Unfortunately, the Owon XDS models are over your budget:Also, it seems the decode protocols, touch screen and other interesting goodies are options, not standard. And no idea if they can be unlocked/added yourself vs. buying the codes/hardware from Owon.
Quotejgmdesign wrote:
As the new title says....which one
[...]
WHICH ONE TO GET
Jim,
Considering that, hardware-wise, DS1104Z==DS1074Z==DS1054Z (meaning that all of these models have EXACTLY the same hardware), by getting the DS1054Z model and doing a brief search in EEVBlog.com for the term "DS1054Z hack" (or for the term "Riglol") you can end up with a fully-fledged DS1104Z at the cost of a DS1054Z and of a few minutes of your spare time.
Counting beans, we have:Code: [Select]DS1104Z: 100 MHz DSO with 4 channels +$830.00
AT-DS1000Z: Advanced Triggering Option +$191.00
MEM-DS1000Z: Option Extends deep memory +$197.00
REC-DS1000Z: Real Time Waveform Record +$146.00
SA-DS1000Z: Serial Bus Analysis Option +$174.00
--Total worth of: $1538.00
Purchasing the:
DS1054Z: 50 MHz DSO with 4 channels -$399.00
--Gain worth of: $1139.00
Now, ethically-wise, RIGOL is the one who leaves the window open for anyone to have their products hacked. If the company wanted to stop that in the first place, all they would have to do was to simply change the bootloader ECC private keys of their products; but they have not changed them.
This is the same exactly marketing strategy of that company for their relatively 'ancient' DS1052E models as well as almost all of their products (see the DS2000, DS4000, DSA815, DP832, etc. lines of products), because they might not be selling as much of their 'upgraded' models but the are vastly selling their base models.
If they decided that this (unethical) marketing model suits them, there must not be such a question for their clients, at all.
-George
<EDIT>
Following Alan's advice, above, by visiting the following address you will see that, right now, there are 408 pieces of DS1054Z in stock!
http://www.tequipment.net/Rigol/DS1054Z/Digital-Oscilloscopes/?b=y&v=7906
UPDATE
The DS1054Z unit arrived the day before yesterday and all I can say is that this specific 'budget' piece of test equipment is far from what we can call a low-budget machine; especially after its 'enhancement' works.
Though the machine might be lacking of the GUI responsiveness and the bandwidth of its multi-thousand USD costing bigger brothers (DS2000/DS4000/DS6000) or even some of the bell-and-whistles they have like the screensaver(!), it will display decently nothing less that what the vastly more expensive units mentioned will, since it has 1.0 GSa/s product bandwidth (see its front-end ADC unit) and 24Mpoints of total memory plus high resolution (12-bit BoxCar averaging) waveform display, advanced mathematical and statistical functions, a lot of advanced triggering options, serial decoding operations (not at <10 MSa/s the 'fast' decoders of the market will but at its full product bandwidth), frame (segment) recording mode, various data importing/exporting functions and much more --see the specifications.
Before...
... and after the magic procedure:
Did I forget to mention that this is a four-channel machine (!) with all the functionality cited above for USD 399 (before someone doing their magic to release all that optional power)?
Nice try, guys!
By the way, I am afraid that, by now, the device must have been rendered even more useless...
What I like the most in this entry-level DSO is the intensity-graded display that emulates the trace persistence by mimicking the analog scopes Z-axis modulation. I think it was Tektronix in the late nineties the one who called that feature Digital Phosphor technology.
This is the measurement of the DDS modulated digital output (Ch 3) startup time since the PTT button (Ch 2) falling edge, while the generated 67.0 Hz sub-tone output sinewave (Ch 1) can be seen, of the ATtiny85-based CTCSS encoder/decoder I am currently working on.
Hi, its going to be my first digital scope, so i am not sure about everything.
If you buy the Owon, you can within 14 days send it back for the Rigol they say at the Eleshop site.
I would contact them before buying indeed.
I have this 400 euro laying ready, i look what new models they release more.
Suppose Rigol makes a new budget scope for 400, with faster chips, and hope they learned from the mistakes they made with bad firmwares.
Do you need it fast ?, by the way : your hobby is illegal frequencions
I'm aware you can get a old analog scope on Ebay though in my country I can't find any for a low price and when I can get one it's from another country and shipping is killing the fun.