Rigol DS 5152C experience - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: truhlik_fredy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2011, 01:18:39 am
content: HiI'm looking for somebody with experience with theRigol DS 5152Cdevice, I'm considering to buy used one in 2 days. It's 250MS/s and it has stated 150Mhz bandwidth, somebody would argue that's probably about 30Mhz (or even less) real bandwidth. I intend to measure devices like AVR Mega with max 20Mhz so I should be OK with 250MS/s. And I thing I could go to higher frequencies than that anyway, just I have to be fine with the fact that the waveform won't be very precisely described. Perhaps in case where I will need some sort of logic analyzer troubleshooting where just estimation if it's LOW or HIGH could be enough and I will be 100% sure that troubles digital, not analog and it will be better to have at least this DSO than nothing. It looks like I should be fine with the Rigol, I'm just looking if there is something wrong with this device.It's my first oscilloscope and I would like to buy the right thing. I was temped for many years to get oscilloscope but always my budget was low so always hesitated to buy these cheap china things, like the USB scope (the top model 250MS/s DSO-5200A USB), or the AVR scope (LCD displej, very slow and anyway. it's using only the ADC on the Mega chip) or even now the ARM portable DSO, but always something stopped me saying it will be just rubbish. Somehow I don't waste money on unusable things, I would like to have the real deal and I can't afford to have 1GS/s device. And I found this Rigol, it's seems to be better brand (I mean much better than China noname etc...) and it looks like it could have the usability much better than the low cost things. Perhaps I could used it on something else when I will be done with the AVR devices, I don't want to make investment just for one off use. I tried to find some reviews, but I found just seller pages and there are just he general information.The other thing I found isATTEN DSO ADS1062Cwhich is lokking better than the Rigol, it's 500MS/s it has more features (at least it looks like), but it's in Honk Kong and I don't trust sellers from there (just too much bad experience with them), then I don't know the brand and it's more expensive and I'm not sure if I'm willing to pay so much. If everybody will say I should take the ATTEN then perhaps I won't buy ether of those and I will just wait another couple years till I will have enough money for proper device.I would appreciate any experience with this devices, any opinions or any form of input. Because I'm very clueless and I'm not sure if I intend to do the right thing.Thank you very much (in Advance) for any help. Anton.

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2011, 12:29:21 pm
content: A small discussion here:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=2171.msg29337#msg29337You can use the Rigol 1052E as a benchmark for comparison, whatever you choose must beat its price for performance. The only scope that has gotten reviews to match it is the Instek 1062A, which I would have bought, but it wasn't available for its price then. A typical price is $400.Given it has only half the bandwidth, ignore that rated analog input stage, it should be at least half price, $200 or less.Don't forget to look at the sampling record length in points, that's also a critical area as much as the sampling speed.All the scopes you list below have sampling speeds of 500Ms/s or less. The Rigol's best speed is 1Gs/s at 16k points or 500Ms/s to 1M points on a single channel, while the Instek claims 1Gs/s at 1 M points per channel or 2M points single channel.Quote from: truhlik_fredy on January 11, 2011, 01:18:39 am

author: truhlik_fredy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2011, 02:55:20 pm
content: Thank you for you opinions.So basically you say 5152 it's OK if it's very cheap. I found the 5152 for 209$ delivered.I looked for the Instek 1062A and it's too much for me. But you gave bug in the head with the RIGOL DS1052E, Dave gave it good reviews, at least I see many informations and reviews on the web (I can't say that about 5152). It can be hacked to the 100Mhz just with the serial command. For me it's more expensive than I wanted to pay, but I see it could be the right choice. Dave described it as low cost, even its expensive for me I see that it belongs between real deals, not just the very cheap rubbish.I noticed the 4ksamples mem of 5152 but as I said it will be my first scope I really can't imagine if it's the typical standard, or it will limit me badly. It's like selling oven with maximal temperature of 50 degree Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) to somebody who never cooked and can't imagine what that will mean for him.So now I abandoned idea of 5152 and I'm thinking about the 1052E, it's for here 434$ delivered (but it's again honk kong) . It's ok with the price? It's about double the price of 5152, but it will be worth it, right? (the 1052E will have much better use in the future than the 5152 which will work for me basically just now, with the AVR devices and the future is not so sure about it)Best regards Anton.

