Siglent Bench DMMs SDM3065X, SDM3055 and SDM3045X

[klausES]

Doesn't want to appear impatient, but the flawed 1.01.01.20R2 for the SDM3055 was released over 7 months ago,
the errors in this version alone have been reported to Siglent by users here since January / February and nothing has still happened to this day... 

Is Siglent doing something else or have you long since decided to just leave the SDM3055 buyers out in the rain ? 

8 months and nothing from Siglent except empty promises.

5 months ago they wrote to me that it was my turn.
4 months ago they wrote me that all reported bugs could be traced and they were working on it.
I waited another 2 months until I asked carefully and politely if there was anything new. The answer was that you would apologize and get in touch very soon.
Another 2 months and nothing has happened to date.

I am really disappointed... 

Again two months in which nothing happened.
Neither that Siglent (the last time I was promised an apology 4 months ago that I would be contacted urgently...)
until today, nor that they had done anything.

I'm not talking about improvements, there are some that would be desirable, I'm talking about bugs.

Now 10 months of firmware with these many errors.
The device could be good without these errors, so I don't understand why Siglent doesn't finally fix them.
You keep selling this device with it.

I'm not an impatient person, but nothing after such a long time
and despite the promise to get in touch, no answer...
If I had known everything from today's perspective before buying... 

[joxelito]

Bye Bye Siglent multimeters
Now I am looking at the AIM TTi 1908p, sure it is in another segment but the price point is interesting, half the cost of 34461A with 5 1/2 digits, all the conectivity needed for automation, 10A scale, dual readout, not so fancy screen, no trend charts but with quality hardware and firmware.

If I really need 6 1/2 digits, high impedance modes, or trend charts i would go with the Keysight route. It´s 300€ more than Siglent but it woks as spected.

The chineese path now only makes sense for me with multimeters in the price point of ET3240   (140-150€)

[TurboTom]

Seems like they've got more "construction sites" than just their bench multimeters... Their top-of-the-range AWG not outputting what's displayed on the screen directly after power-up is something you've really got to get used to... Waiting since one year for an update. For me, this actually rules them out for future investments though they appear to have released some decent gear recently.

[Electro Fan]

might be a matter of resources, org structure, and mgmt priorities

would be interesting to know if scopes, power supplies, generators, SAs/VNAs, etc have dedicated or shared hw/fw engrs, sw devs, and product mgrs; when bug fixes and key features slow down it usually indicates some tension in priority setting and resource allocation between product mgmt and somewhere

edit:  or might indicate end of life is near enough that someone doesn’t want to invest more when a new product is coming over the horizon, although usually the predecessor product gets some support while the new product is entering the market

[klausES]

That all is plausible and could well apply here.

This sector is not like e.g. the smartphone business.
The neglect of the support of a device that was just sold is consciously accepted.
The many people who all want to buy the successor are more important here than customers who still have a previous device.

In our area where not everyone buys a new instrument every year,
this approach is not beneficial for a company's reputation, at least in the long term.

[joxelito]

In our area where not everyone buys a new instrument every year,
this approach is not beneficial for a company's reputation, at least in the long term.

Considering that this kind of equipment is very specialized and usually used at work / production enviroments, these kind of problems and the lack of support gives littlen confidence on the brand.

My feeling (may be wrong) is that Siglent has taken the route of copy of interface, copy of trend charts, (almost) copy of specs, produce an instumente that "looks" similar to Keysight 34461A and sell it 300€ cheaper, send some units for review to relevant content creators and thats all. Just "sell", no support, no debugging, just sell cheaper than occidental products.

I think 800€ is way too much for these policy.
May be 300€ cheaper, but in the end it is much much more expensive than 1300 on a full featured and supported product wichs performs as specced, or more expensive thana a 600€ on a product with less functionality but in full working state and fully supported.

[tautech]

Doesn't want to appear impatient, but the flawed 1.01.01.20R2 for the SDM3055 was released over 7 months ago,
the errors in this version alone have been reported to Siglent by users here since January / February and nothing has still happened to this day... 

Is Siglent doing something else or have you long since decided to just leave the SDM3055 buyers out in the rain ? 

8 months and nothing from Siglent except empty promises.

5 months ago they wrote to me that it was my turn.
4 months ago they wrote me that all reported bugs could be traced and they were working on it.
I waited another 2 months until I asked carefully and politely if there was anything new. The answer was that you would apologize and get in touch very soon.
Another 2 months and nothing has happened to date.

I am really disappointed... 

Again two months in which nothing happened.
Neither that Siglent (the last time I was promised an apology 4 months ago that I would be contacted urgently...)
until today, nor that they had done anything.

I'm not talking about improvements, there are some that would be desirable, I'm talking about bugs.

Now 10 months of firmware with these many errors.
The device could be good without these errors, so I don't understand why Siglent doesn't finally fix them.
You keep selling this device with it.

