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Is the Rigol DS1054Z still the best entry level digital scope for the price?
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Electro Detective:
fwiw as a diehard analogue oscilloscope user, I chose the Siglent SDS1104CFL at a competitive 'entry level' price mainly because I wanted 4 channels with dedicated controls above each input, and of course the digital capture and single shot stuff etc.
Another plus was the separate trigger input on the front panel after the 4 channels, and USB features. 

The -last minute- Rigol DS1054z deal breaker for me was the shared controls for the 4 channels (too much thinking on a job = kiss), otherwise I would have pulled the trigger on the Rigol based on EEV reviews.

Not sure (or lose sleep) which is the 'better' DSO overall  :-// comparing a 100mhz fully pimped out Rigol DS1054z vs Siglent SDS1104CFL (4ch 100mhz model)

but I got one I know I will use more often, without trying to remember what knob does what, and searching user PDFs for that elusive menu selection location,
or why I can't get out of some snap frozen bonus freebie mode etc   |O


BravoV:

--- Quote from: radcom123 on May 01, 2017, 04:45:37 pm ---I watched both of the reviews as well and also didn't get why you can't use the ext trigger for the CS but I do like the idea of the display table, but that in its self isn't really enough to go for it over the rigol. The biggest draw for me for the sig over the rigol is the 200Mhz bandwidth but I don't know how useful that extra bandwidth will be to me as I'm not looking at doing any RF stuff, and my gut feeling is the ability to see more at the same time with the extra 2 channels is going to be more useful to me than the higher bandwidth but I don't know enough about scopes to fully understand the implications about the bandwidth.

--- End quote ---

It may sounds trivial , but just want to remind you, as an enthusiast my self, and experienced probing results on 2 channels scope like you do now, made me remember when the time I was curious and really eager to see other probing points, while not wanting to touch the existing two points that were attached to the scope.

Once I have a 4 ch scope, that was really an eyes opener, learned and experienced a lot from the extra channels.

Believed most hobbyist/enthusiast or even experienced EE, must had this kind of moment when probing, for hobbyist like us, the extra 3rd and 4th channels do bring more learning value, at least for me.

My 1/4 watt resistor worth of advice.
dimkasta:
I am in the same position, trying to control myself from pulling the trigger too fast on something to replace or compliment my ds1052e.

For me, the biggest deal breaker with the Rigol is the lame FFT.
I do not really have much use for 4 channels (referenced on the same ground level). I do mostly analog stuff anyway.
Plus, I am getting a feeling that Rigol will probably respond to Siglent's new entry level scope with something new. This could render 1054 kinda obsolete and could possibly beat the new Siglent.
And could further reduce the price on 1054, or create a wave of more nicely priced used ones

I would also not dismiss the good old ds1052e if you can find one used. Awesome for the price. You will probably just have to replace the encoders for a few dollars and it will be like new.

For now, the new Siglent seems to have a much nicer FFT, and the biggest bw is always nice. I need to see some deeper reviews though.

Another one I am considering is the Micsig tbook 1072 or 1074 which seem to be very nice. And they seem very active in firmware development as well.
tautech:

--- Quote from: dimkasta on May 02, 2017, 09:09:44 am ---I am in the same position, trying to control myself from pulling the trigger too fast on something to replace or compliment my ds1052e.

For me, the biggest deal breaker with the Rigol is the lame FFT.
I do not really have much use for 4 channels (referenced on the same ground level). I do mostly analog stuff anyway.
Plus, I am getting a feeling that Rigol will probably respond to Siglent's new entry level scope with something new. This could render 1054 kinda obsolete and could possibly beat the new Siglent.
And could further reduce the price on 1054, or create a wave of more nicely priced used ones

I would also not dismiss the good old ds1052e if you can find one used. Awesome for the price. You will probably just have to replace the encoders for a few dollars and it will be like new.

For now, the new Siglent seems to have a much nicer FFT, and the biggest bw is always nice. I need to see some deeper reviews though.

Another one I am considering is the Micsig tbook 1072 or 1074 which seem to be very nice. And they seem very active in firmware development as well.

--- End quote ---
Wise comments but you've overlooked some other possibilities. Can't say more.  :-X
medical-nerd:
Hiya

I've just bought a DS1054Z, one of the attractions was that in Dave's review he said that the options were available for a limited time (36hours?) and the time was only used if the option was used, not just while the scope was turned on.

I have a use for the options e.g. serial decoding in the future, but would only be for a few hours at most since nearly all I do is analogue - enabling me to take advantage of these and getting used to them while still being in warranty at least for the first year - then I could consider the 'hack'.

Unfortunately I noticed this morning that the option time on my scope is being reduced by its on time.
So I will only have these for a couple of weeks without the 'hack'

So I'm not very happy.

Firmware:  00.04.04

Cheers
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