Author Topic: Is the Rigol DS1054Z still the best buy for a cheap entry level oscilloscope?  (Read 30029 times)

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Offline JohnnyMalaria

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"I wanna learn to fly!"

"OK - let's start with the basics. Hop into this single-engine Cessna."

"No! I want to learn in that Learjet! It's got autopilot and all kinds of stuff so I don't have to understand how the aircraft is interacting with the air."

"Oh, boy"

:)



 

Offline bd139

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Have you seen a glass cockpit Cessna 172S before? That’s the rigol.
 

Offline tautech

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Not sure I have ever used the Auto button on my scope.
I don't think I've ever intentionally used an Auto button. And I hate it when I do accidentially hit the Auto button, because I then have to go back and set everything to what I actually needed.  :rant:  There's no "undo" button. And Auto's idea of what I want to see is almost always wrong.
Yep I get that for sure.
A while back Siglent added Undo for AutoSet.
Just magic when you hit it by mistake.  :)
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Offline IDEngineer

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A while back Siglent added Undo for AutoSet. Just magic when you hit it by mistake.  :)
OK, that's just pure genius!  :-+

And think about it... it was probably added as a result of an oscilloscope expert at Siglent hitting Auto one too many times by mistake, and getting tired of resetting everything!  :-DD
 

Offline bd139

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And I get called penis fingers  :-DD
 

Offline tautech

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And I get called penis fingers  :-DD
Shhh, we're all afflicted to some degree !  :)

A while back Siglent added Undo for AutoSet. Just magic when you hit it by mistake.  :)
OK, that's just pure genius!  :-+

And think about it... it was probably added as a result of an oscilloscope expert at Siglent hitting Auto one too many times by mistake, and getting tired of resetting everything!  :-DD
I'll pop a screenshot up showing it later when I have a mo.

Probe cal signal with some random scope settings:



AutoSet

« Last Edit: May 31, 2018, 09:57:25 pm by tautech »
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Offline innkeeper

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is the Siglent SDS1104X-E the best bang for the buck under $500? Even considering the current free upgrades now offered from rigol?
Hobbyist and a retired engineer and possibly a test equipment addict, though, searching for the equipment to test for that.
 

Offline JS

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is the Siglent SDS1104X-E the best bang for the buck under $500? Even considering the current free upgrades now offered from rigol?
Depending your needs, Siglent offers a bit more, with two asics has twice as much samppe rate, except with a single channel, more digital bus decoder standards and a few options extra, as adding wifi, nixed signals and gen after the fact.

I trust the user interface will get better with time, rigol had 5 years to develop.

If you need, or will need and can afford now, some of the optional stuff from the siglent and can live with their user interface maybe 150 worth the difference. For me in Argentina getting the siglent with the function gen would be twice as much as the rigol, so I went for the rigol and I'm happy.

The bode is pretty limited in the siglent, as the gen it comws with, the possibility to add the MSO is cool but could be done other ways maybe cheaper. I wouldn't bother with wifi as I use LAN all over the place and wice the sampling is quite pointless for me as I do small embedded and audio, nothing close to need 1GSa/s. In case I need to check a signal for something I can use single channel 1GSa/s. With all that I couldn't afford twice as much, still 150 is 43% extra, not a small difference. Rigol still is good bang per buck, as ia the Siglent, but pricepoint isn't quite the same. Now, if options weren't included, I absolutely need advanced trigger and serial decoder, plus deep memory and record are quite nice to have, so price would be more similar and we are talking a different thing.

JS

JS

If I don't know how it works, I prefer not to turn it on.
 

Offline rstofer

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A while back Siglent added Undo for AutoSet. Just magic when you hit it by mistake.  :)
OK, that's just pure genius!  :-+

And think about it... it was probably added as a result of an oscilloscope expert at Siglent hitting Auto one too many times by mistake, and getting tired of resetting everything!  :-DD

The DS1054Z has an Undo function as well.  It comes up on a menu that gets displayed after using Auto.
 
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Offline mrrrwhat

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which two channel scope is the best bang for the buck under $600?
 

Offline JohnnyMalaria

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which two channel scope is the best bang for the buck under $600?