I'm not an impatient person, but nothing after such a long time
and despite the promise to get in touch, no answer...
If I had known everything from today's perspective before buying... 

Prompted me to go searching for answers/excuses and the official word is new SDM3055 FW is under construction however no release date is offered.

[exe]

I think 800€ is way too much for these policy.

Me too thinks the price is too high. It may visually appear very similar to more expensive gear, but inside it's not the same level of engineering. Anyway, if they sell it for this price, it means people buy it for this price . I guess, it's a natural evolution of a "cheap" brand. They start with equipment with attractive price, grow, then shift to more expensive and premium markets because margins are higher there.

[TheDefpom]

I feel for the issues that you have been having with the SDM3045X/SDM3055 and the extremely slow firmware updates to fix the bugs you found, but for me the SDM3065X which I purchased a few years ago has been a very good meter, it has worked fine and not let me down or had any issues, in fact I have been very happy with it.

[klausES]

The optics of the Siglent SDM3000 may come from well-known models (we all know which ones  ),
but their workmanship and hardware cannot be compared with cheap equipment from China.
It's not high-end, but the current SDM series is no longer cheap at all and that's why they are no longer so cheap in price.

The times when there were only inferior items from China are long gone.

[dshorthill]

I recently purchased the SIglent SDM3055 on sale at Amazon. Generally pleased with it, although it has the problem previously discussed here with "lock-up" related to saving to USB flash or internal memory.  I contacted Siglent and documented the problem.  They have created a "Case number" and will address it (I hope)


------------------------------------------------

Email correspondence with Siglent:


From: Dave Shorthill <dshorthill@roadrunner.com>
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2020 5:46 PM
To: Jason Chonko <jason.chonko@siglentna.com>
Subject: RE: New submission from Contact Form SDM3055 Problem
 
 
Thank you  for your prompt response.
Make sure when trying to duplicate problem    SDM3055  Firmware:  1.01.01.20R2
 
Using your example:
https://siglentna.com/operating-tip/sample-and-store-sdm3000/
 
 
It works the first time per the above example.
Repeat example and the second time at Step number 11, set CSV and Store Data the instrument locks up (no response to any key press)
 
Power OFF and back ON..
Try above example.. same problem, locks up
 
 
Problem can  be cleared by :
 
Power OFF and back ON..
SHIFT  Utility Recall  -> Security Erase
SHIFT Utility Recall -> Set to Defaults
 
Problem is the same for both Internal Memory or External (USB) Memory
Thanks
Dave Shorthill


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FROM JASON CHANKO
SIGLENT


Hello Dave,
 
I have reproduced the issue and opened a support case for you.
 
The number is ****.
 
I will submit this to Engineering and they can get a jump on it.
 
I’ll let you know if I learn more.
 
J
 

[CDN_Torsten]

Thanks for filing the support case Dave.

I literally had this issue yesterday working on a customer problem...didn't have time to recreate and open a case as I had lost about an hour's worth of data and needed to recover the lost time.

-Torsten

[klausES]

Hopefully it's not true that Siglent pretends to be new to this bug.
Probably the mistake is new to that one person.

However Siglent has known this error (and some other errors from 01/01/2020R2)
since the early stage of the year (at the latest since February alone from several people here from the EEV)
and it is until today, 11 months after the 1.01.01.20R2 was published still nothing happened.

[CDN_Torsten]

The firmware updates for the SDM3055 have virtually been non-existent.  Every time I need to use the meter I get buyer's remorse....
This is the most disappointing Siglent purchase I have made so far.
It's a real shame since it has potential.

SMH

[tautech]

The firmware updates for the SDM3055 have virtually been non-existent.  Every time I need to use the meter I get buyer's remorse....
This is the most disappointing Siglent purchase I have made so far.
It's a real shame since it has potential.

SMH

Patience, new FW is currently under construction. 
Some issues are taking time so as yet we have no ETA.

[Calvin]

Hi,

oh, come on Tautech ... really? asking us for even more patience? ... rather ask Siglent to finally come to terms.
The update for the 3065x took more than a year and the logging function is still badly implemented (see #619) and no sign as yet, that they might be working on a fix.
The update for the 3055 is almost a year overdue.
Users have repeatedly been promised Siglent would act but nothing seems to have happened so far.
If Siglent hasn't lost interest in their DMMs alltogether I'd suggest they worked harder on the bugs and long known issues.
With their Oscopes and Analyzers they delivered updates at a high rate ... so why not with their DMMs?
For sure Siglents image aquired some scratches already because of this lazyness to act.

regards
Calvin

[tautech]

Hi,

oh, come on Tautech ... really? asking us for even more patience? ... rather ask Siglent to finally come to terms.
The update for the 3065x took more than a year and the logging function is still badly implemented (see #619) and no sign as yet, that they might be working on a fix.
The update for the 3055 is almost a year overdue.
Users have repeatedly been promised Siglent would act but nothing seems to have happened so far.
If Siglent hasn't lost interest in their DMMs alltogether I'd suggest they worked harder on the bugs and long known issues.
With their Oscopes and Analyzers they delivered updates at a high rate ... so why not with their DMMs?
For sure Siglents image aquired some scratches already because of this lazyness to act.

regards
Calvin

Look, bitch all you like at me I've already been bitching at Siglent about issues for a good while. They have their own roadmap and who are we to change/alter it.

