DSOX1204G 200Mhz vs Used MSO3014A (Calibrated in 2018)

[kcbrown]

The Siglent 2000X+ scope is an incredible scope for its price range.  But good as it is, there's no way it can match a Keysight 3000 series scope except perhaps for noise floor.  This shouldn't be a surprise, seeing how the Keysight is nearly 4 times the price without serial decoding, and 5 times the price with it.

200X the memory.

Yeah, there is that.  I have to wonder how much of a difference that makes in the analog domain.  Guess it just depends on the problem you're attempting to diagnose.  For digital, having tons of memory is incredibly useful, especially when it's automatically segmented the way the Siglent does it.  Either way, though, the real question is whether or not the advantages of the 2000X+ over the Keysight outweigh the disadvantages, and that's obviously going to depend on the use cases.  A million points isn't all that large these days, but that's only in comparison with other scopes.  Considered by itself, a million points isn't terrible.  You can do a lot with it.

But if digital is what his focus would be, then the Keysight could well be the wrong scope anyway because the MSO option is what would really make the difference for anything other than serial decoding (and even if you're doing serial decoding, having the MSO option is useful for freeing up your analog channels for other things).

[2N3055]

Memory is not the problem.
Problem is that you have 4GS/s that is not 4GS anymore as soon as you use any timebase longer than 50us/div. And then drops rapidly. If you set timebase for 2ms/div (to look at somethin 20 ms long) it takes nosedive to 40MS/s..  At that timebase, if you have anything higher than 20 MHz in signal it will alias and show weird artefacts in signal that aren't there.

If you want to look at PSU startup, at say 10ms/div (for 100ms total) you will basically have 20MS/s sampling rate that will make it a 10 MHz oscilloscope without antialiasing filter on the input..
If you want to look at 10 MHz oscillator startup for first 200ms you literally cannot do that. See attachments..

That memory advantage combined with 500uV/div sensitivity and low noise (compared to 4 mV/div on 3000A) makes SDS2000X+ actually much more capable for slow, low level stuff.

OTOH, Rigol MSOX5000, has similar sensitivity and noise as Keysight  all while having 4 Math channels and 4 decode channels, and tons of memory too.. Also, quite fast retrigger rate.

I would look at least at those two just to make sure to understand what can be had for the 1000-1500 USD, new and with warranty.

[kcbrown]

Memory is not the problem.
Problem is that you have 4GS/s that is not 4GS anymore as soon as you use any timebase longer than 50us/div. And then drops rapidly. If you set timebase for 2ms/div (to look at somethin 20 ms long) it takes nosedive to 40MS/s..  At that timebase, if you have anything higher than 20 MHz in signal it will alias and show weird artefacts in signal that aren't there.

Well, seeing how the actual sample rate ultimately determines the maximum frequency you can reconstruct anyway, wouldn't they use a low-pass filter with a variable upper frequency on the input in order to eliminate the aliasing you're talking about?  I mean, this is an issue you'd have even on the SDS2000X series.  Once you make the timebase long enough you can't maintain the native sample rate.  The additional memory helps, of course, but doesn't eliminate the issue.

If you want to look at PSU startup, at say 10ms/div (for 100ms total) you will basically have 20MS/s sampling rate that will make it a 10 MHz oscilloscope without antialiasing filter on the input..
If you want to look at 10 MHz oscillator startup for first 200ms you literally cannot do that. See attachments..

Yep this is true.

No doubt more memory gets you more flexibility, and this is a good point as to how.  It's really a question of how often you're likely to run into such issues. 

That memory advantage combined with 500uV/div sensitivity and low noise (compared to 4 mV/div on 3000A) makes SDS2000X+ actually much more capable for slow, low level stuff.

Yeah, no doubt.  The SDS2000X+ is really quite an amazing piece of equipment.

If only it had a UI as responsive as the Keysight.   

[Someone]

Memory is not the problem.
Problem is that you have 4GS/s that is not 4GS anymore as soon as you use any timebase longer than 50us/div. And then drops rapidly. If you set timebase for 2ms/div (to look at somethin 20 ms long) it takes nosedive to 40MS/s..  At that timebase, if you have anything higher than 20 MHz in signal it will alias and show weird artefacts in signal that aren't there.

