R&S RTB2 vs Tektronix Series 2 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: babbage96
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 29, 2025, 10:04:58 pm
content: Hi everyone,I'm currently deciding between two high-end oscilloscopes for my electronics lab and would appreciate your insights and recommendations. Here's some context:I'm an electronics technician currently specializing in component-level troubleshooting (mostly unpowered circuits, shorts, discrete measurements, impedance checks, PCB issues). However, I'm transitioning into a development role, where I'll be involved heavily with powered-circuit tests— functional, boundary scan analyses, etc. Additionally, I will be finishing my EE degree in the next two years. I've already been working through several lab manuals using my Rigol DHO924S oscilloscope. While the Rigol is quite capable, its interface isn't as intuitive or representative of what I usually encounter in professional industry environments. I'm following several lab manuals aiming for precise analog measurements, Bode plots, and clear protocol analysis. (One of these is Learning AoE)Here are the two scopes I'm considering since they share price bracket and brand prestige:Rohde & Schwarz RTB2 Bundle (300 MHz)10-bit native ADC, up to 16-bit enhanced resolution mode2.5 GS/s max sample rate20 Mpts memory depthIntegrated 25 MHz waveform generatorExcellent signal integrity and precision analog measurementsBeautiful UIOld fashioned push buttonsBode plot (FRA) capability available through the optional bundleTektronix MSO2 (200 MHz)8-bit ADC, up to 16-bit in enhanced mode2.5 GS/s sample rate10 Mpts memory depth per channel50 MHz built-in arbitrary waveform generatorExceptional waveform capture rate (>4 million waveforms/s)Built-in frequency response analysis (Bode plot)More extensive protocol decoding and triggering capabilitiesVESA mount (I already have my Rigols mounted and it's great)The new UI does not appear to be as intuitive as R&SKey points I'm considering:Precision analog measurementsFuture-proofing bandwidth and digital debuggingBuilt-in Bode plot capabilitiesOverall usability in professional test environments.Good interfaceGiven this, which oscilloscope do you think would provide the best balance of precision analog performance, functionality, and capability for both my immediate learning and my future professional needs? Do you have any experience with any of these new instruments? One thing that pushes towards R&S is that the RTB2000 is present on every single manufacturing plant I have visited while the Tek seems pushed towards education (I have only encountered this unit in a community college.Thank you very much—I appreciate your expert advice!

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2025, 10:34:32 pm
content: Well I played with RTB2 for few hours some time ago and it slows down a lot with acquisition rate but overall if you like R&S interface it is a pretty decent scope.Regarding TEK well- you can see how much from that praised rate is in reality in this video.But overall per 8 bit scope it is also a TEK so considering quality etc both are a good choice.I think that you should call and visit a Rohde reseller and a try it out. Same goes with TEK. Both are A brand, pretty good scopes but not a high level models and there is a lot to that.Regarding some things etc good 12 bit scope in price range of RTB maybe a bit better even considering that Rohde has usually a decent, low noise ADC inside.It all depends what are your real needs - for example I can do whole lot of things with my old Rigol 1054Z knowing its limitations and issues cause I have it long long time but when I go into some erratic, very faint and very low repetition signals that are for example causing an industrial control board to hang after some time of OK operation I usually need more than one scope and usually one or two very high class to see what is really going on or as some will say yep you can record and record but at some point you will notice that scope made for finding erratic occurrences with real very high capture rate will do job in minutes or 15 min compared to slower one with digging thro recorded results but they are over mentioned price range of this two models. So perhaps for start and some not very annoying or problematic things and considering you are still learning it is better choice to know what are limitations and advantages to evaluate if you may need a better one in future (or not).Also this Tek is battery powered and this has some advantages with testing certain things like power amplifiers without tripping protect, etc.For bode plots you may find some analyzer a better option if you wanna do a lot of them - quick response:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/bode-plot-speed-comparison/

author: pdenisowski
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2025, 11:23:42 pm
content: RTB2. Definitely the RTB2

author: babbage96
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 30, 2025, 12:11:24 am
content: R&S needs to provide these RTB2 to the Dave and other channels. I see it was released 6 months ago but there is no YT content by third parties yet. Please help us out with that.

author: pdenisowski
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2025, 12:50:55 am
content: Quote from: babbage96 on May 30, 2025, 12:11:24 amThe RTB2 is basically a refresh of the RTB2000 series, and there have been lots and lots of posts over the years and more recently about itBut point taken - I'll talk to the product line and see if we can do something for DaveThanks!

