Just purchased a brand new Rigol scope but it’s over 2 years old !!!

[Berni]

Besides all other reasons, electrolytic  caps often have a two year shelf-life   
But for the rest, where is the limit,  3 weeks, 6 months 1 year ? As long as it is new and 100% equal to one build today. But only as warranty would not an be issue,

But I would not want that , I have a not solved warranty problem like that with a Metcal, 
Calibration for a scope ? Maybe for a high end A-brand scope, if that is so important do not buy a budget brand.

Keysights official ebay page is a good place for that. Yes you get a used piece of test gear on there that might be quite a few years old, but it tends to look pretty much like new, comes in the real box and gets a fresh calibration done on it before it leaves(including all the paperwork with actual measurements) and comes with a warranty. Don't expect massive bargains in terms of price, but they are a lot cheaper than brand new ones (And we all know Keysight gear costs a pretty penny).

[Gandalf_Sr]

Keysights official ebay page is a good place for that. Yes you get a used piece of test gear on there that might be quite a few years old, but it tends to look pretty much like new, comes in the real box and gets a fresh calibration done on it before it leaves(including all the paperwork with actual measurements) and comes with a warranty. Don't expect massive bargains in terms of price, but they are a lot cheaper than brand new ones (And we all know Keysight gear costs a pretty penny).

My experience with Keysight on eBay s that they will accept an offer that's 90% of their 'Buy it Now' price. Often their refurb scopes come with nothing, no test leads, and sometimes no power cord.

[TK]

Keysights official ebay page is a good place for that. Yes you get a used piece of test gear on there that might be quite a few years old, but it tends to look pretty much like new, comes in the real box and gets a fresh calibration done on it before it leaves(including all the paperwork with actual measurements) and comes with a warranty. Don't expect massive bargains in terms of price, but they are a lot cheaper than brand new ones (And we all know Keysight gear costs a pretty penny).

My experience with Keysight on eBay s that they will accept an offer that's 90% of their 'Buy it Now' price. Often their refurb scopes come with nothing, no test leads, and sometimes no power cord.

And they charge sales tax even when they are shipping from Malaysia.

[Bassman59]

Keysights official ebay page is a good place for that. Yes you get a used piece of test gear on there that might be quite a few years old, but it tends to look pretty much like new, comes in the real box and gets a fresh calibration done on it before it leaves(including all the paperwork with actual measurements) and comes with a warranty. Don't expect massive bargains in terms of price, but they are a lot cheaper than brand new ones (And we all know Keysight gear costs a pretty penny).

My experience with Keysight on eBay s that they will accept an offer that's 90% of their 'Buy it Now' price. Often their refurb scopes come with nothing, no test leads, and sometimes no power cord.

And they charge sales tax even when they are shipping from Malaysia.

Origin of the product for sale doesn’t matter for sales tax. If Keysight has a physical presence (a sales office, for example) in your state, they have a nexus and the state requires Keysight to collect the sales tax from you and remit it to the state.

[boggis the cat]

These things are not certified (or even certifiable!), you're supposed to press the 'calibrate' button every time you want an in-spec reading.

No to both of those assertions.

The method you use to 'certify' a 'scope (calibration verification) is to wait for the minimum warm-up time – people forget this, and it is important as a cold 'scope is almost always going to be significantly out – then record the ambient temperature (and humidity, usually, for a lab) and run the 'self-cal' routine.  After it passes that routine you then perform the recommended verification procedure (or the customer requested one, or your in-house procedure if the manufacturer doesn't have one).  Usually the temperature can vary by a couple of degrees with no significant impact, so recording the ambient conditions at the end of the procedure is usually going to be sufficient (unless your lab is in a barn or something  ).

This provides reasonable proof that the 'scope meets specifications (or doesn't, or is ambiguous) under the manufacturer's recommended usage conditions – warm-up time and 'self cal', generally.  If it is out of spec, or very close to it, then the customer may request adjustment and a post-adjustment verification.

As an aside: most engineers I have come across are convinced that scopes do not require any form of certification.  They just know that a reading is right or wrong using their special engineer-electrical parameter mind-meld technique (or something).  They're also pretty dismissive of the value of certifying or verifying anything, generally.  Just because your components have ten percent tolerances and you design around that does not mean it isn't a good idea to know whether you have 3.3 V or 3.2 V (or worse) when you check that design – 'knowledge is power' and so forth.   

[Fungus]

These things are not certified (or even certifiable!), you're supposed to press the 'calibrate' button every time you want an in-spec reading.