Well, seeing how the actual sample rate ultimately determines the maximum frequency you can reconstruct anyway, wouldn't they use a low-pass filter with a variable upper frequency on the input in order to eliminate the aliasing you're talking about?  I mean, this is an issue you'd have even on the SDS2000X series.  Once you make the timebase long enough you can't maintain the native sample rate.  The additional memory helps, of course, but doesn't eliminate the issue.

Some users who are more familiar with other brands of scopes fear aliasing as its pretty easy to produce. But... its very hard to get the Keysight/Agilent meagzoom scopes to show aliasing artefacts as their front end filtering and decimation "just work" (invisibly and without any controls, prioritising maximum sample rate possible at all times).

[2N3055]

Memory is not the problem.
Problem is that you have 4GS/s that is not 4GS anymore as soon as you use any timebase longer than 50us/div. And then drops rapidly. If you set timebase for 2ms/div (to look at somethin 20 ms long) it takes nosedive to 40MS/s..  At that timebase, if you have anything higher than 20 MHz in signal it will alias and show weird artefacts in signal that aren't there.

Well, seeing how the actual sample rate ultimately determines the maximum frequency you can reconstruct anyway, wouldn't they use a low-pass filter with a variable upper frequency on the input in order to eliminate the aliasing you're talking about?  I mean, this is an issue you'd have even on the SDS2000X series.  Once you make the timebase long enough you can't maintain the native sample rate.  The additional memory helps, of course, but doesn't eliminate the issue.

Some users who are more familiar with other brands of scopes fear aliasing as its pretty easy to produce. But... its very hard to get the Keysight/Agilent meagzoom scopes to show aliasing artefacts as their front end filtering and decimation "just work" (invisibly and without any controls, prioritising maximum sample rate possible at all times).

You are correct, Keysight uses all kinds of neat tricks, and it kinda deals with some aliasing artefacts. For instance it will silently use Peak detect to extract outside envelope of AM modulated signal that should alias. But that will be only screen display, if you press zoom, zoom will show nonsense. But, still, better than others.

[bdunham7]

I mean, this is an issue you'd have even on the SDS2000X series.  Once you make the timebase long enough you can't maintain the native sample rate.  The additional memory helps, of course, but doesn't eliminate the issue.

You never eliminate the issue, but making it 200X better goes a long way!  Even the $500 SDS1104X-E can do up to a one million X zoom, something the Keysight models here won't despite their 'MegaZOOM' trademark.

If only it had a UI as responsive as the Keysight.   

Perhaps, but I don't understand making significant sacrifices in actual capability for that 'luxury feel' UX, especially for someone spending their own money.  My older Tek DSO has a UI that is several orders of magnitude less obtuse than the Siglent, but if I had to choose between them there would be no contest--I'll live with some amusing quirks to get the additional capability.  I'm not dismissing the issue--setting up FFT on the Siglent is like a scope comedy skit next to the Tek.  The Keysight (and Tek) models may have other advantages, but I don't know them well enough to comment.

[bdunham7]

Realistically it’s a hobby scope, so the use cases are incredibly varied. I’ve been avoiding answering the question because there isn’t really a single use case. Here is a glance at my current and recently finished projects:

1. Design and build of a series of microphones for studio recording. I’d like a dso that preforms very well as a “crt emulator.”

2. Fixing a number of issues with some small MCU-driven autonomous vehicles (with hard realtime requirements) containing some buggy critical RFIC components. This also includes some protocol debugging, although here I care about the underlying signal since it seems some thresholds are not being met. For any LA issues, I would just use my Saleae.

3. Design and build of some measurement devices intended for use on the bottom of hulls of container ships.

I want something that’s fun and enjoyable to use, and which allows me to focus on my problem domain, not the scope.

A suggestion was made for the RTB2004, and if I could find a deal for the R2K-COM4 bundle (which is the whole bundle afaik), I would consider it. But ~$4.5k after tax is just too much. 

