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> Rigol DS1054Z Digital Oscilloscope Interesting as I'm considering buying a scope. Does this still give the most bang for your buck in 2023? Many online comme

by danaos 3y ago

> Rigol DS1054Z Digital Oscilloscope Interesting as I'm considering buying a scope. Does this still give the most bang for your buck in 2023? Many online commenters mention the Siglent SDS1104X-E as a more modern alternative.

jimnotgym 3y ago
Or you can buy an old crt one for £10 and see if you have use for a scope before you commit. They do take up more room though!
- danaos 3y ago
  No way I could find anything at £10. Do you have any examples to share?
  - jimnotgym 3y ago
    Facebook marketplace
- crote 3y ago
  Except that those old cheap ones are almost universally analog scopes. They are pretty much completely useless for digital work. In the current Arduino-filled world, you are probably going to need a DSO.
  - jimnotgym 3y ago
    I think that is very misleading. It depends what you are interested in. There are lots of uses for an analogue scope...including arduino.
contingencies 3y ago
The key differences: the screen is a bit better on the Siglent, Rigol makes you go through a stupid unlock routine to get your features, but (and this is the killer) Rigol has LXI (scriptable ethernet control) whereas the Siglent only appears to have a web-based remote control mechanism - substantially inferior IMHO.
- someguydave 3y ago
  The SDS1000X-E datasheet says that it supports SCPI over Ethernet, and there’s a programming manual available from Siglent (weirdly the links seem broken on their website)
jleahy 3y ago
It's not going to be a popular opinion due to the 10x difference in price, but I think the Rohde & Schwarz RTB2004 is one of the best hobbyist class scopes you can get (in terms of bang/buck).
- crote 3y ago
  A $2000 scope is going way beyond hobbyist, though. Heck, for most people a $350 DS1054Z is already hard to justify!
- Quequau 3y ago
  So what's going on with the RTB2004 that is providing so much bang for that 10x price difference... and why do you claim that such a machine is "hobbyist class"?
crote 3y ago
They are close enough that it doesn't really matter, in my opinion. It might be marginally better, but I am not convinced it is "€400 vs €500" better. The only real drawback of the Rigol is that both the host USB and LAN interface are buggy, so you might have trouble connecting it to a PC.
deleted 3y ago
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by danaos 3y ago

jimnotgym 3y ago

Or you can buy an old crt one for £10 and see if you have use for a scope before you commit. They do take up more room though!

danaos 3y ago
No way I could find anything at £10. Do you have any examples to share?
- jimnotgym 3y ago
  Facebook marketplace
crote 3y ago
Except that those old cheap ones are almost universally analog scopes. They are pretty much completely useless for digital work. In the current Arduino-filled world, you are probably going to need a DSO.
- jimnotgym 3y ago
  I think that is very misleading. It depends what you are interested in. There are lots of uses for an analogue scope...including arduino.

contingencies 3y ago

The key differences: the screen is a bit better on the Siglent, Rigol makes you go through a stupid unlock routine to get your features, but (and this is the killer) Rigol has LXI (scriptable ethernet control) whereas the Siglent only appears to have a web-based remote control mechanism - substantially inferior IMHO.

someguydave 3y ago
The SDS1000X-E datasheet says that it supports SCPI over Ethernet, and there’s a programming manual available from Siglent (weirdly the links seem broken on their website)

jleahy 3y ago

It's not going to be a popular opinion due to the 10x difference in price, but I think the Rohde & Schwarz RTB2004 is one of the best hobbyist class scopes you can get (in terms of bang/buck).

crote 3y ago
A $2000 scope is going way beyond hobbyist, though. Heck, for most people a $350 DS1054Z is already hard to justify!
Quequau 3y ago
So what's going on with the RTB2004 that is providing so much bang for that 10x price difference... and why do you claim that such a machine is "hobbyist class"?

crote 3y ago

They are close enough that it doesn't really matter, in my opinion. It might be marginally better, but I am not convinced it is "€400 vs €500" better. The only real drawback of the Rigol is that both the host USB and LAN interface are buggy, so you might have trouble connecting it to a PC.

deleted 3y ago

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