Rigol are running lean though, very few employees for a very productive organization.
Is still wonder why people nag about quality for a 400 dollar scope. Most descent second hand 100MHz scopes cost more. You get lots of features, 4 channels...
Of course they could make it a better quality scope and improve support, so people could nag why the damn thing has to cost over a grand.
I had a problem with Rigol multimeter. Price was about 80% of similar Agilent (Keysight) meter. Their service completely sucked, replacement, which I got in the end, was a filthy used unit. Half a year spent (sitting there for months, travelling back and forth to Germany because they didn't admit the fault) to replace the unit which developed a fault within a week from purchase .
Don't bother because if that would actually work there wouldn't be so many bugs in Rigol (and Siglent) scopes today. The fact is these products are just cheap toys for hobbyists and tinkerers. Sure their scopes can display a signal but there are just too many bugs and checkbox features (functions with no practical use) to be used in any professional setting. If you spend a bit more the number of bugs goes down exponentially and the number of useful features goes up. As Hydrawerk already wrote GW Instek is a major step up from Rigol and Siglent.I'm not sure why you say 'don't bother'. The bug list in Rigol products seems to shrink substantially with each iteration of software they release for a given product (and yes, they occasionally introduce new bugs. That happens in software development. It's not good, per se, but no regression testing regimen is perfect). Surely having an actively curated 'to do' list on our part couldn't hurt, would provide a single point of reference for our community itself, a reference for them, and we know for a _fact_ that Siglent listens actively. I'm willing to bet that Rigol would cock an ear as well.
Ofcourse people keep raving on about bang for your buck but if you put the (unhacked) Rigol DS1074Z next to the GW Instek
Ofcourse people keep raving on about bang for your buck but if you put the (unhacked) Rigol DS1074Z next to the GW Instek
Yes, but nobody would ever do that. They'd put a hacked DS1054Z next to it and that would make your GW Instek look like very poor value for money.
For as long as you CAN hack it and IF Rigol never decides to undo the hacks with a firmware update.
But you are making my point perfectly: Rigol wouldn't sell any of their 1000Z series if people had to pay full price.
Nobody knows when Rigol is going to plug the hole!
Don't bother because if that would actually work there wouldn't be so many bugs in Rigol (and Siglent) scopes today. The fact is these products are just cheap toys for hobbyists and tinkerers. Sure their scopes can display a signal but there are just too many bugs and checkbox features (functions with no practical use) to be used in any professional setting. If you spend a bit more the number of bugs goes down exponentially and the number of useful features goes up. As Hydrawerk already wrote GW Instek is a major step up from Rigol and Siglent.I'm not sure why you say 'don't bother'. The bug list in Rigol products seems to shrink substantially with each iteration of software they release for a given product (and yes, they occasionally introduce new bugs. That happens in software development. It's not good, per se, but no regression testing regimen is perfect). Surely having an actively curated 'to do' list on our part couldn't hurt, would provide a single point of reference for our community itself, a reference for them, and we know for a _fact_ that Siglent listens actively. I'm willing to bet that Rigol would cock an ear as well.Rigol and Siglent may be listening but that doesn't stop them from throwing half assed products on the market and waiting years to fix the bugs listed on this forum. If I buy a scope (or any other piece of equipment) I want it to work as advertised when I receive it. I don't want to wait years for the firmware to become functional. What Rigol and Siglent are doing is using their customers as their software test department so as a customer you are basically paying for testing their product. How dumb is that?
Oddly enough GW Instek's alternative (GDS-1054B) for an unhacked DS1054Z is cheaper (at Tequipment) than the DS1054Z while it offers 1Mpts FFT, faster update rates, more memory with 4 channels enabled, higher samplerate with 4 channels enabled and most importantly: way less bugs. You'd be utterly stupid the buy the DS1054Z and not hack it because there is no value for money at all without hacking it!
And sure Rigol isn't forcing you to upgrade but what if there is the choice between fixing those irritating bugs versus losing the hacked options? Nobody knows when Rigol is going to plug the hole!
Besides that you are casually forgetting about the many bugs and shortcomings of the DS1000Z series. It can make a lot of sense to spend some more money on a better product than going for the ultimate value for money and ending up with a tool you can't really use (=just wasting money).
It's not really surprising because at the original retail price I could buy three DS1054Zs for the price of one GW Instek. The specs are very similar, nobody in their right mind would pay $1150 for a GDS2074E when there's $400 Rigols around.
Rigol, beyond measure! If GW would dump the price to 450, 50 bucks above Rigoletto i bet Rigoletto's sales would plumet!
The only defense Rigoletto would have is to lower price even further, and this would start a price race, lowest price wins no
matter how many bugs!
Rigol, beyond measure! If GW would dump the price to 450, 50 bucks above Rigoletto i bet Rigoletto's sales would plumet!
The only defense Rigoletto would have is to lower price even further, and this would start a price race, lowest price wins no
matter how many bugs!
Rigol, beyond measure! If GW would dump the price to 450, 50 bucks above Rigoletto i bet Rigoletto's sales would plumet!
I'd take that bet (and win!)The only defense Rigoletto would have is to lower price even further, and this would start a price race, lowest price wins no
matter how many bugs!Nope.
a) Most people aren't seeing the Rigol bugs - they're too obscure (I've only seen them because I followed instructions and went looking for them in the right sub-sub-menus, if I hadn't done that, then, meh).
b) GW Instek would also have to raise the bandwidth to 100Mhz and give the serial decoders away if they want to compete. Even then they only have two channels vs. Rigol's four. What use are serial decoders on a two-channel 'scope?
Nope. To get a better oscilloscope then a hacked DS1054Z from GW-Instek you're not looking at the base model, you're looking at something that costs three times as much.
And another example of poor support, or how Keysight deals with a 3 years old bug (starts at about 22:03):
Dave's recommendation and video carry a lot of weight. I don't know anything about a business relationship but Dave's enthusiasm made a big impact on my decision to buy.
I discussed this on another thread that I won't dig up. But basically here's what's going on:
Essentially, it comes down to an ideology that we hold here at Keysight scopes. That is: “Don’t compromise the waveform update rate!”
What does everyone think about this?
The forums aren't full of people complaining, so... I guess you had bad luck
Be happy that you got good support.If you want an industrial grade instruments, save more $$$ and buy some Keysight gear.Oh, a Keysight fanboi...