Oscilloscopes

The single most useful instrument on a hardware bench. The 12-bit hobby scope era arrived in 2024–25 (Rigol DHO800/900, Siglent SDS800X HD) and reset the price/performance curve. Use this with Logic Analyzers for digital protocol decode, Scope Probes & Accessories for what you actually clip on the leads, and Instrument Software for SCPI / sigrok control. For the boards you're probing see PCB / EDA Suites and MCU Dev Kits; when bench reality disagrees with simulation, refer back to Circuit Simulation.

Hobby-tier benchtop DSOs (the 2026 sweet spot)

• ★ Rigol DHO800 / DHO900 series — 12-bit ADC, 70/100/200 MHz, four channels, ~$400–$650. The best bang-for-buck bench scope in 2026, full stop. Web UI, SCPI, USB capture. Hackable (the bandwidth/option unlock community is alive and well).
• ★ Siglent SDS800X HD / SDS1000X HD / SDS2000X HD — Siglent's 12-bit answer; SDS800X HD is the direct DHO800 competitor (~$500). SDS1000X HD and SDS2000X HD step up sample memory and trigger features. Excellent built quality.
• Rigol DS1054Z — the legendary 4-channel, 50→100 MHz hackable 8-bit scope that defined the "first scope" segment for a decade. Still sold, still fine, but the DHO800 displaces it for new buyers.
• Hantek DSO-2000 / 4000 series — budget 4-channel 8-bit; OK if you're under $300 and can't stretch.
• Owon SDS / XDS series — Chinese mid-tier; cheap, decent specs, weaker UI than Rigol/Siglent.
• FNIRSI 1014D — handheld 7-inch tablet scope with built-in AWG; toy-grade but genuinely portable.
• DSO138 / DSO Quad / JYE Tech kits — solder-it-yourself pocket scopes; educational, not measurement-grade.

Prosumer / 12-bit / wider bandwidth

• ★ Siglent SDS3000X HD — 12-bit, 200–500 MHz, deep memory, MSO option. Currently the pick if you want "real" 12-bit performance without going Keysight-money.
• Rigol MSO5000 / DHO4000 — Rigol's 8-bit MSO (5000) and 12-bit (DHO4000) prosumer lines.
• Tektronix MSO 2 / MSO 4 series — Tek's hobbyist-reachable tier. Excellent UI, premium price, strong probe ecosystem.
• Keysight InfiniiVision 1000 X-Series — Keysight's entry; nice scope, EDU pricing exists.
• R&S RTB / RTM — Rohde & Schwarz mid-range; great if you find one used.

PC-based / USB scopes

• ★ Digilent Analog Discovery 3 — USB scope + AWG + logic analyzer + power supplies in one $400ish puck. WaveForms software is excellent and the SDK is open. Stellar for a small bench or a teaching lab.
• Pico Technology PicoScope (2000 / 3000 / 6000 / 7000 series) — closed-source but high-quality; the gold standard for PC-tethered scopes. Pricey. Their software is among the best in the industry.
• OpenScope MZ / OpenScope+ — Digilent's open-hardware predecessor to Analog Discovery; still works.
• Hantek 6022BE / 6052BE — cheap USB scopes; usable with OpenHantek (FOSS) or sigrok.

FOSS / hacked-DSO software

• ★ sigrok / PulseView — the FOSS swiss-army-knife for cheap scopes and (especially) logic analyzers. Drives many Hantek / Rigol / Owon scopes via USB. GPL.
• OpenHantek6022 / OpenHantek3000 — open clients for Hantek's USB scopes.
• EEZ Studio — companion app for the EEZ Bench Box but also a generic SCPI scripting / scope-control IDE. Open source.

License / pricing notes

• Rigol, Siglent, Owon, Hantek scopes ship with closed firmware but all speak SCPI; you can drive them from Python without paid software.
• PicoScope's software is free but Windows/Mac only and tied to Pico hardware.
• Digilent WaveForms is free; the underlying SDK is documented and open.
• Tek / Keysight / R&S add-on options (deep memory, decoders, AWG) are expensive licenses on top of already-pricey scopes; plan accordingly.

Pick this if…

• One scope, max bang/buck, 2026: Rigol DHO800 (cheapest 12-bit) or DHO924 (more bandwidth and memory).
• Best 12-bit prosumer: Siglent SDS3000X HD.
• One-instrument-does-everything for a tiny lab: Digilent Analog Discovery 3.
• Premium PC-tethered: PicoScope 3000 / 6000.
• Field / portable / cheap: FNIRSI 1014D.
• Already have a Hantek and want FOSS software: sigrok + PulseView.
• Brand-name premium bench scope: Tektronix MSO 2/4 or Keysight InfiniiVision.