That depends on your application. What do you plan to use it for?
 

Offline rstofer

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Bandwidth is the most important spec, right after channels.  Since the question is specific to 2 channel scopes, the new Siglent at 200 MHz is probably as good as it gets.

http://www.saelig.com/siglent-sdsx-series/sds1202x-e.htm

The thing is, 2 channels scopes are somewhat limiting when you want to do things like decode SPI transactions where you would really like to see 4 signals simultaneously.  If this application is of no concern then so be it.

The Rigol is a very good 4 channel 100 MHz scope (when unlocked) at about the same price as the Siglent above.  So, the decision is 4 channels/100 MHz versus 2 channels/200 MHz.

If I was willing to sink $600 in a scope, I think I would kick in a little more and get the SDS1204X-E 4 channels, 200 MHz.  Remember, bandwidth is king, except channels.

http://www.saelig.com/product/sds1204x-e.htm

One of these days I'm going to buy the sds1204x-e.  I have the Rigol so there is no hurry but that Siglent is getting some rave reviews.

 

Offline tautech

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which two channel scope is the best bang for the buck under $600?
Under $600, by far the best value is now SDS1104X-E !

See the reason why:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/siglent-sds1204x-e-released-for-domestic-markets-in-china/msg1612639/#msg1612639

Sure put the SDS1202X-E up in this discussion for a good bit less @$ 379 however it's much less featured than the 200 MHz SDS1204X-E 4ch equivalent but we don't have to spend $759 for it now.  ;)
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Offline mrrrwhat

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From china, there have a special model call sds1104x-c that can free upgrade to 200M
(the cost down version of sds1104x-e)
Waveform Capture Rate (Max.) downgrade to 50,000 wfm/s (normal mode), 200,000 wfm/s (sequence mode)
sds1104x-c and ds2072a are selling same price from china, i am comparing which one better
 

Offline tautech

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From china, there have a special model call sds1104x-c that can free upgrade to 200M
(the cost down version of sds1104x-e)
Waveform Capture Rate (Max.) downgrade to 50,000 wfm/s (normal mode), 200,000 wfm/s (sequence mode)
sds1104x-c and ds2072a are selling same price from china, i am comparing which one better
The SDS1004X-C doesn't appear to offer MSO support either but the pics still show the S-Bus front connector.  :-//

If sampling rate is what you want get the DS, but for channels, get the SDS.
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Offline innkeeper

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Made up my mind and ordered a Siglent SDS1104X-E, for me it seemed like the best bang for the buck.

Would I liked to have the extra 100mhz of BW that the Siglent SDS1204X-E offers, sure, but simply it was a budget limit as 500 was already more then i had originally intended to spend, I was originally budgeting for the rigol ds1054Z.

but what really after reading all I could, I came to the conclusion that it simply outclasses anything at its price point by far, and with the ability to add on the arbitrary waveform generator logic analyzer functionality later its a good stepped growth path as the hobby budget permits.

Really was a no-brainer for me in the end.
Hobbyist and a retired engineer and possibly a test equipment addict, though, searching for the equipment to test for that.
 

Offline tautech

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Made up my mind and ordered a Siglent SDS1104X-E, for me it seemed like the best bang for the buck.

Would I liked to have the extra 100mhz of BW that the Siglent SDS1204X-E offers, sure, but simply it was a budget limit as 500 was already more then i had originally intended to spend, I was originally budgeting for the rigol ds1054Z.
And of course planning to hack the 1054Z to 100 MHz too, right ?

Study reply #62 again !  ;)
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Offline innkeeper

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Study reply #62 again !  ;)
oh i got it the first time ;) watching those threads with great intrest.
Hobbyist and a retired engineer and possibly a test equipment addict, though, searching for the equipment to test for that.
 

Offline innkeeper

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:-+ to Saelig .. I got the sds1104x-e in 2 days, and even came with a complimentary copy of circuit cellar
(didn't even know they were still publishing)

... now, where is the darn focus knob ... just kidding  :-DD




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Offline ornobian

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Yes, It's the best buy oscilloscope and it's in amazon choices.
Love to read , share and write in my blog reviewertouch .
 


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