Last updated on October 21st, 2020 at 04:30 am
Rigol oscilloscope or Siglent? Is this your question? Here we compared both brands’ oscilloscopes to understad which one will be best for you. Before that, let’s see what is an oscilloscope. An oscilloscope is also known as scope, o-scope, oscillograph or DSO and is a laboratory device that is used for displaying and analyzing waveforms of electrical signals.
The waveform is displayed on the screen made up of cathode ray tube. It is an electronic testing instrument that is helpful for analyzing different signal voltages as a function of time. Vibration and sound signals can also be converted to voltages and it can be displayed on it.
Various properties of a waveform like its frequency, time interval, amplitude, distortion, etc. can be analyzed from it. Repetitive signals can be seen as a continuous shape on its screen.
Alternately, best Siglent oscilloscopes can also be used for different purposes and we shall take a look at some of the various models of the two variants that are available.
Rigol or Siglent comparison
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Rigol vs Siglent oscilloscope reviews
In this section, we take a look at the four best oscilloscopes that are available from Rigol and Siglent so that we are aware of all the features that may be available in them. This can help in making an informed decision before a purchase.
Rigol DS1054Z Digital Oscilloscope
Rigol DS1054Z is one of the best Rigol oscilloscopes for the last four years.
For the specifications that it has and with a cheap price tag, this equipment can certainly fit into any laboratory. No doubt, it is one of the best oscilloscopes in its class. Also, this is one the best oscilloscope for audio.
It provides ultra vision and full visibility making it the best choice for many types of jobs. With a resolution of 800X480 pixels, the oscilloscope makes it very easy to focus on all channels on a single screen. There can be an efficient analysis and better usability using this product.
Highlighted Features
- The DS1054Z can quickly focus on certain parts of a recorded waveform with enough ease.
- The scope includes 4 RP2200 150 MHz passive low noise floor HighZ probes and a USB host for the thumb drive.
- The device has 12 Megs of Memory standard.
- The available memory can be further upgraded to 24 Mpts with a software key for an ultravision.
- It also offers a waveform capture rate of 30,000 wfms/sec.
- It is available in 50 Mhz analog bandwidth and four analog channels with 12 Mpt memory and offers 1 GSa/sec sampling.
Why buy this?
- The oscilloscope is small and has a dimension of 13 x 7 x 5 inches so that it can be placed anywhere easily.
- The weight of the unit is a mere 6.6 pounds and that means it is not very heavy to be carried around.
- Moreover, Rigol provides a factory warranty and an authentic calibration certificate so that users may not have to worry about calibration related issues.
- The support provided by the company is fantastic.
Rigol DS1102E Digital Oscilloscope
The unit can be run just like a laptop even on an alternate power source like the UPS. It is a high-performance DSO yet an economical option that has been designed with 1 external trigger channel.
Many Rigol oscilloscope reviews have given it a thumbs up for all the specifications and features offered by it.
Highlighted Features
- This oscilloscope from Rigol offers 2 channels and a bandwidth of 100 MHz.
- The device has a maximum real-time sample rate of 1 GSa/s and offers a memory depth of 1 Mpts.
- It is one of the most popular 100 MHz o-scopes in the US.
- The scope does not have an X-Y source but has an AC line in it.
- The triggering modes of the unit are the edge, slope, alternate, pulse, and video.
- The real-time sampling rate for each channel is 1GSa/s and for dual channels, it is 500 GSa/s.
- There are 3 types of cursor measurements that are fully optional in nature – manual, auto and track.
- There is a superb PC application software, UltraScope, that is provided by this scope.
Why buy this?
- It is a benchtop type of device and the dimensions of the product are 12 x 6 x 12 inches.
- It weighs only 0.353 ounces and therefore, it can easily be moved around.
- For automatically taking measurements, this oscilloscope offers 20 types of wave parameters that consist of 10 time and 10 voltage parameters.
- Its cursor mode can be easily activated for taking a measurement by a user.
- UltraScope can help in completing a remote or local operation, save files as .xls or .txt format, measure or capture waves, save a wave in .bmp format or in printing a waveform.
Siglent Technologies SDS1202X-E Digital Oscilloscope
Due to its improved capture rate, it has gained much prominence in many Siglent oscilloscope reviews. Overall, Siglent SDS1202X-E is very efficient, reliant and delivers a high performance in its class. That is the reason why it cannot be matched by any other scope in its price band.
It is helpful for zooming the focus on a specific area of interest. Simultaneously, the math co-processor improves the ease-of-use and reduces the measurement time considerably. With all these tremendous features, it is no doubt the top Siglent oscilloscope around.
Highlighted Features
- It is a 200 MHz bandwidth scope with a real-time sampling rate till 1 GSA/sec.
