... With scopes up to 3000/5000 series Siglent IMO has had the time, has gained the experience, and has demonstrated the will to go "the extra mile", in short, became a mature player.
.....
Hello,
do I understand correctly that you consider the SDS3000X HD to be fully developed?
Best regards
egonotto
Pretty much yes, although obviously with some reservation because pretty much nobody has properly tested the 3000 HD yet. But looking at what Siglent has shown so far in experience and workmanship with up to 500 or so MHz scopes I see no reason to doubt that that scope will turn out to be a fine and mature scope (modulo some initial firmware issues which however seem to be normal nowadays). So I'd
know that an early on bought 3000 is highly likely to not be fully mature, but also that Siglent would iron out any kinks pretty soon (Disclosure: it wouldn't be my main everyday scope, so I could afford to allow for a few months to finally reach full maturity. If that were not the case I'd prefer to wait a bit with the purchase).
Also, but that is not an objective fact but only my opinion, Siglent doesn't seem to follow the "just somehow generate revenue" route, but rather seems to aim for being seen as an 'A' brand, based on what I've seen so far. Also (sorry to Rigol fans) unlike Rigol who seems to bet on (supposedly) fancy ASICs, Siglent seems to focus more on actual quality and reliability (plus, of course, features and gadgets like lots of memory, Bode plots, large-ish screens, etc, but hey, to close up to the recognized big players they
must offer some attractive differences).
Friendly regards
Diverse reasons, the main one being that maturity isn't achieved "overnight". With Siglent scopes, I'm talking about the up to 3000 and 5000 series, maturing could be observed and maturity has been reached. That also means and includes practical experience and many details e.g. in, but not limited to production and firmware. But reaching maturity needs time and the experience coming with it.1
Are you under the impression that the 6000 and 7000 series are using a different platform?
There are two major factors wrt the answer to your question, a) what exactly do you mean by "platform"? and b) having some halfway concrete knowledge about those series - so I'll pass for the moment.
But generally speaking I'd be somewhat surprised if those scopes were "just" say a 5000 but with way higher bandwidth (faster frontends, ADCs etc.). AFAIC I also see the rather significant price difference as a clear hint. With a 5Gs/s 500 MHz scope you can get away with a significantly cheaper core (FPGA, processors, memory) than when you design a say 15, 20 or even higher Gs/s 2+ GHz scope.
In fact, but warning, this clearly is speculation territory, I'm wondering why Siglent, who has gained a lot of experience in bringing out new scope series, suddenly seems to have quite some problems with the new HD series. My suspicion, and again is speculation territory, is that something that's considered of major, if not vital importance, unexpectedly "came in between" and disturbed the otherwise well oiled cogs of Siglent's machinery. An ASIC could be such a thing (or some problem with it).
I may be utterly wrong but the way I see it, Siglent has - wrt scopes - decided to serve mainly
two market segments, namely quality scopes, roughly speaking to the typical < 1 GHz market, and quality scopes at and in particular above 1 GHz, aiming for industry, research etc that is, a quite different clientele. But it's hard to build say 3 (or even higher) GHz scopes with basically the architecture of say, the 2000 series. For that they highly likely want to have their own ASIC, which to target and design
smartly isn't exactly easy. My
speculation is that they want a "workhorse" that can handle
both "families", the up to 500 or 700 or 800 MHz 12-bit scopes as well as the 8-bit high bandwidth scopes. And to put yourself next to Agilent/[whatever current name], LeCroy brands you
need a bloody good and fast core.
Finally one should also not forget that "the west" has terrorized (e.g. all sorts of sanctions) China for a long time. If China wants to not only survive but reach and keep an 'A' class place, basically
against all odds, they
need roughly equivalent TME. I'll put it this way: they increasingly say "thanks no" to western computers and prefer to build and use their own and I guess that the day they say "thanks no" to western TME brands will come too.
Whatever, I trust that Siglent will stay and actually become even more successful and that the 3000 HD, after a relatively short phase of ironing out initial kinks will be a fine scope.
And yes, there's lots of speculation in what I just wrote and I may be utterly wrong and have to eat my hat.
Friendly regards