25 MHz AWG vs 50 MHz AFG - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: jpb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2013, 04:35:48 pm
content: I am looking at getting a function/arbitrary waveform generator and trying to decide between the Tabor WW5061, the TTi TG5011 and the Rigol DG 4062. By going for ex-demo/old stock models the prices of them all are in the same ball park but I'm finding it very difficult to weigh up the specs.They all have approx 8nsec rise times which equates to 50MHz bandwidth approx.The WW5061 is a proper variable clock AWG with 1M of waveform memory BUT it only goes up to 50MS/s and is limited to 25MHz (though it has a 1Vpp Sin out up to 50MHz)and is the most expensive.The TTi TG5011 has 128k waveform memory (x2) and does 125MS/s and 50MHz BUT is fixed clock so can't do fancy sequential segments/loops etc.The Rigol is 60MHz and 500MS/s BUT only has 16k of memory has a listed rise time of 12nsec on square waves which is a bit at variance with the band width and Rigol support in Europe is rumoured to be not good. The Rigol would be the cheapest though. The Rigol has two channels as well.Do people have experience of these instruments? (I've seen a couple of threads on the Rigol and on the TTi but they are not really reviews.) Is it worth trading off bandwidth to get the flexibility of variable clock? (On the latter question I can think that it would be useful to model infrequent glitches - on the WW5061 you could have glitches appearing every million cycles which you could not do with the other two - but though I might find this fun it is not something I'd frequently need to do). My problem is I want this for a home lab so don't have a specific set of requirements.

author: zlabsoft
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 12:12:02 pm
content: Please take a look on the siglent SDG1xxx series, which give you the best price/performance at the moment.

author: jpb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 02:52:47 pm
content: Thanks for responding.The Sigilent series look interesting but I don't think they are available in the UK - they are similar to the TTi TG5011 in that they are fixed clock DDS systems.The decision I'm trying to make is between a lower maximum frequency/sampling rate but more flexible variable clock rate system and a higher sampling rate/ max frequency fixed clock rate system.I was hoping people might be able to say that they find a flexible clock rate system really useful for doing A, B and C or perhaps they have a system but never use the flexible sequencing etc. Perhaps a bit of a long shot but I thought I'd ask just in case.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 03:20:35 pm
content: Quote from: jpb on January 31, 2013, 02:52:47 pmYou can buy them from many Chinese through Ebay and several European resellers like:http://www.futu-tech.de/produkt/sdg1010/

author: Wuerstchenhund
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 03:54:35 pm
content: Quote from: jpb on January 31, 2013, 02:52:47 pmThey are. I bought a SDG1020 from one of the many UK sellers on ebay recently. They should be able to get you the SDG1050 as well.

author: jpb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 04:14:45 pm
content: Thanks for the links. I was aware of being able to buy from China via e-bay but I don't fancy having to post it back to China if anything needs fixing. The European resellers are probably a better option, I'll certainly look into it. I'm attracted to buying from TTi because I work only about half an hours drive away so support should be easier.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 09:01:47 pm
content: The Rigol is an excellent unit.Dual channels can be very handy.Yes, check out the Siglent's for bang-per-buck.Dave.