Buying my first oscilloscope

[marcus h]

Oh yes, I do have two netbooks. Still they take a significant size for my bench - I am stuck together with the washer/drier/brooms/rags... 

(ancient image attached; nowadays it is much messier)

Thanks for posting this. 

Now I don't feel so bad about my small hobby room anymore. 

[Mr. Scram]

GW Instek GDS1054B: for me it was 10% cheaper than the Rigol DS1054Z.  It is more responsive (it has the Zynq FPGA + ARM, same as the Siglent SDS1104X-E), now includes serial decoding including CAN and LIN, can be hacked to 100MHz, you can install APPS (data logging, digital filtering, etc), the multi-function knob has a dedicated select button, independent vertical control for each channel.  Cons: display UI is not as good as the Rigol, display looks smaller compared to the Rigol due to the huge case size, but depth is thin, takes extra width space, but not depth, serial decoding limits the acquisition memory to 100Kpts (need to check new firmware 1.28 and see if the limitation is still there).

That's what a useful post looks like. 

[Martin72]

digital filtering

Digital filters are included by the rigol, since several fw-updates before.

[TK]

digital filtering

Digital filters are included by the rigol, since several fw-updates before.

DS1054Z?

[Martin72]

Yes,

Highpass, lowpass, bandpass and so on.
And, apart from the 5000, they´re working.... 

[Skauber]

Well, Siglent just quoted me 950 USD for the SDS1104X-E, so that is nowhere near competitive to the price of the Rigol, and there's just no way I'm paying that much for the Siglent...

[tautech]

Well, Siglent just quoted me 950 USD for the SDS1104X-E, so that is nowhere near competitive to the price of the Rigol, and there's just no way I'm paying that much for the Siglent...

Ouch, that sucks ! 

Did you contact Genetron ?
I looked at their website yesterday but only saw LeCroy rebrands of Siglents so sent the factory a message asking if they actually sell real Siglents and they apparently do although you can't find mention of any on their website. 

Might be worth popping them a message to see what they can do on price.
Good luck.

[Fungus]

Well, Siglent just quoted me 950 USD for the SDS1104X-E, so that is nowhere near competitive to the price of the Rigol, and there's just no way I'm paying that much for the Siglent...

Ouch, that sucks ! 

Did you contact Genetron ?
I looked at their website yesterday but only saw LeCroy rebrands of Siglents so sent the factory a message asking if they actually sell real Siglents and they apparently do although you can't find mention of any on their website. 

Might be worth popping them a message to see what they can do on price.
Good luck.

Let it go tautech... Rigol won!

[avlijas.sladjan]

Rigol RIGOL DS1054Z is >250MHz scope after upgrade

[tautech]

Rigol RIGOL DS1054Z is >250MHz scope after upgrade

Nope !

[Fungus]

Rigol RIGOL DS1054Z is >250MHz scope after upgrade

No, more like 140MHz (usually).

[avlijas.sladjan]

On my rise time is 1.35, max 1.4nS, with 50ohm load (T BNC). Maybe I have luck

[Fungus]

On my rise time is 1.35, max 1.4nS, with 50ohm load (T BNC). Maybe I have luck

Some people have had near 200Mhz but I never saw one that high.

How old is your 'scope? Maybe they've started sharing components with the new 200MHz DS1202Z model.

[rsjsouza]

GW Instek GDS1054B: for me it was 10% cheaper than the Rigol DS1054Z.  It is more responsive (it has the Zynq FPGA + ARM, same as the Siglent SDS1104X-E), now includes serial decoding including CAN and LIN, can be hacked to 100MHz, you can install APPS (data logging, digital filtering, etc), the multi-function knob has a dedicated select button, independent vertical control for each channel.  Cons: display UI is not as good as the Rigol, display looks smaller compared to the Rigol due to the huge case size, but depth is thin, takes extra width space, but not depth, serial decoding limits the acquisition memory to 100Kpts (need to check new firmware 1.28 and see if the limitation is still there).

Thanks for your comparison, TK. That is the first time I see real experience with the actual units being shared here.

To me the 100kpts for decoding would kill the GDS1054 for me, which may explain why this was not offered for many years after this model was released (people had to hack its bigger brother firmware). Hopefully this can be solved via software.

[avlijas.sladjan]

My is about 4 year old. I was think that is normal BW for this scope after upgrade. But 140MHz will be also good for price, and for me this is best buy scope ever.

Now I also find similar result here: https://hackaday.com/2016/10/05/choosing-a-scope-examining-bandwidth/

[Fungus]

240MHz might be bad with only 1GSample/sec shared across all channels.

[avlijas.sladjan]

Yes, it is useless. But for 1ch is ok.

[TK]

GW Instek GDS1054B: for me it was 10% cheaper than the Rigol DS1054Z.  It is more responsive (it has the Zynq FPGA + ARM, same as the Siglent SDS1104X-E), now includes serial decoding including CAN and LIN, can be hacked to 100MHz, you can install APPS (data logging, digital filtering, etc), the multi-function knob has a dedicated select button, independent vertical control for each channel.  Cons: display UI is not as good as the Rigol, display looks smaller compared to the Rigol due to the huge case size, but depth is thin, takes extra width space, but not depth, serial decoding limits the acquisition memory to 100Kpts (need to check new firmware 1.28 and see if the limitation is still there).

