What do you thing I should buy Rigol DS1202Z-E or Siglent SDS1202X-E? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: rex
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 31, 2020, 12:12:06 am
content: Both of them are 200MHz osciloscopes.I found Rigol with 370 € and siglent with 420 €.I found a site with their general diferences:https://www.batterfly.com/shop/en?route=journal2/blog/post&journal_blog_post_id=35but I dont know if memory 24Mpts of Rigol versus Siglent's 14Mpts and waveform capture rate create huge diferrence on performance.I hadn't any osciloscope before so I am not sure what I should pay attention on specs.Can you help me with this choice?Thanks in advance.

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2020, 12:45:45 am
content: Again?The answer is:Both are great scopes, especially when compared to any old analog thing.Lot's of engineers grew up with nothing better than an 20MHz analog scope.For the rest it mostly depends on what you want to use it for, and what your personal preferences are.Do you want the biggest screen with the highest resolution?Do you want the best FFT implementation?Is PC connectivity and the quality of the software on that part important to you?Apparently you've already chosen for a 2 channel scope, which is again: a personal preference.For me, the price difference would be insignificant.My own scope is a Rigol DS1052E, and it started suffering from the defective encoder bug after only a few hours of use, (over some months, I don't use my scope much) and it took a few years to get progressively worse to a point I want to replace all encoders.There was a long lust for more memory depth some 10 years ago, but in those days a few kB of memory was all that some scopes had.The difference between 14Mpts or 24Mpts is pretty insignificant compared to those old times.I think the best thing you can do is to read some reviews, and then make your own spreadsheet with stuff youthinkmay be important.Then give each item on the spreadsheet a "weight" value. For example 10 points for a "nice but not so imporant" feature, and 100 points for "This is an imporant feature for me".Then in a second step, divide the weight value of each item over the two scopes (or more if there are other candidates), and when finished, sum up the totals for each scope.Also: The second hand price of such scopes seems to be pretty near the new price. This means that you can buy a scope, use it for a few years, which is enough to get to know what sort of features you really need, and then sell it 2nd hand and add some money to buy a better scope if and when needed.

author: mrprecision
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2020, 06:34:59 pm
content: I have hacked the Siglent SDS1104X-E (4-channel) to 200MHz.

author: Dave8266
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2020, 09:15:45 pm
content: I'd also suggest taking a look at the 4-channel Siglent (or Rigol) scopes.The specs on any of them (2 or 4 channel) are way above what most people need for an entry-level scope. But those extra two channels are a lifesaver the first time you need more than two for a project.An analogy:It's like comparing two cars - one seats four and has 200 horsepower, another seats two and has 300 horsepower.Yes, the sportscar is quantifiably better in its performance specs. But that extra power means nothing if you never take it to the racetrack, and 99% of your driving is on public roads.But when two of your coworkers want to hitch a ride with you to work? None of that horsepower matters, because your car only seats two.

author: HB9EVI
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2020, 11:33:42 pm
content: beginning of the year I got me a DS2302A; main difference to the DS1202Z is the maximal sampling rate, which is 1GS/s for the DS1202Z (2GS/s for the DS2302A)this doesn't really matter so much as long as you're not working at the upper frequency limit with both channels on.it's nice to also own the DS1104Z with 4 channels, like for troubleshooting SPI, where the 100MHz bandwidth is absolutely sufficient, BUT to say it honestly: most of my lab-time I use the 2ch DS2302A. my bet would be that most people can happily live with a 2ch scope and maybe work out digital signal analysis with a separate logic analyzer

author: rokal
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 09, 2021, 11:22:47 pm
content: Could you tell me how you have hacked the Siglent SDS1104X-E (4-channel) to 200MHz? I own this oscilloscope and I am interested in extending its bandwidth to 200 MHz. Thank you in advance for your hepl!

author: TheHolyHorse
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 10, 2021, 05:57:45 am
content: Quote from: rokal on February 09, 2021, 11:22:47 pmThere is a thread on this forum, just search for "SDS1104X-E hack".

author: TheHolyHorse
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 10, 2021, 06:06:03 am
content: If I were you I'd go for the 4ch version, my first scope was the SDS1104X-E and I just got the 4ch because I could but I ended up needing them right away. It made everything so much easier. Also in the case of the siglent it has 2 ADCs so you can still get 1GS/s if you use channel 1 + 3 or 2 + 4 and you you'll get 500GS/s using all 4ch. On the rigol it drops to 500GS/s when using 2 channels and 250GS/s when using 3 or 4.If you can drop the extra money or save a bit more I'd do that.