I have a question. I need to replace my old trusty Rigol DS1000 and I've two choices:
A brand new DS4014 or a used Lecroy LC684.
Strange choice, but well, why not.
The lecroy is obviously much better specced but it's a 15 year old scope.
Make that 15+ years, as the LC684 was EOL'd in 2000 if I remember right (and most scopes are from the 98-99 time frame as in 2000 the successor WavePro 900 was introduced which offered several improvements).
It seems to be in good condition tough.
The LC Series had very few weak points, although it suffered from falling off knobs (typical LeCroy illness of those days), and after all these years might encounter failing encoders (easy to replace), but other than that is pretty solid. If it has the built-in thermo printer then there's a large capacitor which is prone to fail (and will short the PSU), either disconnect the printer or replace the capacitor (both easy to do).
After all these years the LCD backlight (CCFL tube) might be getting dim but this can be easily fixed (new CCFL or LED conversion, both cheap).
I saw bad things about the DS4000. Also, no Tek or Agilent in my country, actually Rigol is the best brand you can get here, apart from GW instek and siglent.
What would you think is the better choice? prices are similar.
Hard to say, and it depends on what you need.
The LC Series is quite old, and the waveform update rates are pretty low (somewhere in the <20k range). On the other side, its analysis functionality is world's apart from any Rigol, and you can get all the software option enabled by inserting a cheap GAL with the unlock codes (there's a guy on the Yahoo LeCroy group who sells them cheaply). A fully loaded LC contains many options that even these days can only be found in high end scopes. The UI of these scopes is pretty simple as well. Service manuals and schematics should be available through the Yahoo LeCroy user group.
The Rigol on the other hand is a typical modern low end scope: compact, low power consumption, lightweight, with only basic functionality, slow processing and pretty poor FFT. It has a large sample memory but is too slow to make much use of it (it's more a marketing figure). The DS4000 also suffered (and still suffers) from some issues which may or may not get fixed eventually, but considering that the DS4000 doesn't exactly sell in high numbers I wouldn't hold my breath. There also isn't much in the way of something that can be considered a true service manual available for it. However, it's small, uses less power and is less noisy, and since its a brand new scope it should come with warranty, which is some benefit.
In terms of price, $2500 (which is what a DS4014 currently costs) is way too much for a LC684, even though its a good scope. Even the successor (WavePro 950/960) can be found for less money pretty often, and this is a newer and faster scope than the old LC684.
However, if I had to choose between these two scopes only then I'd take the LeCroy over the Rigol any day, because it's a much more powerful scope. But if you need a portable/small scope, want warranty or care for high waveform rates then the DS4014 might be the better option for you.
In the end, only you can decide which is the better choice for you.