There are still many "usability issues" that could be eliminated with small modifications that would make the instrument much more pleasant to deal with.
1. Rotary encoder - stay on the digit! IMO, it's an absolutely horrible approach to jump the decimal when reaching the "end" of the adjustable range while incrementally adjusting a parameter. Example: I want to adjust a pulse width between 100µs and 2ms in 100µs steps by means of the rotary encoder. So I enter 1ms via the keypad and set the adjustable digit to the 100µs decimal. Now everything's fine as long as I don't accidentally "try to" reduce the pulse width below 100µs, which results in the adjustable digit to jump to the 10µs decimal and to stay there, even if I increase the pulse width again above 100µs. I'ld expect to have at least the choice (by a U/I configuration switch) to simply have the the decrement function stop there and notify me by means of a different "key tone" and/or a short popup that I tried to exceed the adjustable range. This approach would be desirable for all parameters that can be adjusted incrementally. The funny thing about this "feature" is that the decimal jumping stops when the cursor reaches the decimal delimiter! It's simply inconsitent.
2. Adjustments to one parameter affecting the settings of other parameters: In pulse mode, select 50Hz frequency and 10ms pulse width. Now increase the frequency (incrementally or via keypad) to 100Hz or above -- the pulse width will be automatically decreased to a value to permit generating the requested frequency with the preset parameters. It doesn't work in reverse -- increasing the pulse width isn't accepted, the frequency is kept as a "hard limit" for the pulse width. I simply expect a good lab instrument to give me the choice if mutually dependent parameters will affect each other automatically or if adjustment attempts beyond borders that will affect these parameters will simply be blocked. Once again, this could be enabled/disabled as a switch in the system configuration. There may be other places where this issue is present, I picked the example just for ease of understanding.
3. Selecting higher digits for adjustment with the encoder: If a low-digit value has been entered for a parameter, say 1Hz, it's simply impossible to chose a digit for adjustment higher than 1Hz. Why doesn't the user interface permit to select for example the 100Hz digit by simply adding zeros to the left of the 1Hz digit and permitting to increment this digit? Couldn't be simpler than that!
4. Built-in arbitrary selection: Waveform -> Page2 -> Arb -> Arb Type -> Built-in, then I can finally chose the group of built-in arbitraries and the waveform itself. These are six/seven menus and keypresses to select the waveform. For the first selection, okay, be it like that, but if I find the selected waveform unsuitable for the intended job and I'ld like to try a few others, I've got to go through this procedure over and over again. This instrument has got a touchscreen! Touching the waveform window takes me back to the lowest level of waveform selection, identical to pressing the "waveform" hardkey. In Built-in Arb mode, it would be much more intuitive to take the user back just to the built-in arb selection page. This would make a big difference in usability comfort. Make decent use of the touchscreen! Simply replicating functions that are already present as hardkeys is nonsense! Implement (more) shortcuts as it has been done with the output impedance function.
I must have posted the same or a similar write-up some time ago already but what the heck, maybe it's got to be repeated to make Siglent "hear" it. Maybe I'm only too critical, and most users are happy with the instrument the way it is, and I'm aware that different usage cases favor different features. My point is mostly related to "eyes-off" operation, i.e. the user makes adjustments while observing the behaviour of a DUT on a different instrument, so a parameter can be easily "twisted" out of range.5. In conjunction with this, additional upper/lower "limits" menus for parameters like pulse width, frequency, modulation depth... as it's already (globally) present for the output amplitude (upper), would be a nice feature (maybe with a global enable/override for the additional limits).
I'm sure many of these points are just common sense and won't be too difficult to implement. And they would make the SDG6000X much more enjoyable to use and attractive to the customer. One will get the job done without having these issues fixed, but IMO it leaves the impression of an unfinished product.Edit:
6. In harmonic mode, the instrument still doesn't permit to enter the amplitude of the harmonics in Vrms even though it's possible for the fundamental. Why, Siglent, why?