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2025, 12:52:02 am
content: Quote from: babbage96 on May 29, 2025, 10:04:58 pmAll the different brands have different interfaces so picking any one other will still not transfer again onwards (even within some brands there are quite different user interfaces). That specific rigol has more than enough overlap that you'll like see little to no extra "intuitive" or usability benefit from another brand, just a lot more money spent.

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2025, 12:55:51 am
content: Quote from: Someone on May 30, 2025, 12:52:02 amyep and for speed of use (when you learned it a bit) still some old HP models with lots of buttons seem to be hard to beatthat is why I recommend to try each of em to find which one is best for you

author: pdenisowski
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2025, 12:58:11 am
content: Quote from: Someone on May 30, 2025, 12:52:02 amOh, I would beg to differ on both pointsA lot of what you learn on one scope translates to other scopes, even if the "button-ology" is different.And people absolutely buy scopes based on the user interface / usability. You're right that this is a matter of taste, but I think all "A-tier" scope manufacturers spend significant resources trying to make interfaces that (most / many) users like or find intuitive.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 30, 2025, 01:05:56 am
content: Quote from: pdenisowski on May 30, 2025, 12:50:55 amI was about to post that, it's basically the same RTB2000 hardware with a new badge to match the single digit numbering scheme. Some new firmware tweaks that are backward compatible with the RTB2000 as I show here:Very popular scope and much discussed on the forum.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 30, 2025, 01:09:52 am
content: Quote from: pdenisowski on May 30, 2025, 12:58:11 amSpeaking of which:

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 30, 2025, 01:13:40 am
content: Tek 2 update rate vs others:

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2025, 01:23:00 am
content: Quote from: pdenisowski on May 30, 2025, 12:58:11 amI think we say exactly the same thing and put a different spin on it. Current scopes in this segment (and the ones compared by the OP) have significant overlap in their function/operation/capabilities unlike in the past when different brands had their own "specialties" or substantial unique capabilities. Which we probably agree means: once someone understands what a scope does they can transfer similar/identical uses between different brands relatively smoothly most of the time.Example, all these scopes have mask testing/trigger, serial decode, etc that will be transferrable skills/techniquesall pretty similar other than the Tek 2 has no segmented capture.The matter of taste is great when you are buying for a lab and people share a preference. But the OP is thinking about buying for personal use so they can get practice/experience to transfer later to workplace (from my reading). With brands and models being different (and changing over time) I think there would be little chance of swapping to a XXX brand over YYY brand right now being a benefit for using ZZZ brand in the future. Even getting lucky and having experience of a specific brand doesn't always translate well some years later on a different model/class.OP had no scope and wants to consider those as their first scope? not bad choices. But they already have a capable and modern scope that is feature comparable so any upgrade would be relatively minor.Unpopular opinion... get used to working with equipment you don't prefer as it's unlikely your employer will let the budget run out to have everything.

author: egonotto
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2025, 05:13:34 am
content: Hello,Rohde & Schwarz RTB2 and Tektronix MSO2 are not high-end oscilloscopes, but rather low-end ones. Neither of them even has 50-ohm inputs. In terms of noise, your Rigol DHO924S should be better than both of them.I don't see the big advantage over your Rigol DHO924S compared to the price.An additional Analog Discovery 3 would be much more useful for learning. Then you'll have a lot of money left over that you can use later.Or take a look at the Siglent SDS2000X HD or Siglent SDS3000X HD.Best regardsegonotto

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2025, 10:09:21 am
content: Quote from: egonotto on May 30, 2025, 05:13:34 amOTOH, decoding and digital channel integration is excellent on the R&S scopes. Not to mention bode plotting is pretty quick and the R&S scope has on-screen annotations which can be handy. Not everything that makes a oscilloscope good can be found in the datasheet!

