WHY, just why...

[eTobey]

do they use hard to distinguish colors on the probes? Isnt life hard enough in electronics?

Have not seen real colors on those really. We are not living in the middle Ages anymore, where color pigments were expensive!

 

[Andy Watson]

So that they match the insipid colours used on the rest of the instrument

[eTobey]

But they miserably failed. See channel 4! It was a kind of green. And the backlight of channel 1 is orange! Its a bloody mess!

[axantas]

They failed 100% regarding the color choice. I am constantly mistaking that creen with gryan

Maybe they were googling "Chlorophyll" instead of "Green" during the coloring process... 
Chlorophyll is expensive...

[rvalente]

With soooo many options for customization, even some scopes running android, I can't understand why they can't let you choose the channel colors.
You can give a channel a name, but not change its color. I guess they have never reard about 'color blindness'

[RAPo]

Good luck finding an associated plastic ring for the probe regarding your chosen colour... But indeed the designers should level up.

[empeka]

Can't help with channel colors on screen, but to make probes more distinguishable I've replaced rings with these
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32920850408.html

Good luck finding an associated plastic ring for the probe regarding your chosen colour... But indeed the designers should level up.

3d printing 

[MarkL]

With soooo many options for customization, even some scopes running android, I can't understand why they can't let you choose the channel colors.
You can give a channel a name, but not change its color. I guess they have never reard about 'color blindness'

Some R&S scopes, like the MXO4, lets you choose each channel color and it can be any custom color (i.e., not from a fixed menu with a handful of choices).  It not only changes the trace color, but also the LED backlight color of the vertical buttons and knobs for the channel that is selected.

But there's a minor downside: The probes *do* have a color ring, and unless you remember, or physically mark the channel colors, you can't plug the probes into the right channel when the scope is off.

[IanB]

do they use hard to distinguish colors on the probes? Isnt life hard enough in electronics?

Have not seen real colors on those really. We are not living in the middle Ages anymore, where color pigments were expensive!

 

Is this about having limited color vision? Which probe colors become a problem with color blindness? It's actually hard to know without experiencing it.

[axantas]

do they use hard to distinguish colors on the probes? Isnt life hard enough in electronics?

Have not seen real colors on those really. We are not living in the middle Ages anymore, where color pigments were expensive!

 

Is this about having limited color vision? Which probe colors become a problem with color blindness? It's actually hard to know without experiencing it.

It is about the fact, that one should be GREEN and one CYAN and they are both kind of "light dark blue" and "light light blue".

As for the color rings - we all might have a lot of spare ones, but it reamains a failure of Rigol.

[ebastler]

I used to roll my eyes at Rigol's choice of "light blue" and "dark blue" as two of the channel colours (plus yellow and magenta). But with my new Siglent scope, I find that my slight colour-blindness makes the distinction between yellow and green non-obvious for me. Maybe Rigol were actually considering that and omitted green for a reason?

I wish I could adjust the colours on the SDS800X HD (as, I believe, it is possible on the higher-end Siglent models). I would only want to tweak them a bit -- making the yellow a bit more orange for example. Hence, no need for custom color rings on the physical probes or for RGB LEDs on the scope buttons which adjust to the custom colour. A software change would be enough to make me happy. 

[csuhi17]

DHO924S
I don't use the rings because the color is there next to the BNC.
Also, the channel selection buttons are also colored, and in my case they are very different, I couldn't even confuse them.
Colors can be distinguished quite well on the screen.

What's more annoying for me is that if "color grade" is turned on, everything is blue...
I don't understand why it wasn't possible to use the channels' own color... Compared to Micsig's color grade, this is a joke anyway.
Also, why not green instead of light blue. This was a very poor decision from Rigol...

[eTobey]

As for the color rings - we all might have a lot of spare ones, but it reamains a failure of Rigol.

Its not just rigol! Many, if not all. It is kinda nice to change the color of the channels, but you cant really do this to the outside of the sockets (at least without letting it look ugly)!

Why are these idiots choosing "light blue" and "light blue with a tint of green"? There are bloody colors called BLUE and GREEN, that are easy to distinguish!

