Are OWON Oscilloscopes worth it?

[yash101]

Hi!
I'm a n00b in electronics so I have little experience in the brands.

I'm in high school so my budget is severely limited. I'm looking for an oscilloscope which will meet the folowing:

• Last Long. Again, I'm in high school. It'll be on my shelve most of my time
• N00b Proof (anti N00b poof): How n00b proof are they?
• How accurate are they? I'm looking at the SDS 7102 oscilloscopes, which are 8-bit, but I'm sure poor design will influence tons of noise and crap.
• Price for performance: If OWON really ships what they say, then this is a no-brainer. 100 MHz, 1Gsps for $399 is impressive!
• Portability: How portable is it? I am hooked on the SDS7102 because it has a battery which runs up to 4 hours? (undefined source)

I've also been comparing to RIGOL scopes, but I don't think I'm ready for anything that expensive.

This topic has been discussed quite a bit (including on this forum). However, companies change over time, so I'm looking for more recent information.

Thanks!

[KL27x]

Yes, no, maybe. Depends what you want.

I think Owon gives you VGA out. Large display. 12bit ACD, apparently. Battery option.

Main gripes with Owon seems to be the control layout and the refresh rate.

[c4757p]

• Price for performance: If OWON really ships what they say, then this is a no-brainer. 100 MHz, 1Gsps for $399 is impressive!

I've also been comparing to RIGOL scopes, but I don't think I'm ready for anything that expensive.

Rigol DS1054Z costs the same, does 1 Gsps (total across four channels, depends how many are active) and can be easily 'hacked' to 100 MHz. It's also way better than I've ever heard anyone accuse an Owon of being.

[Hydrawerk]

Owon is worse than Rigol or Siglent.

[coppice]

Some of the really cheap Owons - the <$200 ones - are pretty reasonable for entry level work. I know people who cart piles of them around the world running training courses, and they stand up to the abuse they get very well. The SDS7xxx series scopes are far more annoying. Their super slim designs mean they keep falling over when you push the buttons. $399 isn't really cheap for a basic scope these days. There are nicer Rigols at that price.

[Radio Tech]

I would go with the Rigol.
Nothing wrong with the OWON. I own one.
OWON seems to never come out with updates for their products.

[yash101]

Thanks guys! You are awesome!

It's funny how as soon as I started looking through this forum a bit more, I came across the Rigol 1054z. Except for VGA out and large screens, I really can't seem to find anywhere where it isn't as an OWON.

Plus, it's RIGOL and what I've heard about them so far is that they have exceptional quality.

The only downside is that I don't think the RIGOLs support batteries. It would have been really nice especially for whenever I take the scope to school.

OWON 7102 and RIGOL 1054z are the exact same price, but the RIGOL has 4 channels.
That's really nice, especially for debugging 4-wire SPI connections.

VGA would have been really nice in the RIGOL. I'm a coder so my desk is filled with a a giant monitor with DVI and VGA. It would be really nice to show an entire waveform on a 19 inch screen 2 feet away from my chair.

[rf-loop]

.
OWON seems to never come out with updates for their products.

Example with 5 years old SDS series I remember perhaps over 10 updates. If look oldiest SDS serie FW version it was really buggy. Some functions lack and then several severe class bugs and then couple of less severe...   today SDS series FW is really different if look bugs. Also they have improved waveform update rate from original. to over double. It is not fast because it is not DPO. It is still "old school" series processing - displaying DSO. But when we go to higher memory than 1k or 10k... take 1M and try example same with Rigol DS1000E sereies or as old as owon age  Hantek 5000 they drop like uncle from boat.  Owon SDS serie is still in live but it is technically old.  When it arrive 5 years ago (SDS7102) it was clearly over copmpetitors with full speed 10+10M memory (and very deeply investigated in Rigol dev lab), with single chip ADC construction and very advanced higher class front end (after first launch version redesigned mechanically) Also this kind of front was later found in Rigol DS2000 with minimal "adjustments".

Every equipment have advantages and disadvantages. Owon still have very extremely good display, Internal over 4h battery(option),  good front end and ADC system. (0ne of best in this price class if look BW shape and front end noise figure) 

But SDS is 5 years OLD... still alive and still under active manufacturing. If I need signal acquisition quality and good display and not need hunreds of dingle dongles and features in Rigol DS1000Z and my need also is 2 channel..  and do not need higher small saampling buffer memory wfm/s update rates I really use SDS7102 without even think DS1000z.  Why. I want earn my salary and time is money. With tiny simplemachine Owon my work is ready but with Rigol  I'm still adjusting my scope...... (btw: this is reason why I still use Metrix B202 analog meter and some times Tek 2246 or 2465BDM. I'm ready when digifan still looking where in menu's  are this and that and oops it was ... power on..hands on knobs...turn's and there it is... work is ready... thank's. (of course digital ones have lot of advantages, so in right place they are just... can not without...  also I use less and less analogs... )

Today there is new XDS3000 serie.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-owon-xds-oscilloscopes/msg750820/#msg750820

(I have XDS3102-A Options: VGA, TOU, WIF) (real 12bit Hardware  model (not average method extremely slow  "High-Res" but real 12bit full speed ADC ), ext VGA out, Touch panel what really works, Wi-Fi )

It include 8 bit and 12 bit models.  Up to well over 60kwfm/s max 1Ch 40M / 2Ch 20M+20M sampling buffer. Also it is available with battery (optional) and display.... 8" 800x600 really good quality TFT. Look once this TFT you never want look Rigol 1000Z display. (I have experience about it with my old eyes)


But it do not have (least in this first version FW) intensity grading. It have fast wfm/s update rate, up to (owon claimed) 75000 wfm/s. I have measured over 65000 wfm/s average 1) speeds with my conservative (and perhaps more true) methods.

1) average over least few TFT image update periods

(all my tests are suspended until end of December.)

[Zero999]

I own both the Owon SDS7102 and the Rigol 1054z, hacked to 100MHz.

The Rigol is built to a higher standard, has a faster refresh rate and better firmware with more software features, than the OWON.

The OWON is not built to such a high standard, is slower but it has a higher resolution display, a battery and is lighter and more compact than the Rigol.

I believe the Rigol display has a higher colour depth than the OWON (18-bit, rather than 16-bit) which may not seem important for digital oscilloscopes but the Rigol needs it for its intensity graded display, which is useful for catching glitches.

I use the OWON more often than the Rigol, simply because it's more portable. By the way, in my experience the battery lasts much longer than 4 hours.