Thanks for your comparison, TK. That is the first time I see real experience with the actual units being shared here.

To me the 100kpts for decoding would kill the GDS1054 for me, which may explain why this was not offered for many years after this model was released (people had to hack its bigger brother firmware). Hopefully this can be solved via software.

latest firmware 1.28 eliminates the 100kpts limitation and you can set the max 10mpts. I see some slowdown in the refresh rate but can capture and decode full memory. Will run more tests with SPI at 45MHz and report back

[uargo]

Let's see, here are 2 different discussions:

1º- which oscilloscope can be bought in the Philippines? If only the Rigol or the Hantek has a good price, the choice is clear Rigol, by the amount of memory. Rigol is not the best oscilloscope, but at 400usd it is very well priced and is a good option.

2º-What is the best oscilloscope in this price range?
Rigol ds1054z is fine but today a little slow and there are already better ones, even so it is not a bad option to start.

GW Instek GDS1054B vs Siglent sds1104x-e, in Europe they have the same price, but the characteristics are the following:

GW Instek GDS1054B:
1 ADC at 1GS = 250ms in 4 channels
Wfms / s: 50,000
Screen 7 "
Serial decoder: in the new version of software yes, but I'm not sure if it's free??? and use all secuence memory for decode???  MODIFIED
Possibility of signal generator: NO
Possibility of logic analyzer: NO
BodePlot: NO

Siglent sds1104x-e:
2 ADC at 1GS = 500ms in 4 channels
Screen 7 "
Wfms / s: 400,000
Serial decoder: YES, Serial / RS232, I2C, SPI, LIN, CAN
Possibility of waveform generator: YES, needs expansion
Possibility of logic analyzer: YES, needs expansion
BodePlot: YES, you need any Siglent waveform generator or expansion

Another good option is the Micsig TO1104 Plus, it is a bit more expensive but it has a battery and it is totally portable, 4 channels, 100Mhz, 28MBs, 80,000 Wfms / s, 8 "touch screen

[Skauber]

Yeah, I even asked the guy who quoted me the 950 USD for the Siglent, why on earth is it almost double the price here in the Philippines compared to the US and other markets? Just got some BS back about having to pay freight, it being ex works, import costs, yada yada.. If I bought it on Ebay with the global shipping program, I'd get it for 600 USD or so as they do the imports and include the customs in the shipping cost. While it is a better scope than the Rigol from what I can see, I dont think it is 200 USD, or 50% the value, better than the Rigol, so it wouldnt make sense to pay the premium for it.

[TK]

Let's see, here are 2 different discussions:

1º- which oscilloscope can be bought in the Philippines? If only the Rigol or the Hantek has a good price, the choice is clear Rigol, by the amount of memory. Rigol is not the best oscilloscope, but at 400usd it is very well priced and is a good option.

2º-What is the best oscilloscope in this price range?
Rigol ds1054z is fine but today a little slow and there are already better ones, even so it is not a bad option to start.

GW Instek GDS1054B vs Siglent sds1104x-e, in Europe they have the same price, but the characteristics are the following:

GW Instek GDS1054B:
1 ADC at 1GS = 250ms in 4 channels
Wfms / s: 50,000
Screen 7 "
Serial decoder: NO
Possibility of signal generator: NO
Possibility of logic analyzer: NO
BodePlot: NO

Siglent sds1104x-e:
2 ADC at 1GS = 500ms in 4 channels
Screen 7 "
Wfms / s: 400,000
Serial decoder: YES, Serial / RS232, I2C, SPI, LIN, CAN
Possibility of waveform generator: YES, needs expansion
Possibility of logic analyzer: YES, needs expansion
BodePlot: YES, you need any Siglent waveform generator or expansion

Another good option is the Micsig TO1104 Plus, it is a bit more expensive but it has a battery and it is totally portable, 4 channels, 100Mhz, 28MBs, 80,000 Wfms / s, 8 "touch screen

GDS 1054B now has serial decoding.  400,000 wfm/s for Siglent is wrong.

[tautech]

400,000 wfm/s for Siglent is wrong.

Waveform capture rate up to 100,000 wfm/s (normal mode), and 400,000 wfm/s (sequence mode)

[TK]

400,000 wfm/s for Siglent is wrong.

Waveform capture rate up to 100,000 wfm/s (normal mode), and 400,000 wfm/s (sequence mode)

Here we go again...

[Martin72]

Again ?

[uargo]

Yeah, I even asked the guy who quoted me the 950 USD for the Siglent, why on earth is it almost double the price here in the Philippines compared to the US and other markets? Just got some BS back about having to pay freight, it being ex works, import costs, yada yada.. If I bought it on Ebay with the global shipping program, I'd get it for 600 USD or so as they do the imports and include the customs in the shipping cost. While it is a better scope than the Rigol from what I can see, I dont think it is 200 USD, or 50% the value, better than the Rigol, so it wouldnt make sense to pay the premium for it.

In europe the rigol ds1054z costs € 400 and the siglent sds1104x-e costs € 500, in this case the Siglent is worth it.
In your case it may not, but don't worry the Rigol DS1054z is a good first oscilloscope.