I have the same problem, because I want to upgrade my Rigol DS1054Z during the next weeks. I know the MSO5000 well, because I ordered it ca. 1.5 years for my bench in office (200 MHz, all Options + LA, ca. 3000 Euro). I have been working as a sofware developer (embedded) and use it mostly for digital measuring. Here my short list of pros and cons:
Rigol MSO5000:
+ price ca 1000 Euro for 4ch, 70MHz
+ 8 GS for one channel, 2GS, for all 4 channels,
+ 2x AWG integrated, each with 25MHz (Siglent: 1x AWG 50MHz, without modulation)
+ 350MHz probes are delivered for the 70MHz model
+ 4 bus decoder parallel
+ fully hackable, clone for LA available
- noisy frontend
- awfull user interface, touch screen is slow
- bad update politic, only two updates within 1.5 years, this is very annoying !!
Siglent SDS2104X:
+ Modern user interface
+ 10,1" LCD (Rigol MS5000 has a 9" LCD)
+ very good update support
+ 50 Ohm inputs, auto recognition
+ lower noise than MSO5000
+ 10bit Mode (upt to 100MHz)
+ fully hackable up to 500MHz
- only 200MHz probes
- LA very expensive (ca. 550 Euro), clone isn't available yet
- costs 350 Euro more than Rigol
The MSO5000 is in my opinion a powerful piece of hardware with a bad software. You can work
with ist, but the user interface is a copy the older models like DS1000Z and doesn't benefit from
the touch screen, big LCD and powerful CPU.
At the moment I tend to the Siglent 2104X-Plus, because I expect a modern user interface and
regularly updates with fixes and enhancements. This I can see at Siglent. On the other hand I
have to spend additional 350 Euro for the Siglent. I think everybody can understand my hesitation