EEVblog #826 - Siglent CEO Eric Qin Visits The EEVblog Lab

[EEVblog]

Siglent Founder and CEO Eric Qin visited the EEVblog Lab and very kindly agreed to sit down a quick impromptu chat.
http://siglent.com/ens/

[gemby]

Nice one, i enjoy listen to successful stories like that.

[Smokey]

Yolo?

[ProBang2]

Yolo?

Yolo ==> You know

Just my guess...

[ludzinc]

Yolo?

Really?

You Only Live Once.....

[ECEdesign]

When you go to a Research 1 university you get used to a lot of different accents.  Nice video

[pickle9000]

That was a good one, hope he comes back in the future.

[Muttley Snickers]

After the recent debacle I thought that it was extremely decent of Mr Qin to show up and lay it all on the table, a good show by all accounts and we are all winners....

[Richard Crowley]

Great interview, Dave.  Thank you.

Yes it takes some time to understand someone with a heavy "foreign" accent, but you eventually come to understand them without struggle.

It would appear that Mr. Qin's English is probably better than Dave's Mandarin (or whatever dialect).
Kudos to Mr. Qin for making the effort to accommodate us "foreigners".

[rs20]

Dave; if someone provides a YouTube compatible English subtitles-file, would you attach it to the vid? It's a straightforward upload into the "edit video" interface in YouTube. Mr Qin has great English, and I'm not sure if it's worth it, especially if it's added a day or two after the fact, but some viewers may benefit from it.

Kudos to Mr. Qin for making the effort to accommodate us "foreigners".

Totally agree!

[EEVblog]

It would appear that Mr. Qin's English is probably better than Dave's Mandarin (or whatever dialect).

Infinitely so!

Kudos to Mr. Qin for making the effort to accommodate us "foreigners".

Indeed.
And he came to Australia just to come to the lab too and meet me too, so hats off.

[miguelvp]

So if I buy a 2nd hand Siglent TE I can expect no support on firmware updates?

There was no addressing any new strategy on their grey market problem. In my opinion they have to fix it at the distribution level, not at the ebay (or similar) end-point.

Also nothing was said about why they treat grey market products as counterfeit ones. There are no clones or fake products and if their own products get out of their own distribution channels, the customer that buys it should not be punished by not offering service or falsely claiming a genuine Siglent product is a fake one.

I think they should focus more on their production and distribution chain than dealing with the problem at the online outlets that offer them.

Yes, I'm aware it's a problem for them, but in my opinion their current solution is the wrong approach and only leads to customer dissatisfaction. I don't care if the CEO tells me directly "buy from authorized distributors" If I do find a deal I'm not going to check if it's authorized or not, as long as it's a genuine product.

Other companies have the same problems and it's up to the company to control their own distribution chain and make sure ghost runs don't happen and rejected products are not put on the market. Destroy them, refurbish them and make sure rejects don't make it into the mainstream. They are the only ones that can control that aspect, not us the customers.

All that said, thanks for the Interview and especial thanks to Mr. Qin for showing us that he is a regular guy, with passion for his company, and I'm very impressed by their growth regardless if they are really number 2 or not. But I'm pleased that he shows passion and cares about engineers and hobbyists so a big thumbs up 

Now, I would suggest again to fix your distribution channel instead of using intimidation with the non-authorized distributors.

Edit: sorry for being so redundant, but I strongly believe the solution is to control their production/distribution chain, their problems should never become their customer's problems that bought a genuine article no matter what.

[Dino KL0S]

Dave - I think you handled this interview superbly, even with the issue of language being a little difficult to wade thru, well done!

[EEVblog]

Dave; if someone provides a YouTube compatible English subtitles-file, would you attach it to the vid? It's a straightforward upload into the "edit video" interface in YouTube. Mr Qin has great English, and I'm not sure if it's worth it, especially if it's added a day or two after the fact, but some viewers may benefit from it.

Yes I can do that.
Not sure if he would be offended, because I think his English is decent too. But could be hard for others who don't have English as a first language to understand.

[EEVblog]

So if I buy a 2nd hand Siglent TE I can expect no support on firmware updates?

Firmware is freely available on their website.
What he's saying is that if you buy gear from non-authorised dealers, then don't expect their 30days no questions asked asked return policy.
He also said that they support older products firmware even though newer models have come out.

Yes, I'm aware it's a problem for them, but in my opinion their current solution is the wrong approach and only leads to customer dissatisfaction. I don't care if the CEO tells me directly "buy from authorized distributors" If I do find a deal I'm not going to check if it's authorized or not, as long as it's a genuine product.