The MSO3014A is appealing because I could ostensibly grow into it, should some project come up that demands its higher feature set. But if I’m being honest, I doubt I’ll ever really pay for the upgrade.

The DSO1204G is basically the minimum scope that suits my various hobby needs while also “feeing nice” in my opinion.

That's quite a few indications that you like the way the Keysights operate and that it is important to you. 

As for your use cases, the only one that I think there might be an issue are the microphones, where sensitivity and noise floor may be important.  Quite honestly, for probably 90% of the times I need a scope, just about any scope will do, so getting something easy to use that you like, if you're willing to fork out the cash for that, seems reasonable.  If I were buying a general purpose scope with someone else's money, it would be a Tek TBS2204B for $3K+. 

One thing that occurs to me is that for your $2800, you could buy the base Keysight DSOX1204G and the Siglent SDS2104X-Plus w/ logic probe.  Then you'd have a 'nice' base scope for most of your general purpose applications and a 500MHz 200Mpt large-screen scope for special applications. This would give you an extended period of time to try things out--I find that it takes me months to really get used to a complex instrument and determine whether I like it or not.  If you hate it, sell it and upgrade the Keysight.

[2N3055]

One thing that occurs to me is that for your $2800, you could buy the base Keysight DSOX1204G and the Siglent SDS2104X-Plus w/ logic probe.  Then you'd have a 'nice' base scope for most of your general purpose applications and a 500MHz 200Mpt large-screen scope for special applications. This would give you an extended period of time to try things out--I find that it takes me months to really get used to a complex instrument and determine whether I like it or not.  If you hate it, sell it and upgrade the Keysight.

That is good thinking...

DSOX1204G will have all "Keysight-ness" for analog CRT emulation.
If you need advanced functions (some not even on 3000A) you have a SDS-2000X+..

[erwets]

One thing that occurs to me is that for your $2800, you could buy the base Keysight DSOX1204G and the Siglent SDS2104X-Plus w/ logic probe.
...

If you hate it, sell it and upgrade the Keysight.

Not a bad idea! However, I'm not sure that the resale value of the 2104X will hold up. Any chance you have some experience in this area and/or can comment on used 2104X prices? Otherwise, I'm just going to semi-trust ebay

[bdunham7]

Not a bad idea! However, I'm not sure that the resale value of the 2104X will hold up. Any chance you have some experience in this area and/or can comment on used 2104X prices? Otherwise, I'm just going to semi-trust ebay

Even old Rigol DS1054Zs are selling for 80% of new price.  People love to save a buck!  I think there's almost no chance that the scope would take a big hit in resale value in 6 months, although after eBay takes its cut, you won't get every penny back.  But given the rate of inflation, the logic probe promo that expires Dec 31 and the scarcity of this model on eBay, you'll probably do surprisingly well if you do decide to flip it.  Just wait til the new year, set your price as BIN and be patient.  I would even avoid using the upgrade key that comes with the logic probe promo unless you don't have any choice--as in it comes preinstalled.  Just hack it instead.  That way you can sell the logic probe and key as a separate item if you want.

However, I predict that once you get used to the noise floor and find the occasional uses for color temp grading and all that memory, you won't give it up so easily.

[nctnico]

Buying something and then hoping to resell it again is a bad idea. What if Siglent decides to have a promotion and cut the price by 30%? You wouldn't be the first. No, the proper way is to get a demo unit to try before buying.

[2N3055]

One thing that occurs to me is that for your $2800, you could buy the base Keysight DSOX1204G and the Siglent SDS2104X-Plus w/ logic probe.
...

If you hate it, sell it and upgrade the Keysight.

Not a bad idea! However, I'm not sure that the resale value of the 2104X will hold up. Any chance you have some experience in this area and/or can comment on used 2104X prices? Otherwise, I'm just going to semi-trust ebay

I am dead serious. You'll want to keep both. You'll love Keysight if you want CRT emulation. But once you try SDS2104X+ and if you give it time to learn how to use it you will want that one too, for all the stuff Keysight simply doesn't have. Really, those two combined are very powerful combination..

