't really have a list of things the scope MUST do, since it's my first, and I'm really teaching myself this stuff. I'm a Systems Admin by profession (which is one thing that really draws me to the Hantek), but I've always dabbled, poorly, in electronics and would like to get into it more. Having a usable and inexpensive scope seems like it would be a good tool and would probably be all I would need for years.
Anyone have any thoughts? And before it comes up, I really can't justify the Rigol 2000 series (DS2072) unless there is something REALLY compelling (for a beginner) about it that these others don't have. The price point is twice what I was otherwise looking at. =(
Thanks for your time.