I'm considering the purchase of a Rigol 1054z. I've watched the EEVBLOG videos and searched around the forums a bit and, for the most part, can't find that much negative feedback other than just some things one has to get used to with a new scope. My use will be fairly general, I'm an EE and do quite a bit with microcontrollers and debugging of serial interconnects (i.e. UART, I2C, SPI), I also dabble in Rc for a hobby. I think the scope will fit my needs really well (and of course money is tight). Does anyone have any negative issues that affect the performance of the scope?
Do the various 100mhz upgrade and feature unlock approaches still work for these scopes? Are there any issues with doing this and is everything reversible if necessary (i.e. warrenty claims). If anyone has any specifics regarding any of this please share.
I don't think I'm fully understanding the recording capabilities of the scope. I know it has both the ability to record/playback (via software upgrade) and the general ability to save data to a USB drive. Can all data be saved to a USB drive? Are there any software options for playing back and analyzing the stored data off the scope? Is it possible to playback the data through the scope? I know the answer to this depends on many factors but assuming 2 channel usage about how much time can be captured using the record/playback option?
Really appreciate any help.
I'm not an experienced scope driver, just getting that out of the way.
I got a DS1054Z about a year ago, and a year on have no regrets.
That thought alone makes me feel like i made the right choice.
Price vs features vs performance makes it a winner.
There are better scopes around, but you'll need to pay a lot more.
I doubt you'll regret the DS1054Z
Does anyone have any negative issues that affect the performance of the scope?
Here are some negatives :
- Selector knob is non-detented which makes selection tricky by default ( you can mod it ).
- Selector knob requires a lot of force to push by default (no, I don't even lift)
- UI is slooowww, very laggy
- Fan is not super quiet
But you won't find any better for the price
As you're in the US the only 300V rated inputs probably won't worry you
but the probes that many have said are poor might.
And the scope can even do math, and count pluses!
Serial decoding is limited to on screen. If you are planning to code debugging go for one of the cheap (20 buck) Chinese "logic analyzers" supported by Sigrok.
http://sigrok.org/ Having said that it's a great scope and as a scope it is very good value. I find I use it all the time.
I agree with the other comments.
Some notes:
Rigol scopes (like other brands in this priceclass) suffer from from software bugs.
For most people, those bugs are not a show stopper.
Despite those bugs, you will not find a better scope in this priceclass.
It simply has the best bang for buck.
Also, because of the popularity of this particular model, you'll find a lot
of free software to connect your pc to the scope, which makes downloading waveform data
or making screenshots much easier than using a usb pen.
- The software doing the non-indented rotary encoders is crap. Rotating slowly is fine. Rotating faster will jump you to the end/beginning. There is no in-between.
- There are bugs. Expect to find bugs or things that are not intuitive. But it will work eventually.
- The fan will be an annoying in a silent room. It won't be in a normal office workplace environment.
- Triggering does not work on low amplitude signals, you'd need a few div's amplitude for the trigger to work.
But you won't find any better for the price
They've sold a lot. This results in plenty of software compatible with the thing. My favorite:
Rigol Bildschirmkopie.
- Fan is not super quiet
Yeah, the fan could be quieter. Some people have modded theirs.
But you won't find any better for the price
Yep. Nothing else is even close in terms of bang/buck. Ignore the professional online naysayers, you definitely won't regret getting one.
Hi. This is really hard to beat in features Vs price
A good quality fan ( noctua/scythe. .) will be a good first mod !
Then You can try to improve that such swaggy knobs. ..
Confirming all the positive things said so far i would add only one warning : screen text fonts are quite small, if you have vision problem it would be better play with it "live" before to buy to see if it's a problem for you.
if you have vision problem, wear eye glasses. not just specific to a dso, but for everything. not wearing eye glasses while struggling to focus on environment may even further damage your eyes and brain...
And you can even get measurements with statistics!
(Seriously... it's a great scope most of the time, and I have no problem with the knobs myself, and I wouldn't even consider replacing the multifunction knob or the other small knobs/buttons with detented encoders. And I certainly cannot even hear the fan, since I have about seven other fans going in my computer and my room air electrostatic dust filter, etc. If you want to hear fan noise, you should hear my Topward bench PSU... it has two fans which are indeed noisy. The sound of work being performed!)
It's a great little scope for the money. The measurements system is well implemented. Other stuff not so great, but it's entirely usable. For the money you can't do better than a DS1054z imo. Some folks with less than perfect vision have mentioned that the fonts are rather small, so unless you have issues with that, I would get it.
if you have vision problem, wear eye glasses. not just specific to a dso, but for everything. not wearing eye glasses while struggling to focus on environment may even further damage your eyes and brain...
Your comment is unnecessarily trivial, i wrote in this forum gazzilions of times that i
already wear glasses.
Apart that those fonts are small
in absolute and the effective waveform's area on the screen is shrinked down to 5" by fixed menus, no sh!t.
if you have vision problem, wear eye glasses. not just specific to a dso, but for everything. not wearing eye glasses while struggling to focus on environment may even further damage your eyes and brain...
I gguess you still have reasonably good eyes to make a statement like that... I only all vision problems would be solved by wearing a pair of glasses...
Thanks for all the comments on the 1054Z. I took the step and made the purchase!
Does anyone have any responses to my questions on data recording. Here's my original questions again:
"I don't think I'm fully understanding the recording capabilities of the scope. I know it has both the ability to record/playback (via software upgrade) and the general ability to save data to a USB drive. Can all data be saved to a USB drive? Are there any software options for playing back and analyzing the stored data off the scope? Is it possible to playback the data through the scope? I know the answer to this depends on many factors but assuming 2 channel usage about how much time can be captured using the record/playback option?"
Appreciate any help.
Thanks for all the comments on the 1054Z. I took the step and made the purchase!
Congrats, you'll not regret it.
Can all data be saved to a USB drive?
Yes.
Are there any software options for playing back and analyzing the stored data off the scope?
Yes.
Is it possible to playback the data through the scope?
Back from a pc or a pen to the scope? No.
You can playback a recording that is still in memory of the scope.
I know the answer to this depends on many factors but assuming 2 channel usage about how much time can be captured using the record/playback option?"
Have a look here:
http://beyondmeasure.rigoltech.com/acton/attachment/1579/f-050a/1/-/-/-/-/MSO1000Z%26DS1000Z_UserGuide.pdf (page 193)
Can all data be saved to a USB drive?
Yes.
Are there any software options for playing back and analyzing the stored data off the scope?
Yes.
Is it possible to playback the data through the scope?
Within limits.
I know the answer to this depends on many factors but assuming 2 channel usage about how much time can be captured using the record/playback option?"
Memory size, divided by number of channels, divided by sample rate.
Thanks. Can you provide some names and/or links to available software for off-scope data viewing and analysis?
Thanks. Can you provide some names and/or links to available software for off-scope data viewing and analysis?
This is one of my favorites:
http://bfy.tw/4FI6
Are there any software options for playing back and analyzing the stored data off the scope?
Yes.
what software? iirc from web screen capture, DSRemote cant record and play.
Are there any software options for playing back and analyzing the stored data off the scope?
Yes.
what software? your lmgtfy link is not specifically relevant. different software will not read rigol data correctly, with gazziliions implementation of usbtmc, and rigol got a fucked up format for wfm. can you be more specific?
This is to Fungus. Really??? If you don't have constructive input, please keep it to yourself.
This is to Fungus. Really??? If you don't have constructive input, please keep it to yourself.
cross your finger... hopefully sw recorder for rigol will be coming soon...