[bdunham7]

What if Siglent decides to have a promotion and cut the price by 30%? No, the proper way is to get a demo unit to try before buying.

There are always risks in life, but since they are already having a promotion right now, I think a sudden devaluation is unlikely.  In fact, the opposite is much more likely, especially in today's very strange economic environment. 

Who is going to provide a demo unit for an entry-level scope?

[tautech]

What if Siglent decides to have a promotion and cut the price by 30%? No, the proper way is to get a demo unit to try before buying.

There are always risks in life, but since they are already having a promotion right now, I think a sudden devaluation is unlikely.  In fact, the opposite is much more likely, especially in today's very strange economic environment. 

Sad for the US they don't still have both 2kX Plus promos running like we do. 

[nctnico]

What if Siglent decides to have a promotion and cut the price by 30%? No, the proper way is to get a demo unit to try before buying.

There are always risks in life, but since they are already having a promotion right now, I think a sudden devaluation is unlikely.  In fact, the opposite is much more likely, especially in today's very strange economic environment. 

Who is going to provide a demo unit for an entry-level scope?

I've had no problem trying a GW Instek GDS2204E for over a month.

[bdunham7]

I've had no problem trying a GW Instek GDS2204E for over a month.

OK, perhaps things are different there.  That doesn't help here--I don't know of any dealers that will provide demos for stuff like that and the only other alternative is to abuse seller return policies, such as Amazon's 30-day period for alleged defects.  Otherwise the buyer is going to be paying for shipping, perhaps in both directions.  And to add to that, it appears at first glance the the MSO/AWG promotion is only available directly from Siglent.  Anyway, it wouldn't matter to me--I really prefer a 6-month or longer test period because I'm only an occasional user and it takes me that long to really get used to things and discover annoyances.

[Martin72]

The Siglent 2000X+ scope is an incredible scope for its price range.  But good as it is, there's no way it can match a Keysight 3000 series scope except perhaps for noise floor

Examples ?


On work I use the HDO6000 and WR9000 from lecroy daily and of course there are some advantages between them and the SDS2K+ I got at home.
But from time to time I´m surprised how less they are in relation to the price of the lecroy scopes, what general purposes concerns.
So I´m curious about the advantages of the keysight.

[Electro Fan]

One thing that occurs to me is that for your $2800, you could buy the base Keysight DSOX1204G and the Siglent SDS2104X-Plus w/ logic probe.
...

If you hate it, sell it and upgrade the Keysight.

Not a bad idea! However, I'm not sure that the resale value of the 2104X will hold up. Any chance you have some experience in this area and/or can comment on used 2104X prices? Otherwise, I'm just going to semi-trust ebay

I am dead serious. You'll want to keep both. You'll love Keysight if you want CRT emulation. But once you try SDS2104X+ and if you give it time to learn how to use it you will want that one too, for all the stuff Keysight simply doesn't have. Really, those two combined are very powerful combination..

+1

I think these two would be complimentary and it’s almost always good to have two pieces of equipment to check one against the other.  Both of these will suffer some depreciation after being used but there will almost for sure be some decent resale value for both.  The alternative if you really just want one or the other is to arrange to have both arrive the same day/week after making sure you can return them within 2-4 weeks.  My guess is having them side you might see a reason to keep both but if not you will be pretty clear on which one to return.

Edit:  or you might decide to send them both back and go all in on some other higher end oscilloscope.

[kcbrown]

I mean, this is an issue you'd have even on the SDS2000X series.  Once you make the timebase long enough you can't maintain the native sample rate.  The additional memory helps, of course, but doesn't eliminate the issue.

You never eliminate the issue, but making it 200X better goes a long way!  Even the $500 SDS1104X-E can do up to a one million X zoom, something the Keysight models here won't despite their 'MegaZOOM' trademark.

That's certainly true.   Ultimately, though, it depends on at what point the limitations are no longer tolerable.

