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While it may be true for most, it is not for me. As a professional designer and manufacturer it will take a multiple lifetimes for me to get past the industry crushing copycat methods that China pioneered - I have been copied multiple times with no practical recourse. The quality and cost of nearly everything in the world has plummeted to the point where quality is more and more scarce as time goes on. They are literally willing to sacrifice people in order to move up the economic food chain. The consumers around the world don't look down the road far enough to see the result of a zero sum game. Companies with a historical focus on innovation and quality are pushed out of existence either by economic force or by the mental exhaustion from having your $billion research copied in 10 minutes and sold for a fraction of your costs.
Now that we see original designs coming from Chinese companies, they are focused on being as cheap as absolutely possible. Its a 'good enough' attitude that perpetuates in an environment (electrical engineering) that was founded on precision and perfection. My attraction to engineering is the pursuit of innovation, efficiency, cleverness, usefulness, and reliability among other things. I want my instruments to be designed and manufactured by like minded individuals. I thought I was shedding this negative outlook on Chinese companies when I started seeing original designs from Rigol and Siglent but every time I take a close look, its crappy shit that is so focused on the low cost that it actually becomes cheap.
When I started transitioning my business from primarily mechanical to primarily electronics, I thought the low-cost gear was a great way to start. It wasn't. Fiddly, buggy, unreliable brand new stuff. It was a terrible way to save money since it wasted so much time. I fairly quickly started looking at and buying A brand used gear that was 10-15 years old and life has been great - that is a great way to save money and get the bench utility I was after. Agilent, Tek, Keithley and others that are old eBay finds have been WAY better at facilitating my engineering efforts than the Rigol and other Chinese brands I have tried (no, I have not bothered with Siglent). I don't want to 'hack' or modify my gear. I don't want to have to fiddle with it and search the internet for workarounds. I don't want surprise limitations. If I can't afford the latest Agilent whiz-bang toy - I buy the best used option I can find. I have moved up far faster and saved more money after getting a bench full of old great stuff to replace the new crap stuff. It's bigger and heavier and I like it more.
I have only recently gone PRO, I have been an enthusiast and hobbyist since I was a very young boy. Marginal tools waste time and create frustration that take away the from the desired achievement.
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I agree with you on some points and then I don't on others.
I started off when we had pretty much very little options. As you pretty much only had a select few companies around and didn't have companies like Rigol, or Siglent. So only option was to stay at the lab a few extra hours, if available, or rent the equipment, or buy it used, if you wanted to complete a project, when you were just starting off. When Rigol and Siglent came to the picture they change the market for the good, so hobbyists and smaller entities can get a affordable scope and other test equipment that will suit most needs without having to spend thousands and get into electronics and become engineers at some point. Plus it push the bigger names to become more innovated as they were getting lazy and just going by the success they had in the pass.
The best engineers make do with what they have available to them. Yes marginal tools is for the most part a waste time and create frustration, but I always state buy what you can afford at the time, it better then having nothing and most will still be successful in projects. As it not about having the best tools, but having good focus and determination to complete the goal even in a stressful situation with lack of having the best gear available to them. Sometime perfection can cause more issues then you are trying to solve.
Plus most entry level to mid price equipment from HP, B&K precision and lecroy is made by Rigol, or Siglent and just rebadged with a much higher price tag.
Now with that said still a lot to be desire. I personally see more hope for Siglent, then I do Rigol, as Rigol is just cutting corner on hardware and raising price on surpar gear and no longer what they were when they started off. I just see them cutting way to many corners that can't be fix with a firmware update. Siglent on the hand actually has some talent people on their team and can design very good hardware The problem is software development team is behind, one area they need to improve if they want to be taken serious. The SDG2122X proof that to me that they can make good equipment. They just have to improve on certain areas and think they have the potential to surpass some of the bigger names.