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2011, 03:53:24 pm
content: Yes. But only you can answer, is 20 MHz is enough? The more money you spend, the better equipment you can buy, and it won't end. Why stop at 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 Mhz etc? What stops me is in the projects I do and the skill and time to do them. When I read some of the errors or questions folks on eevblog who own a Rigol ask, I think they are buying more capacity than they know how to use.I don't own the 5152, that's an early model Rigol, sadly it doesn't even have support information on Rigol's web site; but I don't think you can find a new, old stock, DSO for $210 delivered.Note, 20 MHz, is its performance floor, where it works its best; above that you have to pay attention to issues that will cause aliasing, but given that you can push this scope beyond 20MHz particularly for repetitive waveforms, like say to examine the system clock. The Rigol or the Instek, likewise the performance floor is higher than the 5152, but you pay 2x more, but start worrying about aliasing at higher frequencies than the 5152, but how often will a project take you there?We know for sure, technology just gets better with time, so in the future you can buy more for your money. Most MCU like the Arduino or PIC run at < 20 MHz.The price you quote is ok, but the problem is delivery from Hongkong. There are many discussions you can read about experiences of folks buying from different people in China; I bought mine local in my country for the same money.You might lose or get a broken Rigol scope, but its safer and a sure thing to buy the 5152, if the seller is local.Quote from: truhlik_fredy on January 11, 2011, 02:55:20 pm

author: truhlik_fredy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2011, 04:57:10 pm
content: The problem is that none are local. I'm Slovak nationality and I'm living at moment in Ireland. And here are the shop and everything target very consumer wise, so there are none shops for hobbyist, when you need to buy a resistor or LED then you have to import it from somewhere over sea, but if you want get LED television, you have hundreds of shops full of them, even in small city. At home I would never ever buy from something like eBay, but here it's sometimes necessary evil.The 5152C isused unitfrom UK seller and basically I would trust him more, but he didn't put any effort, not even write the model name properly and with empty description. Every other website show different information, somebody says it's 200MS/s, somebody it's color LCD and couple line down it claims it's mono LCD. It's looks like Rigol is not supporting it very well. And the seller is not replying basic questions in couple days.On the other hand there is better, double price 1052E device from seller I would not trust at all. But he replies on any questions in couple hours, it should benew unit, properly and softly packaged. The information about this model are well know, with possibility to make 100mhz from it (this unit should have fw 2.05 and it's more difficult to hack it, but somebody got it anyway, so I will try too) . Somehow it tempers me to get 1052E even I told myself never again buy from this kind sellers again (honk kong, china, etc...).And you have right, where to stop, next thing I was thinking to measure 2.4Ghz amplifier,no change with my budget. The 5152 should be just right for me, but I'm uncertain if it has USB or not and about other features as well. And in top of all I feel like I will need buy another and better scope just with little bit more advanced projects than I'm doing right now. And with 1052E I have feeling that it can serve me much longer. Even the 1052E is the top what I can afford. So even if some scope would cost 600$ and had 3GS/s and other features and would be much much better price / performance ratio I wouldn't buy it.Thanks Anton.

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2011, 08:34:31 pm
content: Yes, sorry to hear your situation. For the scope there is a dealer from the UK who posts here and is a Rigol rep, she may be able to help. THere are also some folks here on eevblog from the UK who own the Rigol, I would find them and PM them directly for purchase advice.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=357.msg3806#msg3806Quote from: truhlik_fredy on January 11, 2011, 04:57:10 pm

author: truhlik_fredy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2011, 01:55:45 pm
content: Sorry for late reply but just now I got quote from UK rep and the price is 504 USD delivered. And the Hong Kong price is 424 USD for the same spec (new unit, price with shipping etc...). I should have better warranty support from UK but most probably I will move back to Slovakia and it will be useless for me anyway. And 504 USD looks too much, when I see on US websites prices like 399, yes I don't know shipping, but should be less than 100 usd. But on other hand I'm affraid to buy from unknown source, at least from ebay I can make claim with paypal when something will be wrong. So what now. What I should do,

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2011, 01:16:56 am
content: You are truly a man of the world, from Slovakia, staying temporarily in Ireland, buying from China or USA, how complicated this is!Some ideas. Except from China, including shipping from reputable UK or US dealers, you'll end up spending ~$500. If you bought from China, you could save up to $120, but you don't know what the condition of the scope will be when it arrives, and there is no warranty, if its breaks during shipment, or after, you may have a dead scope or pay more if you ship it to the UK dealer for repair. Delivery time is in weeks to 6 weeks from China. Do you need to pay custom duties too? If so, more savings are lost.If you buy it now from the UK, you can use it today for what you do. If a device breaks, it often happens in the first 30-60 days, and you can still return it for warranty repair if the device is defective, peace of mind, and get to use the scope much sooner. When you return to Slovakia, you know the scope you have is working well because you've been working with it already.If this is too much money, and if the used 5152C is working and can be returned if broken, its a good price for 20MHz use; for the Rigol you will be spending over 2x the cost of the 5152C.Quote from: truhlik_fredy on January 18, 2011, 01:55:45 pm