It should be clear that despite the Keysight's limitations here, it works well enough for enough people that it sells reasonably well.  And as noted by others, the Keysights do a good job of reducing (if not outright eliminating) aliasing artifacts.

Perhaps, but I don't understand making significant sacrifices in actual capability for that 'luxury feel' UX, especially for someone spending their own money. 

It just depends on what you value and whether or not the reduction in capability will actually be a meaningful one for what you're going to be doing with it.

You shouldn't underestimate the importance of a good UI.  An unresponsive UI is frustrating.  Yes, you can work around it or just live with it, but as soon as you use something that's truly responsive, you'll instinctively be reluctant to go back to using the unresponsive UI.  If you've got both types of instruments, the one with the unresponsive UI will be relegated to the shelf except when its capabilities are needed for the task at hand.

The Keysight, for all its limitations, apparently does the job for the majority of situations.  If it didn't, it wouldn't sell well at all.

If Siglent fixed its UI and made it responsive, they'd clean house, because at that point there'd be no compelling reason at all to go with something like the Keysight.  I believe (without proof) that the responsiveness and polish of the Keysight is a major factor in its continuing success.

My older Tek DSO has a UI that is several orders of magnitude less obtuse than the Siglent, but if I had to choose between them there would be no contest--I'll live with some amusing quirks to get the additional capability.  I'm not dismissing the issue--setting up FFT on the Siglent is like a scope comedy skit next to the Tek.  The Keysight (and Tek) models may have other advantages, but I don't know them well enough to comment.

There's a difference between a UI being "quirky" (meaning, the things you have to do to get it to do something aren't necessarily obvious at a glance) and a UI being unresponsive.  The Siglent's UI is the latter under many situations.  I don't have much trouble getting at things with it, but I do have trouble getting it to see my commands more often than I'd like.   It's mainly an issue with the handling of the front panel.  It's far more responsive to the touchscreen than to the front panel, though it still does sometimes take more time than it should to reflect the commanded changes.

EDIT, 4/2/2022: It turns out that I had hardware problems with at least the timebase encoder on the front panel, and quite possibly with some sort of connection issue between the encoder board and the rest of the scope.  As such, I have to throw out all my prior experience with the front panel responsiveness of the scope, because it could easily be that I was running into a hardware issue with my scope and not the coding of the UI.  Don't get me wrong, it's still no Keysight, but it now seems to actually respond to what I tell it to do.  See https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-electricalcomputer-engineer-student-test-bench-equipment-recommendations/msg4091812/#msg4091812


In any case, the point here is that the UI responsiveness is a major factor in the usability of the instrument, and usability, despite its independence from capability, has a huge effect on the willingness of the user to make use of the instrument when he has alternatives.  It also has an effect on the willingness of the user to deploy the instrument for problems where it isn't strictly necessary.  If the user dislikes using the instrument because of its UI, he'll refrain from using it unless he must.  If the user enjoys using the instrument, he'll use it even when he doesn't have to.

There's a reason Apple has been so successful over the years.  They understand (or at least understood) the importance of having a good UI.   Keysight does as well, it seems.

[kcbrown]

The Siglent 2000X+ scope is an incredible scope for its price range.  But good as it is, there's no way it can match a Keysight 3000 series scope except perhaps for noise floor

Examples ?

The sample rate of the Keysight far exceeds that of the Siglent: 5GS/s versus 2GS/s.  The Keysight can be had in bandwidths up to 1 GHz, applicable to all 4 channels simultaneously, while the Siglent is limited to 500 MHz on two channels simultaneously.  The Keysight is able to perform 1 million waveform updates per second, which is some 8x what the Siglent is capable of during normal acquisition (the Siglent has a special capture mode that can do up to 500K waveforms per second, but that's still half the Keysight's capability).  The Keysight does hardware decoding of digital signals, which I'm guessing could make a difference for triggering and possibly other things.  The Keysight is fast enough that it can do USB 2.0 protocol analysis at all speeds that USB 2.0 will support.  I don't know that the Siglent can do that, and in any case the Siglent doesn't have the analysis tools (such as protocol decoding) for it that the Keysight does.   The Keysight's mask testing speed appears reflective of its hardware-oriented nature, in that their blurb claims it can perform 270K tests per second.  This is probably an order of magnitude faster than the Siglent, if not more.

