Rigol DS2072 or Tek MSO2012 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: staze
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 06:35:12 am
content: All,Bit of a dilemma, and oddly, one of too many choices.My primary scope for over a year now has been the venerable Rigol DS2072 (Rev 2.0, non-A) which I've hacked and unlocked the features of, and upped to 300Mhz (not that I actually do anything that high of a bandwidth). It's been a good scope, I like it.That said, I was recently gifted an MSO 2012 (not a rev B). Two channels, has the 16 digital channels as well. By most specs, it's a lesser scope. Less memory, lower bandwidth, fewer features, no ethernet, lower wfps, not hackable, etc...but... it's a Tek, and has those 16 digital channels you can trigger off. It also has the contacts for the higher end active probes. Using the scope, it seems much peppier. Menus don't have annoying lagging, etc.So, which should be my scope? I don't really have any use for two scopes (I already have an old Rigol DS1052e sitting in a box in the garage). I wish the Tek had a trigger out. Hell, I WISH the Tek was 4 channel (or better, and MDO3000), but...Thanks for any input. Hopefully someone out there will have used both and have some good insight... I'll admit, I haven't played with the Tek that much, but from what I have played with, it seems like a pretty solid scope.

author: Lunasix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 08:05:59 am
content: I have a Tek MSO2024 and I have already used Tek DPO3000 and MSO4000 (not MDO). All these Tek (except MDO) are hackable for application modules. The screen's size of TEK 2000 is a little small, but usable. Good choice or not, depending on price. But I agree that price for a new TEK2000B is too high.

author: staze
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 08:51:13 pm
content: Have you used the DS2072 at all? Or any Rigol scopes?

author: Lunasix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 09:26:21 pm
content: Sorry, no ! I have a DSA815TG, but no Rigol scope. I've crossed (and used for a short time) a Rigol with logic analyzer, similar size as Tek TDS1000/2000. But nothing like Rigol DS2072.If I hadn't found the Tek MSO2024 at a price which was not too high, I would have bought a Rigol ! But if the MSO2024 has a bigger screen than my TDS2024, it's always small, compared with the Rigol

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 11:11:35 pm
content: I have the Rigol DS2072 (also hacked to 300 MHz) and I love it.I haven't been impressed with any Tek scope made since about 1990. Before then, Tek was the king of scopes. But they've run downhill since then, and sell mostly on the remnants of their old reputation. (Same is not true of Agilent/Keysight - they still make top-quality stuff.)So, just on the brand name, I'd go with the Rigol. But I haven't used that particular Tek model.Re the logic channels, I find the Saleae logic analyzer is 1000% more useful than any MSO scope. And it's cheap.

author: staze
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 11:36:59 pm
content: *nods* I'll admit, I also have a bit of a personal "tugging" as I grew up across the street from Tek, and most of my family, and wife's family, worked there in their hayday (before Danaher, back when they were king).

author: markce
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2015, 12:15:25 am
content: +1 DS2072A.Have an analog Tek2236 as well, still love the straight 'all knobs' approach with this one as well.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2015, 12:16:41 am
content: Quote from: staze on March 09, 2015, 11:36:59 pmDespite many views to the contrary Tek will still have a good reputation in another decade or more and while many of their scopes may not be considered leading edge today, they are mostly good reliable basic scopes.I don't see that basic fact changing anytime soon.EditShould add pretty much bug free too.

author: Lunasix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2015, 07:52:44 am
content: I also have a Saleae, and I use Salea AND MSO Tek analyzer. They are not able to do same things. Sometimes, Saleae is more powerfull, sometimes, it's the Tek : to see errors in real time on a serial bus (RS232), and to correlate with other signals, the Tek is the best.The price at which you can buy the Tek is an important factor.But if you already have a DS2072, I don't know if buying this Tek is a good idea.

author: casinada
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2015, 08:50:51 am
content: Please read, he got the Tektronix for free and wants to keep only one scope.Get rid of the one in the garage and keep the 2072 and the MSO2012It seems to me that Tektronix scopes are still more reliable instruments.

author: Lunasix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2015, 09:04:49 am
content: Sorry, I do my best to read and write english, the fact it was free was not obvious for me !In that case, yes, keep the Rigol and the Tek, and if later you see you never use one (rather than asking to others what is the best), sell it ! But having 2 scopes is not a problem.

author: Hydrawerk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2015, 07:06:20 pm
content: Keep that Tek DPO2000. It is a good industrial scope. It does what it should. But yes, it is not so much competitive nowadays. It was an outstanding scope back in 2008. I still like that Waveform Inspector.http://www.tektronixoverachiever.com/It has some cons, like no Trig out, probably no mask testing and no segmented memory and more...