Purchase choice, MSO or DSO + LA (Hantek or Rigol)

[newtron]

I have been for a while been playing with Raspberry Pi's and stuff but more recently I have been using the Pi for building analogue sensing projects or things that have quite a few analogue inputs. It is about time that I invested in an oscilloscope however I do not do this as a full time profession so can't really justify spending huge amounts on a scope. Though I will say, having a piece of rubbish is equally bad even for learning.

I have basically narrowed a choice down to getting an MSO scope or a DSO + Logic Analyzer. Normally MSO scopes are a lot more however these are similarly priced which makes the decision a little weird and I wanted to see if existing users of the devices (if there are any here) have any views on them.

The choices are

Hantek MSO5054F
4ch, 1G/sa, 40Mhz
also has all the LA,AWG gubbins
Total £300 to £330

or

Rigol DS1054Z
4ch, 1G/sa, 50Mhz
+ Saleae Logic 4
£263 + £85
Total £348

Understandably views of users are opinions and it may be sometimes project dependent but getting a 3rd degree on the topic from some users more professional than myself would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[EEVblog]

The Rigol is a much better scope, you won't regret it.
And the separate LA affords you some more versatility.

[nctnico]

I would go for the MSO option if the MSO has decoding capabilities. A low cost logic analyser usually has very little memory or a low samplerate. You are likely to run into it's shortcoming sooner than you will with a decent MSO.
I wouldn't buy Hantek right away though; first read/watch some review and investigate (unsolved) firmware issues!

[dadler]

I would go with the 1054z + new Logic 8. I have both of these products and find they work great together. You can also send the Trigger Out on the 1054z to a digital input on the Logic, so that you can synchronize across the two devices if you wish.

You will find a much larger userbase for the 1054z, and there is a reason for that. It seems like a loss-leader product, because of the features, build quality, and extreme hackability and for such an entry-level-priced scope.

The new Logic products (well, Logic 8 and up) have higher sample rates and analog sampling. They are implemented as an FPGA+uC. There was a great Amp Hour episode with the Saleae guys, which covers the products and background on the company: http://www.theamphour.com/237-an-interview-with-joe-and-mark-garrison-subtly-spelling-sayleeay/

While the Saleae products are not "high-end", they are certainly well designed and have great software. They are not toys. You have essentially unlimited memory, so you can sample for a long time and then just search the results for whatever data you wish. You can also write your own decoders/plugins if you can handle extending a C++ base class.