All that said, I suppose I should amend my statement somewhat.  The scopes have different capabilities.  For those that require deeper memory, the Siglent is clearly superior.  For those that require a lower noise floor, the Siglent is also clearly superior.  But I can't see anything else that the Siglent would be better at than the Keysight, when the Keysight is appropriately configured, while the Keysight appears to be better in several ways.   Maybe I'm overlooking something.  I have direct experience with the Siglent, but no direct experience with the Keysight.

It should be noted that the Siglent gives you far more capability for the price than the Keysight.  A fully decked out Keysight, new, is on the order of $20K.  Few hobbyists are going to spend that kind of money on an instrument like this.  And with respect to what the OP is looking at, obviously it's far less capable in terms of bandwidth as-is than the fully decked out variety.  But the rest of the capabilities (save for those that are bandwidth-dependent) are a matter of the software.



I do very much like the proposal of the OP getting the Siglent SDS2104X+ and a Keysight DSOX1204G.  That would be a very flexible setup for the same money.  If he isn't ever going to need 1 GHz bandwidth (which would require him to hack the 3014A at the hardware level), then that combination will get him as much as 500 MHz (via keygen) bandwidth and massive memory and, when those things aren't necessary, a very fast UI (via the Keysight).

[nctnico]

I've had no problem trying a GW Instek GDS2204E for over a month.

OK, perhaps things are different there.  That doesn't help here--I don't know of any dealers that will provide demos for stuff like that and the only other alternative is to abuse seller return policies, such as Amazon's 30-day period for alleged defects.  Otherwise the buyer is going to be paying for shipping, perhaps in both directions.  And to add to that, it appears at first glance the the MSO/AWG promotion is only available directly from Siglent.  Anyway, it wouldn't matter to me--I really prefer a 6-month or longer test period because I'm only an occasional user and it takes me that long to really get used to things and discover annoyances.

Ofcourse you need to come up with some kind of test plan you can execute in a small timespan. Just like you take a car for a test drive; take it onto the highway,  take a few sharp turns, drive over bumps, see if it brakes properly, etc, etc. However that does not always rule out hidden problems which -unfortunately- Siglent and Rigol are prone to.

I have direct experience with the Siglent, but no direct experience with the Keysight.

That clearly shows    otherwise you wouldn't be so positive about it. Where it comes to the UI neither Keysight or Siglent are the best choices for non-touchscreen scopes. I used to own an Agilent MSO7104A but once I got the GW Instek GDS2204E the MSO7104A got abandoned quickly by me. The GW Instek is so much easier & efficient to work with. I sold the MSO7104A a long time ago; the GDS2204E is still used regulary.

[tautech]

I've had no problem trying a GW Instek GDS2204E for over a month.

OK, perhaps things are different there.  That doesn't help here--I don't know of any dealers that will provide demos for stuff like that and the only other alternative is to abuse seller return policies, such as Amazon's 30-day period for alleged defects.  Otherwise the buyer is going to be paying for shipping, perhaps in both directions.  And to add to that, it appears at first glance the the MSO/AWG promotion is only available directly from Siglent.  Anyway, it wouldn't matter to me--I really prefer a 6-month or longer test period because I'm only an occasional user and it takes me that long to really get used to things and discover annoyances.

Ofcourse you need to come up with some kind of test plan you can execute in a small timespan. Just like you take a car for a test drive; take it onto the highway,  take a few sharp turns, drive over bumps, see if it brakes properly, etc, etc. However that does not always rule out hidden problems which -unfortunately- Siglent and Rigol are prone to.

Poor analogy.
What asset can you leave with an equipment dealer so to take home an instrument and put it through its paces ?

Best you bring a DUT and test the instrument at their premises to decide if it meets your needs.

[nctnico]

I've had no problem trying a GW Instek GDS2204E for over a month.