And that's the exact problem they face, hence them trying to clamp down on authorised distributors selling outside their local markets.

Now, I would suggest again to fix your distribution channel instead of using intimidation with the non-authorized distributors.

He admitted that was a mistake. Try are trying to target authorised distributors sneakily selling stuff on ebay etc.

[alank2]

He also said that they support older products firmware even though newer models have come out.

This is a big deal, so many companies will leave you in the dust the second they come out with a new product.

I thought the interview was great.

My first product from Siglent is their SDG2082X waveform generator and I love it.

[nixfu]

Hey I like that guy.  He actually seems like a really cool fellow. 


Nicely done Dave, but personally I wish you would have really bugged(begged) him to try and challenge Rigol in brining out a competitor to the DS-815 SA.  Right now no one can touch Rigol at all when it comes to SA's for the hobbyist.  You mentioned SA's but didn't go far enough for me.


>Firmware is freely available on their website.

yes,  it does bug me about Rigol, that I have to call of tequipment.net and provide them with a blood sample and  beg them to send me the super secret firmware file to get updates for my Rigol gear.  It was nice to hear someone take customer service seriously.  That is one way to become the most popular vendor at the low end of the market because you will get more 'fans' than the other guys.

[EEVblog]

Hey I like that guy.  He actually seems like a really cool fellow. 

He's cooler off camera. He's a nerd like us.

Nicely done Dave, but personally I wish you would have really bugged(begged) him to try and challenge Rigol in brining out a competitor to the DS-815 SA.  Right now no one can touch Rigol at all when it comes to SA's for the hobbyist.  You mentioned SA's but didn't go far enough for me.

Their new SA is coming out this month. Don't know where in the market it will be positioned though.

yes,  it does bug me about Rigol, that I have to call of tequipment.net and provide them with a blood sample and  beg them to send me the super secret firmware file to get updates for my Rigol gear.

Yes, that sucks big time. Rigol continue to not get this.
I've also heard that Rigol are losing some good people...

  It was nice to hear someone take customer service seriously.  That is one way to become the most popular vendor at the low end of the market because you will get more 'fans' than the other guys.

Eric knows this, which is why he came all the way to Australia just to meet me (no other itinerary, he flew back the next morning). 

[calexanian]

I have one of their SDS 1052DL scopes and it appears to work well. Good to hear about a relatively new company breaking through the small business plateau. We are almost 40 years at our business and are still just 8 employees!

[coppice]

yes,  it does bug me about Rigol, that I have to call of tequipment.net and provide them with a blood sample and  beg them to send me the super secret firmware file to get updates for my Rigol gear.

Yes, that sucks big time. Rigol continue to not get this.
I've also heard that Rigol are losing some good people...

Losing good people is a way of life in any successful China electronics company. The market for good people is usually quite strong, and people go where the money is. If an engineer speaks English well, they can really pick and choose amongst employers.

[rs20]

yes,  it does bug me about Rigol, that I have to call of tequipment.net and provide them with a blood sample and  beg them to send me the super secret firmware file to get updates for my Rigol gear.

Eh? I bought a power supply and oscilloscope from Emona Australia, but I got my firmware updates directly from the Rigol site. Ever since I did that, I get mailed firmware updates direct from Rigol whenever they become available.

[TheSteve]

I'm not a really big fan of Siglent but the CEO making an effort like he did still deserves two thumbs up. I may even own a Siglent product some day, but will still try to avoid it if possible.

[boffin]

Firstly; I'm embarrassed by the people who are mocking his language skills; as Dave pointed out, his English is much better than my Chinese (or my any other language). I would expect better from the EEVBlog crowd. 

Secondly; I'm amazed he came to Australia to come visit Dave; and good for him.  He's pushed the brand way way up in my mind by taking the time to go straight for the hobbiest market and the biggest blogger.   

[miguelvp]

Firstly; I'm embarrassed by the people who are mocking his language skills; as Dave pointed out, his English is much better than my Chinese (or my any other language). I would expect better from the EEVBlog crowd. 

Secondly; I'm amazed he came to Australia to come visit Dave; and good for him.  He's pushed the brand way way up in my mind by taking the time to go straight for the hobbiest market and the biggest blogger.   

I don't think that the people that mentioned yolo were mocking his language skills, just asking what it meant. I did figure myself it meant "you know" based on context. And the You only live once was not mocking in my oppinion.

Maybe I missed the comment that you are referring to.

[zirlou21]

 

...Yolo!!!!!!  congratulation from the Phillippines...