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What to buy - Dedicated Logic Analyzer vs "The new Scopes" aka. SDS824/DHO924(S)

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Traceless:
Hi everyone,

I'm currently in the market for a logic analyzer and was thinking about getting one of those Saleae Logic ones. However I also noticed that the new generation of 12 Bit scopes aka Siglent SDS824 and Rigol 924(S) double as logic analyzers too at a similar price point. In addition to both being a logic anayzer they'd also be a big upgrade over my current scope (Hanmatek DOS1102). So before pulling the trigger I have a couple of questions. One being: How good do the Siglent SDS824 and the DHO924 work as logic analyzers? Is this just a gimmick added on for marketing or is the feature productively usable?

I also tried to read up on the Siglent SDS824 vs Rigol 924(S) discussions here on the forum. While both seem to have similar features the most noticable distinguishing mark seems to be the general opinion that the Siglent is much more usable/stable/polished than the Rigol. The DHO devices apparently have been plagued by a lot of bugs, weird glitches, slow patching on the side of Rigol. Is this still an issue?

Other than that I like the exterior design and compactness of the Rigol, but find the UI to be way to busy and generally not so well designed, whereas the Siglent uses more bench real estate but seems to have a much cleaner UI design.

Currently I'm leaning towards buying the Siglent, however I'd be able to grab a DHO924 40% cheaper that the Siglent scope. So before pulling the trigger I'd like some second opinions. Most importantly:
1. If any, which of the scopes works best as logic analyzer - or should I forget the scope idea entirely and go for the dedicated analzer?
2. Is the SDS824 worth a 40% markup over the DHO924?
3. If I'd go for Rigol, is getting the 924S version with signal generator worth it (or in other words how useful is the signal generator feature)?

Cheers Traceless

TimFox:
The signal generator in the Rigol 924S works well.
However, the "Bode plot" function that uses it as a source to measure gain and phase does not give accurate results.

artag:
All these 'logic analysers' are a bit disappointing. They're not logic analysers at all, they're multichannel (for values of multi mostly in the range 8-16) 1-bit oscilloscopes. Some - especially the ones built into scopes - don't even have a proper trigger on the digital side. At best, a single word match. No clock input.

Even the Saleae, which is a delight to use as far as it goes, can't do a clocked state trigger like a proper logic analyser.

That might be fine for your intended usage, but do think it through. After a period using mixed-signal scopes and USB analysers I've gone back to proper logic state analysers for debugging old microprocessor hardware.

Traceless:
@Tim thanks pointing out the bodeplot issue and your experience with the signal generator.

@artag: Sure clocked state trigger would be great to have. Would you mind sharing which "proper" logic analyzer you currently use?

ataradov:
Logic analyzer on DHO924 is a miserable experience. It is a total waste of time. Same goes for the signal generator. Signal generator lacks very basic features. Like it can only set integer value for the duty cycle and generally settings are very limited. There are more settings on a basic siggen from AliExpress.

Get dedicated tools, they will always be better.

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