Siglent Technologies SDS1202X-E 200 mhz Digital Oscilloscope 2 Channels, Grey

The other reviews mention many great features ranging from the 1GSPS, 200MHz bandwidth, FFT, and range V/div starting at 0.5mV. So i won't repeat these for the Siglent SDS1202X-E that I purchase on July 31, 2021. This is an excellent scope for the price. Don't let people mislead you into thinking that it's only for beginners (it's not) but certainly beginners will be able to use it. Compared with my HP54111d from the 1990s costing $20k when new and having 500MHz Bandwidth and 2Gsps, the little Siglent does far more and better for far less price (but only 1Gsps and 200MHz bandwidth).Others mention concern over the serial numbers and the 'droop' related to probe calibration. My serial number is not the BA. However, I will mention that the 'quick start guide' accompanying the unit had an addendum page regarding calibration that indicated the unit was calibrated several years ago which appears to indicate the unit left the factor at that time. So the BA serial numbers must have been fixed by then.Other people have mentioned concern over high levels of noise on the 0.5 mV through 5 mV ... actually not a problem. But here's my story. When I first started the unit on Monday around 4pm, I shorted the probe tip to its ground and noted wildly varying 'noise' on the 0.5mV - 2mV scale and that would make the scale useless. I removed the probe and instead attached a banana-to-coax adapter and shorted the two inputs with a wire. Whoa still wildly varying noise. Bringing my hand closer to it increased the noise by a factor of two. I began to think there was a problem with scopes ground circuitry to the BNC and some how the noise was coupling through the ground in some type of common mode problem. The FFT showed a spike at the frequency of the FM station down the road at 98.3 ... very cool. Decided to wait till the next day (Tuesday morning) for further tests. The environmental noise levels had dropped by Tuesday morning ... an interesting fact in its own right but still enough for testing. This time, a 50 Ohm cap was placed on the SDS1202X-E input BNC and also placed a 50 Ohm cap on the BNC of my old HP54111D (2GSPS, 500MHz bandwidth). Comparing the two showed similar noise in both on the 1mV scales - here the noise refers to the 'thickness' of the baselines and both were well below 0.5 mV. As a matter of fact the HP unit has dying internal boards that produce a baseline that wavers over about 0.5 mV. With the caps on the Siglent unit, moving the hand closer the 50 Ohm Cap does not result in the wildly varying noise levels. However touching the ground on the cap does result in the scope picking up a small periodic spike maybe 0.25 mV. I'll need to investigate the probes more closely since grounding the tip does not appear to eliminate the nose very well. Anyway, the scope does not appear to have an internal noise problem contrary to some reports.Finally, I wish the power cord could be attached at the back rather than the side of the unit since that uses valuable shelf space or maybe provide a right angle connector for the power cord.Oh and be sure to download the full manual from either the sellers website or the manufacturers website since the unit only comes with the quick start guide.

My old scope was a Tektronic 7633 that I love. This 1202 blows it away. It is intuitive to operate and has almost all the features of the 7633 plus adds a lot more. The auto set up feature saves a lot of time. The trigger features work great. The probes that come with the scope are good quality 1x/10x probes. The only thing I find annoying is that buttons have different function in different modes and some things I tend to use often are hard to activate. In general it is well made with a solid case. It is an excellent unit and well worth the money.

When I saw the review on EEV Blog, and it didn't get completely trashed, I knew it was probably worthwhile. What a great scope - add in the control over USB through the windows GUI and it's a very powerful, very easy to use tool. The only compliant I have is that the probes included were garbage, and had been wound overtightly in packing so I had to immediately replace them. Amazon took care of that without question, but the unit itself works very, very well. The Auto Setup is pretty good, although sometimes it doesn't track unless you set the trigger to a point you know is going to work. The serial decode is a little weak, as is the history function, but overall, this unit is feature rich, and seems to be fairly accurate. The display is gorgeous as well, which makes working with it enjoyable. Well worth the money and per dollar blows other tools I have out of the water.

Item was received on time, well boxed, functioned without problems. It will indeed display 200+ MHz signals. I have a "hobby repair shop" and got the scope about a year ago, during which time I have used it for a wide array of audio, digital, and radio testing. For troubleshooting, a digital scope is great, because on the "measure" function it will tell you more about a point in a circuit than any other tool I can name. After a year, everything still seems functional, and it is certainly a lot of scope for the money.Of course, after (ahem) quite a few years of using oscilloscopes, I am still somewhat used to the old analog variety. People in my position might want to be aware that there are differences, a learning curve, and a few shortcomings to a digital scope. They have many buttons, menus, and options to deal with and it sometimes seems excessive for what you are trying to do. One of my pet peeves is that you can't "fine tune" the horizontal frequency as you did on the old scopes, it goes in steps that always seem a little too high or low. That's not a defect, just a feature of digital. But, coupled with the sort of...meh...triggering, some analog signals can be hard to lock in and you often have to settle for a jumpy display. This can even happen on a simple sine wave, not just complex signals. I don't expect perfection for under $400, but the fact is that it doesn't trigger as well as the old Tek 453 I paid $50 for, made in the early 70s. Otherwise, of course, it outperforms the heck out of it. So, overall I'm pretty happy with the performance, and it's a good bang for the buck.The supplied probes, however, I'm not happy with at all. They will pass 200 MHz but are cheap junk, and mine arrived without the "clip hooks" that allow you to leave them attached to a circuit. If they were left out by mistake, it's bad QC. If they were left out to save money, they are cheapskates. I probably should have complained about it early on. My advice is, plan to get a pair of decent probes with all the accessories to get maximum benefit from this scope.