I cant help myself but think there is a agenda behind this. Maybe no manufacturer wants to do good stuff, to not let the others lose too much, so everyone can generate enough revenue? Its the same with the software, that could be easily made better. At least on the rigol side...

[eTobey]

Also, why not green instead of light blue. This was a very poor decision from Rigol...

Show me one oscilloscope from the other manufacturers,  that has a green color on a channel!

[guenthert]

Ah, c'mon.  Nothing like ol' Commodore choosing light blue text on dark blue ground.  That can only be beaten by the flag of East Frisia.

Seriously though.  About 10% of males are "colour blind".  That however is usually just "colour weak", i.e. there are three fully functioning kinds of receptors, just their peak sensitivity is closer, i.e. their ability to discriminate colours is diminished, e.g. unable to distinguish pink from white in low light conditions.  Really strong contrast help and for the oscilloscope's probes only four colours are needed.

[IanB]

It is about the fact, that one should be GREEN and one CYAN and they are both kind of "light dark blue" and "light light blue".

As for the color rings - we all might have a lot of spare ones, but it reamains a failure of Rigol.

But why is it a fact that one should be green and one cyan? That seems to me more like an opinion.

Also, the screen is not shown in the picture, so I cannot judge the appearance of the traces. Furthermore the traces are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, so you are not relying solely on the colors.

As for the probes, one is light blue, while another is dark blue with a white contrasting pattern. If you were seeing them in black and white, they would be highly contrasting due to the pattern.

Overall, I do not find any difficulty seeing the difference in the four colors, which is why I am asking.

[joeqsmith]

I use the rings to keep track of the probes after they are matched (compensated) for each channel.  I don't normally leave things setup.   

For keeping track of them on the DUT, I only ever have four, so no big deal. 

My active probes have an LED that emits the color that matches with the channel they are connected to. 

[ebastler]

Also, why not green instead of light blue. This was a very poor decision from Rigol...

Show me one oscilloscope from the other manufacturers,  that has a green color on a channel!

Siglent, pretty much all of them. Also see my post above; it's not without downsides (for some of us).

[csuhi17]

Also, why not green instead of light blue. This was a very poor decision from Rigol...

Show me one oscilloscope from the other manufacturers,  that has a green color on a channel!

Micsig, siglent, hantek....

after a quick search, I couldn't find anyone other than Rigol who doesn't use green, for scopes with more than 2 channels.

[eTobey]

Siglent, pretty much all of them. Also see my post above; it's not without downsides (for some of us).

You are right! I had a quick peek on a picture of the sds814, but that light green looked light a light blue on the first glance! 

[eTobey]

after a quick search, I couldn't find anyone other than Rigol who doesn't use green, for scopes with more than 2 channels.

Were there any ones with some vibrant colors on the scope?

[axantas]

They used the new color palette from Hermès - that's why 

Bleu Frida
Bleu France
Rose Mexico
Limoncello

They perfectly fit, wearing them together.

[csuhi17]

after a quick search, I couldn't find anyone other than Rigol who doesn't use green, for scopes with more than 2 channels.

Were there any ones with some vibrant colors on the scope?

I don't know what you mean, but I look at the picture from any scope, and I can distinguish the channels quite vividly with almost all of them.

However, these two "Bleu Frida, Bleu France" can be very confusing.
I can tell them apart, but they don't stand out as much as blue and green.
With the oscilloscope I found on the Internet, for example, red, blue, green, yellow were very clearly visible and distinguishable.
But my Micsig also has this, only not red but purple?

You can ramble on about this topic for a long time, but it's not worth it.
It's a fact
Rigol chose the wrong color, and I think it's not possible to change because the channel's input and buttons are color-coded.

[eTobey]

I don't know what you mean, but I look at the picture from any scope, and I can distinguish the channels quite vividly with almost all of them.

Yes you can! And so can i, but you know, i am german, and i want to recognize the right probe/color in less than 100ms, and also in not so perfect light conditions.

I hate it when people sell lame things, and also when people buy those lame things, and love having those lame things!

[IanB]

I hate it when people sell lame things, and also when people buy those lame things, and love having those lame things!

It helps us feel superior, when we can readily use those lame things without discomfort.

The same kind of superiority of owning a car with manual transmission, when so many unfortunate people can only drive automatics