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Siglent SDS1102CML oscilloscope

Jack Ganssle (/user/JackGanssle)

JULY 14, 2014

Over the years Ive reviewed a number of high- and low-end oscilloscopes. TektronixsMDO4000 series, for instance, has phenomenal performance, an incredible set offeatures, for about the price of a low-end SUV. They also have a series of low-priced unitswhich I have not had a chance to look at. Their TBS1000B-EDU series starts at anamazing $520.

On the low end theres a veritable sea of units for a few hundred dollars or less. Theseconnect to a PC via USB and have neither their own screen nor controls. The PC is thefront end; the unit is just a data collector. An example is Digilents Analog Discovery, whichis a good vehicle for learning about electronics. For folks with limited needs who want tospend the absolute minimum these are decent choices. But with a very few exceptionsbandwidths are very low.

But most of these USB scopes are toys, or at best entry-level products for people learningelectronics. If you need more than a few MHz of bandwidth and even a mid-levelhobbyist does - they are mostly non-starters. While many of those instruments have apretty decent GUI, I much prefer a set of real, physical knobs.

In the middle of the pack are a few real bench instruments, including screen and controls,just like their very expensive kin. Siglent is one of several Chinese vendors of thesedevices, and they kindly sent me a unit. I asked for one of their lower-end instruments,one where the price is attractive to a wide range of users and where theres littlecompetition from the big scope vendors. They sent an SDS1102CML(http://www.siglent.com/en/product/detail.aspx?id=100000005058775&nodecode=119008001), a dual channel 100 MHz digital scope.

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The Siglent SDS1102CML 100 MHz oscilloscope.The Siglent SDS1102CML 100 MHz oscilloscope.The Siglent SDS1102CML 100 MHz oscilloscope.The Siglent SDS1102CML 100 MHz oscilloscope.

The SDS1102CML retails for $379. At that price I gured it might be OK for hobbyistwork but would be disappointing to a pro.

I was wrong.

First, the specs. 100 MHz, 1 Gs/s (though with both channels taking data thats 500Ms/s). The buffer holds 2 million samples. The screen is 7 with a resolution of 480 x234. Samples are 8 bits. The unit comes with two probes. It weighs 2.5 kg.

The unit is plastic, like most instruments today, but the package belies the low price.Its rugged, not in the least chintzy, and the controls have a solid feel. Googling turnedup some complaints that the power button is a common point of failure. Over the lasttwo months Ive turned it on and off several times a day but had no problems with theswitch. No panel cover is included, but loading it into and out of a soft-sided briefcasedidnt snag the controls.

Some competing units in this price frame save money by using one set of controls forthe two vertical channels. The Siglent has separate controls for each channel. If youredoing a lot of work with both enabled this will save a lot of time and annoyance.

As mentioned, the screen is 7 diagonal TFT with 480 X 234 resolution. Thats lowenough that the waveform will be a little jagged from time to time, but the on-screennumbers and letters are easy to read. Most scopes have ten major divisions (boxes)across the horizontal axis; strangely, the SDS1102 has 18.

The included probes are nothing special and a bit upscale from cheap. But a singlepassive probe from one of the major vendors can cost as much as this scope andprobe set. A switch selects X1 or X10. The scope cant sense the setting, but it will letyou manually select a number of attenuations from X1 to X1000.

I was curious about the scopes real bandwidth with the supplied probes. 100 MHz isimpressive at this price point, so could the vendor be fudging the numbers a bit?Using a good signal generator and calibrating it against my 500 MHz Agilent, the -3dBpoint was reached at 141 MHz, much better than I expected or than the datasheetpromises.

An on-screen six-digit frequency counter is accurate, by my measurements, to 1 LSB.Thats better than the 0.01% advertised.

Like some of the much more expensive equipment in my lab the rotating controls canall be pressed in to select another mode. For instance, the vertical gain knobs havethe normal 1, 2, 5 sequence, but when pressed in give very ne control over the gain.

Pressing the horizontal sweep knob enables delayed sweep (see the following screenshot). The upper trace is the raw signal; the black areas is blown up in the bottomtrace. In delayed mode rotating the horizontal control changes the width of the blackspace letting one zoom in on a portion of the waveform. The horizontal positioncontrol scrolls left and right through the signal.