- The oscilloscope has a 1M points fft and the noise emitted by the unit is very low.
- It offers an IRecord length of up to 14 Mpts and has a standard serial bus triggering and decode that supports SPI, RS232, LIN, IIC, UART, and CAN.
- Due to a higher record length, it can measure all 14M sample points with much ease.
- It also has a brilliant digital trigger system that offers low jitters and a very high sensitivity along with a minimum vertical input range of 500 UV/Div.
- Triggered waveforms are stored in each segment and each of the frames gets timestamped accordingly.
- The device also offers a standard serial bus decoding function using which it displays decoding using the events list.
- The scope offers 256-intensity grading display function and color temperature display that resembles the intensity graded trace function.
- The trace function is highlighted by different colors instead of changes in intensity for any one color.
- In the trace function, red denotes more frequent events while blue signifies those points that take place less frequently.
Why buy this?
- While comparing Rigol vs Siglent products in terms of their weight, it is comparatively a bulky oscilloscope because it weighs 16.53 pounds.
- It has a product dimension of 12.3 x 5.3 x 5.9 inches.
- A higher record length of 14 Mpts is achieved due to hardware-based Zoom technology that help in capturing more signals using a higher sampling rate.
- The segmented memory collection can store waveforms into multiple memory parts which can be as high as 80,000!
- Bus protocol information can be displayed using the decoding function in a convenient table form.
- The scope has a waveform capture rate of up to 400,000 wfm/sec in the sequence mode so that it can easily capture low-probability or unusual events with much clarity.
- It also offers multiple interface types that include Pass/Fail, Trigger Out, LAN(VXI-11), USB Host and USB Device(USB-TMC).
Siglent Technologies SDS1102CML+ Digital Oscilloscope
The scope comes with 2 nos. 100 MHz probes. This DSO offers a frequency counter and using it, the frequency can be determined easily.
Due to all these reasons and many others, it is undoubtedly one of the good oscilloscopes that can be availed at its price. The scope comes with 2 nos. 100 MHz probes. This DSO offers a frequency counter and using it, the frequency can be determined easily.
Highlighted Features
- The scope offers a single channel record length of 1 Mpts and a maximum real-time sample rate of 1GS/sec.
- The device comes with an easy scope software and there are helpful LAN and USB interfaces in it.
- The screen of the display is 7 inches in size and offers a crystal clear 800 x 480 pixel resolution.
- One of the excellent features of this Siglent oscilloscope is that it can be connected to a computer by installing the EasyScopeX software that is provided with the equipment.
- A user has to install two other programs for EasyScopeX to work properly – these are Net Frame and the software driver that is a part of NI-VISA program.
- Some effective features in the DSO like the 5 Parameters Display, Math Function, Pass/Fail Function, Zoom Function and 32 Types of Auto Measurements can help in many types of applications.
Why buy this?
- In addition to the USB, it has an added LAN interface and a higher resolution LCD display that makes working on it very easy.
- There is no need for a separate frequency counter with this device.
- Both confirmed number and waveform can be realized using the same device.
- Everything is self-explanatory in EasyScopeX and all its details are mentioned in the installation guide.
- As far as its application is concerned, the device can be best suited for electronic circuit design and debugging, analyze the instantaneous signal, help in quality control, electrical circuit function test, industrial control and measuring and for educational and training purposes.
Comparison of Rigol and Siglent oscilloscope
Earlier, we have seen some of the best Siglent and Rigol oscilloscopes that are available. In this section, we take a look between Rigol and Siglent oscilloscopes and try to understand the major differences between them. It can help us in analyzing both the options and help users in making an informed selection.
Actually, Rigol is into the business from a far longer period and hence some of its models do not have a plethora of features that are displayed by the scopes of Siglent. However, there are many more parameters for comparison and we shall see them one by one.
Siglent launched its 1202X model in 2016 whereas 1102 CML was launched in 2012. This is exactly the reason why there are more features in Siglent scopes compared to Rigol and people try to find the best for a purpose.
Display: Rigol oscilloscopes hardly offer a TFT display size of more than 7 inches. Either of the scopes mentioned above has a screen size of or below 7 inches whereas Siglent offers a screen size of more than 7 inches in some of its models. For example, the 1202X comes with a screen size of 8 inches that can make it easy for viewing the waveforms.
Channels: In terms of signal, the Siglent make DSOs offer 2 analogs + ext whereas, in the case of Rigol, the 1054Z offers 4 analog channels.
Maximum Input Voltage: The Rigol oscilloscopes usually work on an input voltage of 300 Vrms whereas, Siglent scopes have an input voltage of 400 Vrms.
