I find myself wanting to upgrade my still-new’ish CRT-based oscope and my logic analyzer capability. I am considering a Rigol DS114Z Plus (100 MHz, 4 Channels, 16 Digital Channels). Does anyone have experience with this? Can you recommend any cheaper equivalents or near-equivalents? This is a daunting expense, but cheaper than upgrading those two items separately.
I can’t comment on that device or even on having a single device that is both a scope and a LA. I’m sure there are advantages that gives you over having separate devices. However, after hunting last year (or was it the previous…) for a new LA solution for me it came down to software more so than the hardware. For studying the LA output which may have many lines of data, I find it much easier to put the output up on my 27" monitor than on a small 5" or even 7" scope display. I settled on a Saleae LA and have no regrets and wouldn’t combine it with my scope if I had the option. I’ll be curious to hear others explain why they would want both in one device.
Well, I have a small Saleae, but my understanding is that digital oscopes tend to have a USB interface that lets you download, view and/or further analyze both analog and digital captures from your PC. I wouldn’t want to buy one where the traces are trapped in the scope’s display.
I’ve not used that model but I do have 2 very nice pieces of Rigol equipment and I like them a lot. The scope is a 2 channel DS2202A and I got them to bundle in all of the decode options so I can see things like I2C, SPI, CAN, UART etc. The build quality is good. There is a similar option for the one you are thinking off. If you often need to decode these then this is worth the extra cost.
This guys does tend to rattle on a bit but is sometimes fun and he knows a thing or 2, so often worth watching his videos. Here he talks about mixed signal scope like the Rigol you are after.
You definitely saved me a bunch of money there Dave. The DX1054Z will get the the storage functionality I need and my Salae will continue to do its job without needing to spend the extra grand for what amounts to a slightly hobbled LA built into the scope.
EDIT: And yeah - that’s the fourth video I watched by that guy and he uses an awful lot of extra words.
There’s an EEVblog deal to be had on Rigol from TEquipment via EEVblog forum. (edit: see the thread EEVBlog Members Discount at Tequipment? - Page 35 and post there to get someone to send you the code - if you need I can grab it if you’re not a member there?)
I’d opt for the 50Mhz option to save money (even though I have the 1074Z - that was a price rise and no stock situation). You get I think 30-40 hours of all options enabled including memory depth, decode, and speed (and I’m nowhere near using that). So it’s the same scope as the others; depending on how much you really want the extra features and can justify the business / personal expense you may find options…
He does a great one on EMC pre-compliance testing with a low cost spectrum analyser. I watched that and ended up buying the DS815-TG analyser and the LISN he shows in the video.
In the end, I got the DS1054Z. I’ll slap on a few feature codes (serial decode, memory, etc), and use the trigger-out with my Salae whenever I need mixed-signal functionality.
Thanks to @ Dave and talkative Aussies everywhere.