What is it about oscilloscopes that gets people so riled up, defensive, judgmental, and uppity?
It's as bad as politics and religion on this forum. I don't see that kind of fervor in discussions about power supplies or even DMMs.
mtdoc, there's a lot more functionality to get right/wrong on a scope, thus it fuels very long discussions with repetitive arguments around here. That and the fact there's now a lot more choice at a lower cost, which will increase the number of different opinions and the natural desire to share individual experiences. I have seen previous incensed discussions about DMMs, especially when discussing safety, but they tend to vanish due to the simpler nature of the issues discussed - mostly hinged on opinion (DMM ergonomics, etc.) or simple lack of irrefutable evidence (when dealing with safety).
Yes, good points and I agree. But you've been here long enough to see that it's more than that for some people who seem to need to not only discuss the pros and cons of various scopes but who show up on every scope thread pushing their particular choice and criticizing all others. It seems to be tribal in a way that is not true of other electronics topics on this forum.
Do you have an RTB2K?
No. He recently purchased a GW Instek but for some reason seems to be on every scope thread criticizing any non-GW Instek scopes. There's the naked emperor.
Yes, it's human nature to embrace, defend and overlook the faults of whatever one has invested in, whether its a spouse, a sports team or I guess, an oscilloscope. But it's been my observation on this forum for the past few years is that certain members feel the need not only to defend their purchase decisions but to criticize others purchase decisions - especially when it comes to scopes. And I don't mean just discussing the pros and cons - I mean repeatedly and exclusively pointing out the flaws.
Defending ones spouse (or scope) is expected and proper IMO, repeatedly pointing out someone else's flaws is something else.
The truth is that EVERY scope has it's pros and cons and users make their choices based on which features and what trade offs make sense for them.
This R&S scope has many pros: large touch screen, 10 bit ADC, deep memory, web interface and a generally very good and responsive user interface (even if not as responsive as the Keysight scopes). Mike did a very thorough review that was generally very positive for these reasons. It has some obvious flaws - lack of math functions, some software bugs (some have been addressed in FW updates, others not yet), etc.
It's main competitor - the Keysight 2000x series scopes also have pros and cons. For example, they have the advantage of a snapier user interface with more mature, bug free firmware. But its smaller, lower resolution, non-touch screen and shallow memory depth are notable shortcomings. Both are excellent scopes as are the comparable LeCroy scopes. Viva la difference.
The scopes from the Chinese makers Rigol, Siglent, and GW Instek, each have their pros and cons as well. Ultimately their shortcomings relative to the "A" brands are compensated for by lower price. That trade off is a good one for most people - hence their popularity.