Bandwidth: Siglent offers a bandwidth of 100 MHz whereas, in the case of Rigol 1054Z it offers only 50 MHz. however, the other model of Rigol does offer 100 MHz bandwidth.
Time Base: In this section too, Siglent does much better as compared to Rigol. While Rigol provides a time base of 5 ns/div to 50 s/div, Siglent offers a time base of 2ns/div to 50 ns/div.
Capture Rate: It is one parameter that seems to be developing with time. While Rigol 1102E offers a rate of 1000 wfms/sec, the DS1054Z from the same brand offers a rate of 30,000 wfms/sec. Comparatively, Siglent 1202X that has been developed pretty recently, can provide a capture rate of 60,000 wfms/sec.
Memory Depth: In the Rigol or Siglent comparison, this parameter also seems to be getting better with the passing time. One can simply understand this from the fact that Rigol 1102E offers a minimum of 16 Kpts memory depth whereas the maximum memory depth offered by its DS1054Z model is 24 Mpts. The memory depth offered by the Siglent models is in between these two extremes.
Vertical Scale: In this parameter, again Siglent seems to be better placed than Rigol. The Siglent SDS1202X provides 500 μvolts/div to 10 volts/div whereas the best vertical scale from Rigol come from the DS1054Z model at 1 millivolt/div. Rise Time – This is one parameter in which the Siglent oscilloscope establishes its supremacy over Rigol. While the rise time from Siglent is 3.5 ns, the Rigol DS1054Z has a rise time of 7 ns.
Trigger: This parameter is better in Rigol as compared to Siglent. Siglent offers Ch1, Ch2 and the ext. whereas Rigol DS1054Z comes with Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, Ch4, and AC. LAN Connectivity – In terms of connectivity, both the brands have been emerging with time and the recent models in both of them provide suitable LAN connectivity.
RS232 Connectivity: RS232 connectivity seems to be getting out of favor as in both the brands, the recent models do not support this feature. The older models have this feature whereas the newer ones are devoid of it.
For measuring in the 500 microvolts range or lower, Siglent is capable of providing a higher bandwidth and make accurate measurements. The noise can be particularly lower than any Rigol make scope. By analyzing all major parameters in the comparison between Rigol vs Siglent, we can get a fair idea of both the brands and their main functions also.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
We look here to some frequently asked questions in relation to both these oscilloscopes.
The waveform is displayed, but it is not stable. What can we do?
Answer: First, check that when the waveform is being viewed, the trigger source channel is consistent or not. Secondly, try to manually adjust the LEVEL trigger knob so that the waveform may become stable. A user can also press AUTO to adjust a waveform automatically so that it can reach a stable state. Finally, try to get rid of false-wave interference like alias displayed waveforms by adjusting the time base. Some of the Rigol oscilloscopes may need this exercise.
What to do if while trying to measure a high-frequency signal, the observed distortion is higher?
Answer: When we measure a signal that is at the highest limit of an oscilloscope bandwidth, the distortion may be perceptible. Therefore, while selecting, it should always be kept in mind that the bandwidth must be equal to or greater than five times the bandwidth of the measuring signal. Distortion can be kept to a minimum if users can apply this rule while selection.
A distorted waveform may also happen due to the usage of a wrong probe. Even in some of the best Siglent oscilloscopes, this may happen sometimes. In an ideal situation, the bandwidth of the probe should be equal to or greater than five times the bandwidth of the signal. It should be ensured that at least the probe bandwidth is equal to the signal bandwidth. If it is a switchable probe type, the 1X position corresponds to 6 MHz-10 Mhz while on the other hand, the 10X positions correspond to the maximum probe bandwidth.
How can we eliminate interference while measuring a small signal?
Answer: Many Siglent oscilloscope reviews have mentioned this problem, and so, it must be understood to have a clear idea. At times, even the best Rigol oscilloscopes may suffer from this problem. Most of the oscilloscopes mentioned here are capable of measuring or displaying voltages that are in substantially lower levels like millivolts or even below than that. A user can use the Bandwidth Limit function to eliminate noise if the test signal is below 20 MHz.
There are other ways also to get rid of such interference. The scope ground clip can be easily connected to the reference earth of signal. Using this connection, the distortion can be reduced due to an electric potential difference between the measuring signal and the oscilloscope.
Conclusion
We have seen here some of the most prominent brands and models of oscilloscopes that are available in the market today. Looking at their features and after sufficiently comparing them on different aspects, it definitely looks as if Siglent offers a better option for buyers. However, it is also important that a buyer goes through many siglent oscilloscope reviews that are widely available online.
However, an oscilloscope will also depend upon the type of application that it may be used for. After taking into account the application type, budget, and the different utilities that it may perform, a final call of purchase can be taken accordingly.
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