author: pdenisowski
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2025, 03:25:26 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on May 30, 2025, 10:09:21 amAs someone who has spent the last 25+ years working directly with customers for two of the largest T&M instrument manufacturers: this is very, very true.Sometimes you win on specs alone, but in most cases the "non-spec" considerations are equally (and sometimes more) important. I've personally seen this literally hundreds of times

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 12:06:01 am
content: As someone who has both of these scopes, if I had to keep only one I'd keep the R&S, no contest.The Tek is cool if you want the VESA mount, form factor, (expensive) battery swap solution, or compatibility with other higher end Tek UI's, but otherwise the R&S is a better scope.As some others have said, if you compare the whole market though for the given price point, there are many other better bang-per-buck options.But "I just like it" can also trump bang-per-buck.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 12:11:29 am
content: Quote from: egonotto on May 30, 2025, 05:13:34 amI missed that the OP already owns the Rigol 924S.In that case, I don't see the value in getting the Tek. And I'd even question the base model R&S.In both cases you are taking a step backward in resolution for starters.Sure both scopes are a bit more versatile in some regards of course, but you aren't even getting active probe or x10 detection support with these base level models.

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 12:28:48 am
content: Since you are buying this for personal use, Rohde & Schwarz won't support you. You won't be able to download firmware updates or even manuals.

author: EEgang
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 02:56:31 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on May 30, 2025, 01:13:40 am2 Series added Fast Acq in December:"New features2 Series MSO FastAcq™To debug a design problem, first you must know it exists. Digital phosphor technology with FastAcq provides you with fast insight into thereal operation of your device. Its fast waveform capture rate, greater that 4M waveforms per second typically, gives you a high probabilityof seeing the infrequent problems common in digital systems (runt pulses, glitches, timing issues, and more). To further enhance thevisibility of infrequently occurring events, intensity grading indicates how often rare transients are occurring relative to normal signalcharacteristics. Simply put, the high waveform capture rate of FastAcq enables you to discover infrequent problems common in digitaldesign.• Enable FastAcq under the Horizontal context menu• All palette types are available as on the 4/5/6 Series MSO: Temperature, Spectral, Normal, and Inverted• Added support for programmatic interface commands ACQuire:FASTAcq:STATE and ACQuire:FASTAcq:PALEtte to enable automation"

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 03:18:26 am
content: Quote from: EEgang on June 02, 2025, 02:56:31 amIt also reduces the memory to several KB.

author: electr_peter
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 04:57:59 pm
content: Can new Tek's do measurements inFast Acqmode? Previous Tek generations could not do anything extra besides viewing.

author: babbage96
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 08:52:24 pm
content: Thanks a lot for the feedback. I so greatly appreciate the interface. Is it true what @edavid is saying down below? Even if I make a purchase with a .edu or .org account? I thought R&S wanted to push the RTB2 as a hobbyist's unit.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 09:00:57 pm
content: Quote from: babbage96 on June 02, 2025, 08:52:24 pmJust like with a car, you are supposed to go to a car dealer for support instead of the manufacturer. If you buy equipment from a reputable dealer, you should have excellent support. The state the world is in today, requires some information to be distributed with care.

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 09:11:01 pm
content: Quote from: babbage96 on June 02, 2025, 08:52:24 pmwell R&S has made some changes in their website for example when you log to download firmware they usually want an email from company domain not some free email services but I suppose you can call em to add you or your reseller will share you a direct link or register you in their system or they perhaps will correct this.This is a bit of problem with some companies and similar situation is with Keysight that states only for commercial usage for anything non EDU branded (or they changed it recently) thou from Keysight there was a problem with purchasing not with downloads.

author: babbage96
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 09:20:27 pm
content: I was aware of the overlap; it was primarily about getting acquainted with the brand I most frequently see in the industry. I even considered waiting for an RTB3000 or maybe an MXO someday, but that exceeds my budget. I've observed experienced technicians and engineers who cannot fully utilize their R&S equipment, often because 1) they no longer interact with oscilloscopes daily or 2) they have become too accustomed to the older Tektronix or Siglent units. The side projects and experiments I can conduct at home can easily be accomplished with my Rigol. However, any time spent dealing with bugs or quirks specific to Rigol is not applicable to my job. I've noticed that the most successful engineers and technicians at my workplace are those who know how to use their measurement instruments correctly.

