Oscilloscope upgrade - Rigol DS1054Z VS 2072A

[Wmacky]

Looking to upgrade my current scope, as I like the newer higher rez big screens, and intensity grading. This scope is completely for hobbyist use only. The current prospects I have my sights on are the Rigol DS1054Z and 2072A. I can afford the 2072A, but the other seems like such a steal! My issue is that my current scope is a 1102E, and I really got burned on that one.  You see I purchased it at the full original $800 price just weeks before the 1052 upgrade hack was found, and the extreme price drop happened. Let me tell you I was really kicking myself on that one, especially as it seemed the everyone had gone for the much, much cheaper 1052E, and was rewarded handsomely.    I really wished I had gone with the cheaper option.

So I'm now reluctant to once again pass on the "deal of the year" for the more costly option as you can imagine! Th 1054Z does look great, but a few things do give me pause. The B/W is a little less, but not much, and then there is the 1G/s spec VS the 2G/s spec (admittedly not sure what the spec buys me).  One of the bigger issues is the screen. Though it is larger that the older units, the sidebar menus options are on the screen permanently taking up valuable real estate. That being the case, I'm not sure if it really gives that much more screen size than my 1102 with menu off?

Anyway, my finger hoovers over the buy buttons as I debate!

One last question as the current answer seems vague as far as my reading suggests. Can either of these currently be "upgraded" to more B/W as of this week?  If not are the chances of that changing great at some future point?

[Ericho]

I had similar doubts a few moths back.

I ordered a DS1054Z instead of a 500MHz agilent
A DS1054Z is all I really need and will use to full potential. I hate wasting money.

[Wmacky]

OK, I just ordered a 2072A, and veiwed a video 5 minutes later that had given me pause.

The video seems to show A much brighter and nicer looking screen on the 1054Z?  Whats up with that?  Any comments?  Here it is..

[tautech]

OK, I just ordered a 2072A.......

Wise choice IMO. 

[poida_pie]

I have both. I first got the DS2072, then the DS1054Z came along and for $400 AUS, I thought it's time to just buy it and see what it's like and stop wondering if...
And after a few upgrade codes applied I have two excellent DSOs.

I like:
DS2072 - screen size (good for older eyes), big-ass mem depth, bigger control size for big hands, the memory playback control! (worth $200 or more alone..), bus decode from memory (i.e. SPI decoding of sample frames of data captured in mem)
DS1054Z - serial decode seems more robust, in particular SPI when using CS instead of time-out to define data words. 4 channels. 4 probes. 4 good colours for each channel.
the display is brighter and I do not miss the lesser number of different colours of the traces. You still get a very good CRT like persistence effect.

I do NOT like:
DS2072 - SPI decode which mandates using time-out as the only data word limit. I would love CS as an option.
the LCD is a little less bright than I would like but you can see it fine in most indoor lighting situations.
DS1054Z - down to 250M sample/s if using more than 2 channels. Navigating the deep sample memory is crap, really, compared with the lovely big knob devoted for this purpose on the DS2072. Seems to respond a little slower to user input (try vertical position changes to one channel when 3 or 4 are enabled...). It does NOT decode bus data from memory. This is nearly a showstopper to me. There is not enough spare room in the PLA's to permit adding this feature, according to Rigol so it's not going to happen. And so you are forced to capture a huge string of sample data in single shot, and pan through time to find region of interest which will decode properly.

DS2072 $900 v DS1054Z $400

I still find it hard to choose one, and sell the other. Right now I'm playing with microcontroller driven boost dc-dc converter experiments and 3 channels is very handy indeed.

It depends what you are going to use them for.

In a perfect world we all would have $15K+ Tek/Agilents/LeCroy loaded up with everything.
But in the real world what to choose...

[Wmacky]

Thanks for that big post. I must say I'm still iffy on this. I have no specific needs for the scope other than general audio work, and just looking for a very general purpose unit.

My only pause on the 2072 is the seeming better screen / IG and brightness of the 1054Z in the video I posted above.   I guess I don;t have long before they ship it out today............

[Electro Fan]

Unless you work in a pretty bright area I think the 2000 series will have sufficient screen brightness. Overall it's a very good scope; it isn't perfect but Rigol seems to continually provide fixes/improvements and the fairly large user base contibutes valuable support, especially in this forum.  Having said that the 1000 series is also an excellent value.  Just comes down to which features and performance you need/want most.  Either way, hope you enjoy your scope.

[Fungus]

Thanks for that big post. I must say I'm still iffy on this. I have no specific needs for the scope other than general audio work, and just looking for a very general purpose unit.

The 2000 series is probably overkill, but, if you can afford it ...

Me? I'd get a DS1054Z and a dedicated spectrum analyzer suited to audio work.

See this thread: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/rigol-ds1054z-fft-for-audio-spectrum/msg612865/#msg612865

[Hydrawerk]

DS2072A is better built.