Yet another post about this but I simply can't decide what to get so I am hoping to get some insight.
I am looking to buy an oscilloscope and the cost is the primary limiting factor. Ideally, I would be looking for something in the 500€ range but I am willing to go more if price/performance makes sense.
I certainly need 4 channels and I don't really require LA or waveform output but I know many options include them by default or can be unlocked.
I was first looking at the Rigol MSO5000 range as I like that it has 8 GSa/s and physical buttons for each channel. However, I realize that newer models are now available which may be better suitable. Specifically the DHO800/900 with their 12-bit ADC.
Then I also started looking at Sigilent which is similarly priced and now there are simply too many options.
Regardless of what I would get, I would get the base model and upgrade it. While you do get better probes depending on the model I can buy a better probe if/when required.
As I do all kinds of designs I need to look at all parameters. Let's say for digital I would like to measure signals with 2ns rise time and for analog, I would like to see 1mV changes with confidence. Although my analog designs are all quite slow, below 10 MHz. I also do power supplies on occasion.
What would someone with experience recommend?
I was looking at MSO5074 which is on sale but significantly more expensive. So I think I really need to decide between DHO804 (hacked to DHO924) or SDS804X HD (hacked to SDS824X HD). Which of the two has a better analog performance? Rigol does come with better probes but I would need to buy better probes in any case.
Good to see someone specify risetimes rather than bandwidth
Ignore the samples/s specifications, which are no more than marketing penile extensions. The two scope specs that matter are risetime and ENOB (i.e. effective number of bits).
Your analogue
designs are for below 10MHz, and hope your
implementations are too
Be particularly aware of the way bog-standard scope probes interact with digital edges; damped 100MHz oscillations are normal, unless great care is taken with probing technique.
Standard warnings for beginners: never ever disconnect a scope's protective mains earth, and understand why HV differential probes exist and when they must be used.
Consider using a scope to ensure digital signal integrity (voltages, timing, monotonicity), then you can flip to looking at digital using digital domain tools (logic analyser, protocol analyser, printf() ).
If you want to look at the last 0.1% of an analogue signals risetime (e.g. an opamps settling behaviour), then you need to be very sure the scope's inputs aren't overloaded. Recovering from overload can take a
very long time.