Products > Test Equipment
Should I buy a Rigol MSO5000?
Anding:
Quick report of my first impressions with the 4-channel 100MHz MSO5000 with feature bundle and digital probe kit which arrived just before the weekend:
The screen is good: the default brightness setting is 30%, which is ok but not especially bright. I adjusted that to 80% and would not want it any brighter. I find the GUI to be responsive and user-friendly. First experiments were all a success and a lot of fun! I did not try out the hires mode or any advanced features yet and I'm not qualified to comment anyway. The firmware has been updated several times since the first reviews and I have no concerns.
It's a big step up over what I was using before: a PC 'scope and a handheld Hantek. It's still first impressions but it certainly feels that I have a quality instrument in my hands that I'm probably never going to find the limit of. I am happy and would recommend it to someone in a similar position to myself. I didn't much look at the Sigilent options as the styling of the Rigol really appealed to me, but that is entirely personal.
It's interesting that Dave just released a blog post about whether a $1,000 scope is overkill for the hobbyist. To me it's not really about the circuits your are going to build or the testing you'll need to do. The hobby is about acquiring knowledge, skills and experience. Learning how to use and get the best out of a decent, full-function 'scope is an opportunity in itself. Yes, this is more than I exactly need for now, but I'm looking forward to the journey of getting to know it and discovering more and more in the years to come.
balnazzar:
--- Quote from: Anding on October 24, 2022, 03:35:40 am ---It's a big step up over what I was using before: a PC 'scope and a handheld Hantek. It's still first impressions but it certainly feels that I have a quality instrument in my hands that I'm probably never going to find the limit of.
--- End quote ---
Which PC scope?
Also, I don't want to curb your enthusiasm, but read along the tail of the other thread. If you want to find its limits, it will suffice that you do stuff below (say) 50 mV.
Tell me one more thing: how do you evaluate the acoustical noise produced by the fan? Is the fan temperature controlled, or it's always driven at maximum speed?
Anding:
--- Quote from: balnazzar on October 24, 2022, 09:57:53 am ---
--- Quote from: Anding on October 24, 2022, 03:35:40 am ---It's a big step up over what I was using before: a PC 'scope and a handheld Hantek. It's still first impressions but it certainly feels that I have a quality instrument in my hands that I'm probably never going to find the limit of.
--- End quote ---
Which PC scope?
Also, I don't want to curb your enthusiasm, but read along the tail of the other thread. If you want to find its limits, it will suffice that you do stuff below (say) 50 mV.
Tell me one more thing: how do you evaluate the acoustical noise produced by the fan? Is the fan temperature controlled, or it's always driven at maximum speed?
--- End quote ---
Possibly not fair to the maker of the PC 'scope to say here that I don't prefer it over a bench model but it's a "typical" $300 unit. PM me if you must know.
I am very sensitive to noise. All my PC's are fanless models. I call the Rigol pretty quiet so far (first impressions running it for just a few hours). The fan speed did not vary that I could tell in that time.
It's a shame about the limit of noise below 50mV which I don't doubt if you point it out. Is it possible to build or buy a low noise amplifier or something when the need arises? How is that problem solved in other contexts?
Fungus:
--- Quote from: Anding on October 24, 2022, 01:36:55 pm ---Is it possible to build or buy a low noise amplifier or something when the need arises?
--- End quote ---
Why build one when you can get one for $5 on Aliexpress?
Example from other thread showing a 2mV sine wave on the MSO5000:
Pink trace - raw MSO5000 at 2mV/div with no noise reducing features enabled (ie. no hires or averaging).
Yellow trace - exact same signal but with a $5 Aliexpress amplifier. Now you can view the signal at 50mV/div and the Rigol's ADC noise is irrelevant.
Amplifier: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000723079878.html
PS: Even without the amplifier you can enable waveform averaging and you'll see this:
Whether or not it's a problem depends on how often you need to look at this sort of signal...
nb. Siglents don't go down to microvolts either. If low very level signals are what you do all day long then you're going to need the amplifier no matter what 'scope you own. :-//
dietert1:
For me the aliexpress link results in an error page "Leider ist dieser Artikel an Ihrem Standort derzeit nicht verfügbar. Entdecken Sie weitere Gruppenkaufangebote."
Would you write down a sentence what you mean, like bandwidth, gain, supply options?
Regards, Dieter
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