.... This provides reasonable proof that the 'scope meets specifications (or doesn't, or is ambiguous) under the manufacturer's recommended usage conditions – warm-up time and 'self cal', generally. 

Nope. None of that provides any sort of legal proof or traceability. You'd have to video every session to be able to use it as 'proof' of anything.

A certifiable instrument is one where you can switch it on six months later and it will give the exact same reading as before. Oscilloscopes don't fall into that category until you pay a lot more than Rigol prices.

As an aside: most engineers I have come across are convinced that scopes do not require any form of certification.

Hopefully it's because they know that they shouldn't even try to do it.

... good idea to know whether you have 3.3 V or 3.2 V (or worse) when you check that design – 'knowledge is power' and so forth.

And ... that's when you should disconnect the oscilloscope and use your multimeter instead. 

[Dataforensics]

One possible problem might be the RTC backup battery, the one in my 2072 failed after four years. So you may only get two years before it needs a change.
If you worry about warranty seals or the time on a scope that is.

[GerryBags]

The term "certify", doesn't mean to verify calibration, that's a performance check. If you don't end up with a certificate, it wasn't a certified process. Hence a document received after you've sent a device to be "certifiably calibrated" will be a  certificate of calibration. If you're worried about the accuracy of the actual devices, shouldn't you be at least AS concerned about the accuracy of the terms you use to describe it.

If you try to sell a 'scope for a lot of money and put in the description that it has been "certified" because you did a functional performance check after the prescribed amount of warm-up and it was found to be within spec, you will leave yourself open to a law-suit when the buyer finds out.

[PA4TIM]

One possible problem might be the RTC backup battery, the one in my 2072 failed after four years. So you may only get two years before it needs a change.
If you worry about warranty seals or the time on a scope that is.

That is not normal I hope. The ones I had to replace are most times over 20 years old

[tszaboo]

Are you guys really arguing about calibration of a chinese scope? I bet they can calibrate it even remotely. The same way they calibrate all their stuff, just print a fake sticker, and hope that nobody ever checks it.

[Mr. Scram]

Are you guys really arguing about calibration of a chinese scope? I bet they can calibrate it even remotely. The same way they calibrate all their stuff, just print a fake sticker, and hope that nobody ever checks it.

Do you have to do this every time?

[BillB]

I hereby certify this thread.

[tszaboo]

Are you guys really arguing about calibration of a chinese scope? I bet they can calibrate it even remotely. The same way they calibrate all their stuff, just print a fake sticker, and hope that nobody ever checks it.

Do you have to do this every time?

Do what?

[boggis the cat]

Are you guys really arguing about calibration of a chinese scope? I bet they can calibrate it even remotely. The same way they calibrate all their stuff, just print a fake sticker, and hope that nobody ever checks it.

Any decent lab (an ISO 17025 accredited lab will be 'decent') that has 'scopes in their workload can perform a calibration verification on a Chinese 'scope.  Why would you think not?

The lab I work for doesn't get many Chinese 'scopes, but then we still get mostly older Tektronix TDS series models to calibrate – New Zealand is pretty backward when it comes to buying new test equipment: if that 'scope from the 1990s still boots up, why 'waste' money getting one that will save your engineers a huge amount of time?  (Presumably because engineers are 'lazy', as is everyone whose job you don't understand: free management tips!  )

[boggis the cat]

I hereby certify this thread.

Not much data in that certificate.  Is that a factory cert? 

[PA4TIM]

Any decent lab (an ISO 17025 accredited lab will be 'decent') that has 'scopes in their workload can perform a calibration verification on a Chinese 'scope.  Why would you think not?

The lab I work for doesn't get many Chinese 'scopes, but then we still get mostly older Tektronix TDS series models to calibrate – New Zealand is pretty backward when it comes to buying new test equipment: if that 'scope from the 1990s still boots up, why 'waste' money getting one that will save your engineers a huge amount of time?  (Presumably because engineers are 'lazy', as is everyone whose job you don't understand: free management tips!  )

I aligned 3 analog 20 MHz old scopes for a customer. Most people would call that calibration but it is not, you can calibrate it before to note how well it is within specs before aligning/adjusting, this is very important for the owner. To bad many owner do not know why    and after adjustments to do the same for the state it is before you ship it back to the owner)  Why not, he will have a reason to do this, what that reason is, is not important for you and me, but important enough for him to pay money for it.

[mmaseda]

Just wanted to report that I received my new scope from RIGOL NA today.  The new scope was build and calibrated in April 2018 and is HW version 03 (old scope was 02) and has the latest .04 firmware factory installed. Hats off to RIGOL for resolving my problem.