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Delayed sweep mode. Channel 1s gain is shown as 1 kV/div because I told theDelayed sweep mode. Channel 1s gain is shown as 1 kV/div because I told theDelayed sweep mode. Channel 1s gain is shown as 1 kV/div because I told theDelayed sweep mode. Channel 1s gain is shown as 1 kV/div because I told thescope the X10 probe was X1000.scope the X10 probe was X1000.scope the X10 probe was X1000.scope the X10 probe was X1000.

In the bottom trace you can see the A/Ds quantization, which is not surprising givenits 8 bits of resolution.

Theres one do all knob that is used to select options from screen menus. I found itmuch too sensitive. Its sometimes hard to not scroll past the desired option.

Trigger options abound; next to the price, and the 100 MHz bandwidth, trigger is thebest feature of the scope. For we digital people, I especially liked the ability to triggeron a pulses width (using >,

9 COMMENTS

SilvioP301 (/User/SilvioP301) POSTED: JUL 20, 2014 3:29 AM EDT

Scrolling this review, I note an impressive similarity with LeCroy WaveAceseries, the 204 model is happily in my everyday use: same menus, same buttonslayout, same icons, and different price point.. maybe same origin?

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MichaelK231 (/User/MichaelK231) POSTED: JUL 17, 2014 11:00 PM EDT

Good review. I have been quite lucky to nd used test gear on eBay around the$500 price point - you do need patience. I now own a HP/Agilent (Keysight?)16702B logic analyzer (touch screen) with a scope card and 2 state/timing cardsfor around $650. The seller was liquidating gear from an electronics lab and soldas-is. the unit just needed a new SCSI drive (eBay again) and a reformat with the

HP CDROM. I like being able to run it from a web-browser via Ethernet.


Minutedog (/User/minutedog) POSTED: JUL 16, 2014 12:31 PM EDT

Nice review, Jack. One question, though - doesn't the 3dB point occur when themeasured signal is 0.707 times its low frequency value rather than 0.5 times?(20log(Voltage) as opposed to 10log(Power)?) If so, wouldn't your measured141Mhz would actually be the 6dB point?


JackGanssle (/User/JackGanssle) POSTED: JUL 16, 2014 12:43 PM EDT

You're right, and that was a brain-fart screw-up on my part. The .707 pointis at 130 MHz, still very impressive.



I'm surprised the 3dB and 6dB points are so close together (roughlyan 8% change in frequency). That implies a very steep roll off: morethan 100dB/decade, assuming a Butterworth-type response (andassuming I crunched the numbers correctly).



I'm surprised the 3dB and 6dB points are so close together (roughlyan 8% change in frequency). That implies a very steep roll off: morethan 100dB/decade, assuming a Butterworth-type response (andassuming I crunched the numbers correctly).


JackGanssle (/User/JackGanssle) POSTED: JUL 16, 2014 8:35 AM EDT

This morning I got an ad/email from Saelig - they are selling this scope for alimited time for $299. It says to use coupon code S1407. http://www.saelig.com/PSBE1002/PSBE1002017.htm (http://www.saelig.com/PSBE1002/PSBE1002017.htm)


Cdhmanning (/User/cdhmanning) POSTED: JUL 14, 2014 8:23 PM EDT

While this type of scope is never going to cut it for all professional users, theyare good enough for many applications.

One of the companies I consult to has some "SUV price" scopes but they also

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have a whole lot of these cheaper scopes. At less than $400 you can put one on every rmwareengineer's desk and just bring in the heavy guns when they are needed.


Worknhard9062 (/User/worknhard9062) POSTED: JUL 14, 2014 2:55 PM EDT

Great info Jack! I think we'll be looking for a low cost tool like this to performsome post-sale eld testing of our product for diagnostic purposes. I wasinitially considering some version of USB scope which, for our needs, would beadequate. Seeing this in a comparable price point, however, gives mesomething new to think about. I tried the link to siglent website by the way and

received a "500" error in Chinese.My Chinese is a little rusty ;) but I'm guessing something is up (or down rather) with the site.Best rgs,Steve C.


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