OK, perhaps things are different there.  That doesn't help here--I don't know of any dealers that will provide demos for stuff like that and the only other alternative is to abuse seller return policies, such as Amazon's 30-day period for alleged defects.  Otherwise the buyer is going to be paying for shipping, perhaps in both directions.  And to add to that, it appears at first glance the the MSO/AWG promotion is only available directly from Siglent.  Anyway, it wouldn't matter to me--I really prefer a 6-month or longer test period because I'm only an occasional user and it takes me that long to really get used to things and discover annoyances.

Ofcourse you need to come up with some kind of test plan you can execute in a small timespan. Just like you take a car for a test drive; take it onto the highway,  take a few sharp turns, drive over bumps, see if it brakes properly, etc, etc. However that does not always rule out hidden problems which -unfortunately- Siglent and Rigol are prone to.

Poor analogy.
What asset can you leave with an equipment dealer so to take home an instrument and put it through its paces ?

What do you mean? Just get a demo unit and return it when done. Same with taking a car for a test drive.

Best you bring a DUT and test the instrument at their premises to decide if it meets your needs.

A proper test of an oscilloscope takes over a day to work through. And there might also be some unforeseen outcomes that need further investigating whether it is user error or a limitation / bug in the instrument. It is not a matter of applying a few signals for 5 minutes and be done with it.  Just look at the oscilloscope reviews I've done over the years. A lot of testing has gone into each of them.

[kcbrown]

I have direct experience with the Siglent, but no direct experience with the Keysight.

That clearly shows    otherwise you wouldn't be so positive about it. Where it comes to the UI neither Keysight or Siglent are the best choices for non-touchscreen scopes.

What is, then, and why/how?  Where the Keysight seems to do better than anything I've ever seen is with respect to UI responsiveness. Everything I've ever seen, including the limited amount of time I've played with a 2000 series scope (when I said I had no experience at all with "the Keysight", I was referring to the specific one here), is that the UI responsiveness is instantaneous, or so close to it that it doesn't matter.  Maybe there are certain circumstances under which the UI on the Keysight will lag a bit but I've never seen or heard of it.

I used to own an Agilent MSO7104A but once I got the GW Instek GDS2204E the MSO7104A got abandoned quickly by me. The GW Instek is so much easier & efficient to work with. I sold the MSO7104A a long time ago; the GDS2204E is still used regulary.

If my experience with the GDS-1054B is any indication, the GDS2204E is going to be very responsive as well.  But I have been able to make the UI on mine pretty laggy with the appropriate acquisition settings, ones that I wouldn't regard as unusual, and wouldn't expect things to be different on the GDS2204E because such things tend to be architectural in nature more than anything else.  Computers, and by extension these scopes, are many orders of magnitude faster than the demands of any UI, but arranging things so that the UI remains responsive under essentially all circumstances requires proper architecture from the beginning.

There's more to a UI than just responsiveness, of course, and the Instek appears to be more aligned with how you think about using the instrument than your Agilent was.  But at least with respect to responsiveness, I know of nothing that beats the Keysight, based on plenty of videos of people operating them combined with my (admittedly very limited) experience.

There seem to be some that appear to come close, such as the Tek 5-series.  Once the scope is able to respond within, say, 1/60 to 1/30 of a second, there will be hardly any more benefit to additional responsiveness.

[nctnico]

I have direct experience with the Siglent, but no direct experience with the Keysight.

That clearly shows    otherwise you wouldn't be so positive about it. Where it comes to the UI neither Keysight or Siglent are the best choices for non-touchscreen scopes.

What is, then, and why/how?  Where the Keysight seems to do better than anything I've ever seen is with respect to UI responsiveness. Everything I've ever seen, including the limited amount of time I've played with a 2000 series scope (when I said I had no experience at all with "the Keysight", I was referring to the specific one here), is that the UI responsiveness is instantaneous, or so close to it that it doesn't matter.  Maybe there are certain circumstances under which the UI on the Keysight will lag a bit but I've never seen or heard of it.

Responsiveness doesn't do you any good if you need to press 5 buttons versus 3 buttons on a non-Keysight scope.