Yes, it is true they have been distracted by other new products that have been later released yet I've only relayed what Tech support have replied with.
Apparently there are some deeper issues they are working on for SDM3055 which is why there is a substantial delay.
To know they are working on it is good enough for me and I won't divert their focus with asking exactly what ?
Just repairing the ongoing boot freezes would be great progress as they take an amount of my time addressing the worldwide problems. Another in the EU this week. 

[Calvin]

Hi,

look I don´t want to bitch you as you are the least one who´d "deserve" it ... it´s just that seemingly everybody who got a prob with any of the DMMs was repeatedly put off and asked for patience over a year-long run.
I guess we simply don´t want to hear any more ´be patient´ but actually see some progress in action.
The 3065 logging display prob is certainly nothing that would take so much time to correct and should Imho have been corrected with the last update at the same anyway (when they corrected the logging data memory prob), as would be the 3055 freezing prob, if they´d give their DMM range proper priority.
Just my 2c.

regards
Calvin

[CDN_Torsten]

Siglent needs to realize that by neglecting their DMM products, they are actually negatively impacting their reputation for all of their products.

At this point I would be reluctant to purchase any further Siglent-branded equipment...

[tautech]

Siglent needs to realize that by neglecting their DMM products, they are actually negatively impacting their reputation for all of their products.

Understood it might be seen this way however there is much going on behind the scenes.
2 affiliated items are SDM3065X LM399 and SDM3055 Vref aging responsible for accuracy drift and the owners need to address this with one of the many good voltage references available. The like of Ian Johnston's Vref are perfect for this and more accurate than the factories initial calibration.
Hidden provision to adjust SDM3065X is already available yet not documented publically and needs further polish so owners cannot entirely corrupt the factory calibration and resort to it as a fallback mode.
It's been asked for also for SDM3055 yet I dunno if it will be implemented in this coming FW.

Yes, there is always much to improve.

[TurboTom]

Siglent needs to realize that by neglecting their DMM products, they are actually negatively impacting their reputation for all of their products.

At this point I would be reluctant to purchase any further Siglent-branded equipment...

So true... And not only valid for their DMM products, unfortunately! But there are enough other B-brand manufacturers that don't perform much better. 

[jemangedeslolos]

Hi,

oh, come on Tautech ... really? asking us for even more patience? ... rather ask Siglent to finally come to terms.
The update for the 3065x took more than a year and the logging function is still badly implemented (see #619) and no sign as yet, that they might be working on a fix.
The update for the 3055 is almost a year overdue.
Users have repeatedly been promised Siglent would act but nothing seems to have happened so far.
If Siglent hasn't lost interest in their DMMs alltogether I'd suggest they worked harder on the bugs and long known issues.
With their Oscopes and Analyzers they delivered updates at a high rate ... so why not with their DMMs?
For sure Siglents image aquired some scratches already because of this lazyness to act.

regards
Calvin

Look, bitch all you like at me I've already been bitching at Siglent about issues for a good while. They have their own roadmap and who are we to change/alter it.

Yes, it is true they have been distracted by other new products that have been later released yet I've only relayed what Tech support have replied with.
Apparently there are some deeper issues they are working on for SDM3055 which is why there is a substantial delay.
To know they are working on it is good enough for me and I won't divert their focus with asking exactly what ?
Just repairing the ongoing boot freezes would be great progress as they take an amount of my time addressing the worldwide problems. Another in the EU this week. 

Customers maybe ?

[mrprecision]

I had told Siglent about some bugs in Q1/2020. Siglent wrote me that they are released a new firmware during the next days.

[dshorthill]

I had told Siglent about some bugs in Q1/2020. Siglent wrote me that they are released a new firmware during the next days.

Was this a recent notification from Siglent or Q1/2020 when you told them of bugs?

[mrprecision]

All the bugs I told to my siglent contact person, they have to be retried in their lab. Sometimes they had problems, and asked. They were interested to understand the bug. Also for my siglent scope the fixed all my bugs, which I have reported. For example I have reported at the beginning of this year the bug, that I is not possible to store data to a file, if there already exists a file in the same directory. Maybe this will be fixed finally with the new firmware. I also reported today another bug, regarding my scope.

I someone finds a new firmware, pleas leave a message here!