scope suggestions for prototyping and repair.

[Gandalf_Sr]

....LA probe thanks to Gandalf_Sr and his low cost Rigol probes ).

I'm FAMOUS!!   

[jemangedeslolos]

You deserve to sell at least 2 kit per MSO5000 sold, so you would get rich and you could finally buy a real high end, bugs free scope ( you know, those recommended by ntnico ). And the planet could finally continue to turn.

[Gandalf_Sr]

You deserve to sell at least 2 kit per MSO5000 sold, so you would get rich and you could finally buy a real high end, bugs free scope ( you know, those recommended by ntnico ). And the planet could finally continue to turn.

Thanks, I don't think I'd get rich though.  I might have enough to afford some lolos though  (whatever they are).

[Wuerstchenhund]

The SDS2000X+ seems a very nice instrument for the price.....but there are maybe between 10 or 15 owners on the forum.
Statistically, there are necessarily fewer bugs reported.

You're missing that some of these owners are dedicated beta testers for Siglent, i.e. they are not just average users who may or may not stumble on a bug and then may or may not bother reporting it. These testers are actively putting the scope through its limits to find and report any bug, problem, issue or even area where things can be improved, and while this doesn't guarantee every bug will be found (and not every bug might be addressed immediately by Siglent), it has resulted in a huge improvement in the maturity of firmware when products are released.

And Siglent has generally been pretty fast in addressing remaining issues, unlike Rigol which often tends to take its time.

The other thing is that Siglent's co-operation with LeCroy has resulted in many of the advanced features found in LeCroy scopes becoming available in Siglent scopes. I only know the SDS5000X but from what I heard many of the same features went into the SDS2000X+, and most of them are not available in any Rigol scope including the expensive MSO8000.

Having said that, if the OP can live with the limited BW then the Rigol MSO5074 should work fine. From what I read a lot of bugs have been fixed, and even the hardware issue with the dim screen has been addressed.

I'd still consider the SDS2000X+, though.

[jemangedeslolos]

The SDS2000X+ seems a very nice instrument for the price.....but there are maybe between 10 or 15 owners on the forum.
Statistically, there are necessarily fewer bugs reported.

You're missing that some of these owners are dedicated beta testers for Siglent, i.e. they are not just average users who may or may not stumble on a bug and then may or may not bother reporting it. These testers are actively putting the scope through its limits to find and report any bug, problem, issue or even area where things can be improved, and while this doesn't guarantee every bug will be found (and not every bug might be addressed immediately by Siglent), it has resulted in a huge improvement in the maturity of firmware when products are released.

And Siglent has generally been pretty fast in addressing remaining issues, unlike Rigol which often tends to take its time.

The other thing is that Siglent's co-operation with LeCroy has resulted in many of the advanced features found in LeCroy scopes becoming available in Siglent scopes. I only know the SDS5000X but from what I heard many of the same features went into the SDS2000X+, and most of them are not available in any Rigol scope including the expensive MSO8000.

Having said that, if the OP can live with the limited BW then the Rigol MSO5074 should work fine. From what I read a lot of bugs have been fixed, and even the hardware issue with the dim screen has been addressed.

I'd still consider the SDS2000X+, though.

You're right and it's really something that Rigol is missing.
Not to mention dedicated beta testers, why not have a Rigol representative on this forum regularly ? communication would be more fluid.
That said, Siglent release a new firmware that correct severals bugs only few weeks after avaibility so as you said, it is not perfect either.
I hope Siglent will increase its market share, maybe that will force Rigol to improve in this regard.

[james_s]

Thanks everyone for all the info.  You each have valid points and everyone looks at the problem from different directions and that is a good thing.  I have read many of the related posts on this form and it has been very helpful.  The problem (for me) is there are way too many features, specs, options, and bugs for each scope to really compare them all (like how do you put a value on each attribute?). And there are too many scopes to pick from, more so when including used market.  I do understand this one will not do everything I need every time, partly cause I never know what I will be doing tomorrow, but it will do most of what I need for now.  I may very well buy another used ~2GHz scope, but that will be later.  I would like to have a better scope, but when you have to add in all the options, they usually end up $5k or more, which is a price I can't justify right now.

This doesn't have to be a major life decision. It will in all likelihood not be the last scope you ever own. You may well find that it's handy to have more than one scope, or if you find that the one you bought is just not the right scope for you, if you've taken good care of it you may get most of your money back by selling it. Just a few weeks ago I happened to see a lightly used 1054z sell on ebay for slightly more than they are brand new from Tequipment, the entry level stuff is so cheap to begin with that it doesn't tend to drop in value much. Chances are once you've used a scope for a bit you'll have a better idea of what you really need. If I were you I'd buy something modest and use it for a while then go from there.