I purchased a Rigol DS1102D 2 channel analog and 16 channel mixed signal scope a few years ago. For the most part I love the unit. It is small and portable allowing me to take it to the job site. But recently I have started to get annoyed by certain aspects of it.<\/p>\n
1) Rigol seems to want to hide information. Why must one register and get permission to download the user’s manual and programming manual from their website? If I own the unit, I want my manual now. If I am looking at it for pre-sales questions, I might skip this unit because of the road block.<\/p>\n
2) Why does my user’s and programming manual not match my device? A few minor errors would be expected and excused, but there are a few significant holes and errors.<\/p>\n
3) Why do the FAQ style documents on their website not match the software\/hardware that I have. Same model and version, but the Ultrascope setup documents look little like mine.<\/p>\n
4) Why did they do a pretty good job on this unit and then miss the boat of some small key features? Like why can’t I set the trigger location to some percentage? I can set it to 50% but that is it. Most often I want it set to 10% or 90% for pre and post event data analysis. Its a real pain to do it on the Rigol.<\/p>\n
5) Why does my user interface have a selection for GPIB address selection when the unit does not do GPIB?<\/p>\n
6) Why when I try to use the RS-232 interface for remote control does the unit ignore me? It is never fully stated that it is implemented, but it certainly would seem appropriate considering the DB-9 on the back and the baud rate selection in the user interface. Nothing in the programmer’s guide indicates anything one must do to enable the interface.<\/p>\n
Rigol made a good product, but failed a home run by not smoothing off the rough edges. Looks like some manager saw that it could be shipped, and then took off the developers on some other project. A little more attention to detail and they could really start to displace the higher end scopes like Tek and Agilent\/HP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I purchased a Rigol DS1102D 2 channel analog and 16 channel mixed signal scope a few years ago. For the most part I love the unit. It is small and portable allowing me to take it to the job site. … Continue reading