Which DSO is better value for a hobbyist

Which DSO is better value for a hobbyist
Posted by suspension on 04 Sep, 2015 20:57
I am considering to buy a DSO for my personnel projects and have short-listed following two scopes.

SDS1202CNL from Siglent : price - 399 GPB DSO5202BM from Hentek : price - 338 GPB

My question is, which one is better value for money. the biggest differences I see in these two are:

Siglent has 2GS/s real time sampling rate while Hentek gives only 1GS/s. Hantek gives 2M sample memory while Siglent only gives 18K. This is a huge difference and I am not sure if I read these values correctly from their specs.

Spec links:
http://siglenteu.com/Uploadfile/file/20140930/SDS1000CNL%20DataSheet_EN.pdf
http://www.3me.rs/PDFs/osciloskopi/DSO5000BM.pdf

#1 Reply
Posted by Monkeh on 04 Sep, 2015 21:07
Do you need 200MHz?

Because you can get 4 channels, 100MHz, and up to 24Mpt memory for £300..

#2 Reply
Posted by Berni on 04 Sep, 2015 21:51
Depends entirely what you are working on.

For working with digital stuff and MCUs and such you really want 4 channels and at least 1M of memory. The sample rate does not really make much of a difference, as long as its a few times the bandwidth its fine.

For getting high bandwidth scopes its usually better to buy old used scopes rather than new ones. Those might come more useful for RF or high speed digital, but the really old scopes are usually not as useful as a general purpose everyday scope.

#3 Reply
Posted by suspension on 05 Sep, 2015 10:36
I am not entirely sure if I need 200Mhz actually.
@Monkeh Where can I get the one you describe? I was not able to find anything like that.

My working pattern would involve digital stuff, such as MCU, SBC interfacing (such as WandBoard/Raspberry Pi), and some FPGA work.

#4 Reply
Posted by EEVblog on 05 Sep, 2015 10:41
Quote from: suspension on 05 Sep, 2015 10:36
I am not entirely sure if I need 200Mhz actually.
@Monkeh Where can I get the one you describe? I was not able to find anything like that.

The Rigol DS1054Z. It is by far the best option on the market.

#6 Reply
Posted by suspension on 05 Sep, 2015 13:44
This looks awesome!
So do you think this hack is still possible with the latest frimware? I am pretty sure Rigol knows about it.

#7 Reply
Posted by John Coloccia on 05 Sep, 2015 16:09
I'll put in another plug for the 1054Z. Amazing value for the money. There are some minor rough edges, but most of it is very solid. It's difficult to really recommend anything else for an entry level scope unless you're sure you can't live with 100Mhz. Even if you need to upgrade to something else later, it's always nice to have a second scope laying around you can dedicate to tasks, or for a second bench.

#8 Reply
Posted by nanofrog on 05 Sep, 2015 17:06
Quote from: suspension on 05 Sep, 2015 13:44
So do you think this hack is still possible with the latest firmware?
Yes.

I expect there'd be a HUGE complaint/rant thread if Rigol patches the ability to hack their scopes (i.e. would turn up in a search).