Rigol equoipment; has anyone heard of a higher failure rate than other brands??

[videobruce]

Before someone blasts me, this isn't meant to discredit Rigol, or anyone else. I'm just looking for units with problems.

I talked with a dealer of this brand and others and was told Rigol has had a very high failure rate. The term "broken" was used. No specific model, but he was apparently referring to their lower end oscilloscopes when he mentioned price (a few hundred dollars). A number of these were purchased for a college and after a couple of years they had to be replaced with Agilent scopes due to the failure rate.

So the question, has anyone seen and/or heard of a higher than usual failure rate for Rigol products?

[idpromnut]

I would be curious to know if the Agilent scopes also had a high failure rate at this college. That's a pretty harsh environment to have test gear in. If this dealer was referring to the DS1052E and the various lower-end models, I think there would be more posts on this forum about failed Rigols if the failure rate were at all higher than the typical piece of test equipment. I have heard a few cases of knobs falling off/breaking (I'm not sure which series of scopes this was on however) but that is about the extent of what I recall seeing.

[Mechatrommer]

So the question, has anyone seen and/or heard of a higher than usual failure rate for Rigol products?

i suspect its broken encoders that need replacement. my rigol ds1052e still working but few encoders already been replaced.

[videobruce]

I'm trying to get the model number of the scope(s) involved. (This maybe exaggerated a bit since that dealership doesn't sell Rigol any more.)

[all_repair]

Many years Rigol function generator could not work too long continuosly in topical non-airconditioner environment.  An observation of 5 sets Rigol.  Agilent sets had no such issues.  I can't remember the model number now. 

[saturation]

I don't have stats but based on reports posted on this forum, its not anymore than other Chinese brand T&M. 

The key thing with new gear is the long term warranty and short term support from the seller i.e., no questions asked return within 2 weeks or so.  After you buy it, make sure you do a thorough performance check, then a system 'burn in' to try to make it fail while under warranty.  I do this with all gear, Rigol or not.

Avoid v1.0 of products as they tend to be buggy, its worst for lesser branded gear such as Rigol; FWIW even big names like Agilent and Fluke are also affected but less so.

[videobruce]

A sorry state of affairs from the T&M industry.    Isn't/wasn't Rigol the one who was OEM for a few of the big T&M names??
A very wise practice to accelerate the 'break in' period.

I wasn't told which scope other than it was a "single model scope" and other pieces of equipment. I guess it was a secret. 

With the change in Agilent T&M to Keysight Technologies, I wonder what additional cost cutting they have planned;
http://www.agilent.com/about/companyinfo/company-separation.html

[videobruce]

Correction; they did not sell the line. (wires got crossed somewhere). 
The substitute Agilent scope is a DSOX3024A if that narrows down what Rigol it may have been.

[Dave Turner]

I smell a rat and I'm anosmic!

[Nerull]

Those scopes are in a completely different league than the 'few hundred $' rigols, with a price to match. That's quite an upsell, and a lot of money for the vendor...I suppose he also told them the half-the-price Agilent DSOX2000 series just wouldn't work either.

[Fsck]

err, exactly which environment in college?

depending on where they were used, they could've had some seriously stupid things done to them.

[videobruce]

I have no idea of the exact use or where it was. I'm sure there is something to it, but to what extent, I do not know. Using the term breaks or broken kinda leaves a lot to be desired. Sounds as a term used on Amazon product reviews. 

[miguelvp]

FWIW I never had a problem with my DS2000 and Dave gave his DS1052 to his kid Sagan as a Toy, and so far is surviving the abuse.

So unless there is a non vague statement I don't see any validity on claims that Rigol equipment is sub par. So far for was it has been talked about in this forum, they are pretty solid other than one incident where a DS2000 FPGA retaining clip wasn't properly solder and so far with the rest of the Rigol products their customer support and replacing faulty design for customers that request the upgrade has been not speedy but they have follow through and get them fixed.

[N2IXK]

 I work for a university, and you wouldn't believe how rough students can be on equipment. Mostly "innocent" screwups and lots of normal wear and tear,  but have seen more than a few cases of outright malicious damage. 

[videobruce]

N2IXK;
Yes, I can imagine, including malicious damage. But, as long as they take care of their toy phones (idiot phones), all is well. 

[tautech]

I've heard stories of soldering irons inserted into LCD screens.   
I'm glad those I sell have glass screens.

[idpromnut]

Heh, reminds me of a story my co-worker told me. He was working at a research lab at a university, and they had a lab with ~10 spectrum analyzers in it (posh place and well equipped .  Apparently a student was trying to see the waveform of an AC signal riding on a fairly large DC signal, and couldn't understand why these "oscilloscopes" were not showing anything on the display. And of course, they tried every "scope" in the lab with the same results.  5k-10k per analyzer of repairs to all of their front ends later, the lab placed DC blocks on all of their SAs      

[mcinque]

And of course, they tried every "scope" in the lab

Are you kidding, right? Please, tell me you're kidding and that is not really happened. Please.

[videobruce]

Just who were "they"? the students and/or the instructor. I bet if it was about idiot phones they would of had an answer or at least not tried it. 

[idpromnut]

So far as my co-worker says, this did happen. And "they" was a masters student at the university. 

[Fsck]

So far as my co-worker says, this did happen. And "they" was a masters student at the university. 

there's a huge gap between theory and the real world

[tautech]

And "they" was a masters student at the university. 

And his/her degree wasn't stripped from them? 
In private enterprise they would be kicked out the door before they could wreck anything else.   

[miguelvp]

And "they" was a masters student at the university. 

And his/her degree wasn't stripped from them? 
In private enterprise they would be kicked out the door before they could wreck anything else.   

Not really. Lots of people have made $100K or more mistakes and didn't get the boot. It's called training, why fire them after such an expensive lesson?

[tautech]

And "they" was a masters student at the university. 

And his/her degree wasn't stripped from them? 
In private enterprise they would be kicked out the door before they could wreck anything else.   

Not really. Lots of people have made $100K or more mistakes and didn't get the boot. It's called training, why fire them after such an expensive lesson?

So a MASTERS student is not expected to know the difference between a SA and a DSO? 
How many did he/she wreck? 
IMO inexcusable

[Svuppe]

there's a huge gap between theory and the real world

What is the old saying:

In theory, there is no difference between theory and reality.
In reality, there are differences between theory and reality.