Horses for courses.
I have an RTB2k myself and I:
- am not bothered at all by the glossy screen. There's no bright objects behind me when I work on the scope, so no reflections I notice. On the contrary, since the glossy screen doesn't scatter diffuse light my way, contrast is higher and it's easier to read. YMMV.
- find the 10bit ADC surprisingly useful. The front-end is quite low-noise, and would be wasted on a lower bit ADC. The Siglent eg is limited by quantisation, unless you go in hires mode, which limits BW and anyway can also be done with the RTB
- have not really been limited by it's memory in my applications. IMHO it's a huge memory, even if the Siglent has an even huger memory.. This might be more of a problem if I needed veeeery deep FFTs, or exceedingly long protocol decoding records. I was happy with the >100 packets I capture in my applications. More does not make sense on the scope for me, I'd use a PC based decoder for that.
- find the history function and zoom features super useful and very natural. I never had to think about it, for me it just worked. Having the history available post facto by default is super useful, but I retain control. Not to pour oil on a dumpster fire, but personally I'm not a fan of the Siglent/LeCroy implementation. YMMV.
- am quite impressed with the many little well thought out UI touches of the RTB. It doesn't get in my way, but I feel it actively helps me do what I need. It's the first touchscreen scope I don't hate! Little things like the "bits" display and dynamical scaling in the protocol decoder are brilliant, and I did not find this anywhere else. This kind of thing doesn't turn up on datasheets though, so some manufacturers focus less on this and rather include more headline features. This was the deciding factor for me in the end, and I'm still happy with my decision: My free time is too valuable for me to be frustrated with my tools, but again: YMMV
My recommendation:
- If you can't or don't want to afford the RTB, it's a no-brainer: Siglent SDS2k+! Don't even compare too much, just hope you love it, and learn to love it if you don't. It probably really is the best by far currently in that price bracket - for many it's even the best one price class above.
- Seems you get a sweet edu deal for the RTB so price may be less of a differentiator? The RTB has no option hack (yet?), but there's some good package deals. When comparing prices don't blindly go for maximum hacked-BW for comparison purposes, but spec what you actually need. Don't skimp on decoders and memory management options though! IMHO those are much more critical in most applications than maximum BW - if BW is critical you'll need >1GHz anyway, these days.
- Do try to hands-on test-drive all options! It's difficult to get access though as private buyer (unless you're fine screwing a shop over by just buying two, sending one back). A good distributor will help. Speaking of good distributors, ask for a discount, even as private buyer. They often can do something.
- Failing comparative test-drive access, at the very least get significant scope time on very different models so you get a feel for how different scopes can feel, and how your mate's super-great expensive all time favourite scope can drive you up the wall and make simple things a chore _for you_. Work, uni, friends, makerspaces etc.
- After that, watch as many videos of all options as possible. Ignore the reviewers' rants, teardowns and other antics, just watch how the scope behaves in as many real world scenarios as possible, and imagine yourself driving the scope. Watching so many scope videos of widely varying quality may make you angry - but are you angry at the scope or the reviewer? That will tell you a lot!
- Ignore eevblog forum users peddling their favourite scopes. Including me
![Wink ;)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
/2¢