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 09:28:27 pm
content: R&S given usual price point is the brand for industryThey nowadays are trying to go a bit towards smaller companies or single persons but have some things to adjust in their approach on that way.I would not see it as any big obstacle and if you really wanna you can ask their representative in your area to confirm warranty conditions, etc.It would be absurd to put you in such situation after releasing equipment with price point that you can afford - you pay you are the customer - if they would not want you then next question would be why promote it as so?

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 09:44:32 pm
content: Quote from: babbage96 on June 02, 2025, 09:20:27 pmTimes are a changing, now even the entry level DSO’s provide a time domain feature set that amaze greybeards.Brand allegiance is becoming diluted as it should because we spend our lives working with various devices and driven/guided by their datasheets yet some struggle to understand the feature set the modern DSO offers.Sad as it is for some, the legacy brands have not kept up with investment to keep competition at bay and are now paying the price.When the current generation of greybeards are no longer there will be few left to support the brands of old.

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 09:46:02 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on June 02, 2025, 09:00:57 pmI don't understand your car analogy. I get support and downloads for my car from Subaru USA, not my local dealer.I bought my R&S scope from Tequipment, is that not a reputable dealer? They do not provide firmware downloads or any other support. Can you name any R&S distributor in the US who does?And why would a dealer distribute information with any more care (whatever that means) than R&S corporate?Quote from: kmoonwalker on June 02, 2025, 09:11:01 pmWhy would you suppose that? There is no way to call R&S and no reason to think it would do any good. I have not heard of any US distributor that has a way to provide R&S downloads.

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 10:06:54 pm
content: Quote from: edavid on June 02, 2025, 09:46:02 pmI never called their US office so I dunno how things are there but they have an office in almost every country including US and even if I spoken on behalf of some company they answered the phone during usual business hours (but it was few years back so not up to date how things are rn and it is midnight here so unable to verify)

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 10:10:25 pm
content: Quote from: kmoonwalker on June 02, 2025, 10:06:54 pmI left voicemail and they never called back. They also did not reply to email or a customer service ticket.

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 10:16:30 pm
content: simpliest thing would be to ask Paul - he wrote in this thread some time ago - perhaps he can arrange some changes for better and fix your problem same time?

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 10:26:56 pm
content: Quote from: kmoonwalker on June 02, 2025, 10:16:30 pmWhy didn't I think of thatPaul, would you please fix the problem so I can download firmware and manuals again? Thanks!

author: 2N3055
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2025, 01:27:08 pm
content: Quote from: kmoonwalker on June 02, 2025, 10:06:54 pmThis is exactly the point. In last year they drastically changed their support policy.There are numerous topics on EEVBLog of pissed off users that cannot even download FW update.They keep refusing access to people with companies because they don't like their mail domain.People are actually begging for FW updates downloads on forums for someone else that has access to download and put it somewhere public..But they still market and sell equipment to whoever will buy it.Dealers you bought it from should give you support. Which they cannot.

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2025, 02:40:08 pm
content: Quote from: 2N3055 on June 04, 2025, 01:27:08 pmThis is certainly not the Rohde picture I always hadI dunno how situation looks from legal point of view in case of non delivering software updates to eligible customerFor warranty situation is clear and there is estabilished legal situation even in US.I can not imagine that such renown company would risk such perception of their products.and this comes from person that called them first time while being a teenager about some military equipment my father's company got to check, that was showing some strange errors, and very nice older gentleman explained me step by step how to unlock it

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 05, 2025, 02:13:51 am
content: Quote from: kmoonwalker on June 04, 2025, 02:40:08 pmThere is no way R&S would win against the ACCC if an Australian customer took them to task over this.We have very strict consumer protection laws here.

author: Darkover
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2025, 04:27:18 am
content: Perhaps we have to made a demonstration at the next Embedded fair?Probably we need a few nice looking girls that can sing:R&S no no nooo!Rigol go go gooo!We can glue our hands on there equipment, made some cool videos and send them to Louis Rossman?And made a group on the modern twitter thing: #engineers_against_R&SWo sleeps/buys three times with R&S is part of the establishment.Olaf