2021’s Best 10 Oscilloscopes for Hobbyists & Beginners

Written By Kim Goodwin

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The advancements in technology for last seven years made the systems grow more and more of a hobby for people throughout the world.

Scoping and detecting machines, as well as technologies, became handy for everyone, as a result, they are being used for pastime.

An oscilloscope is a basic scoping machine for all electronics technicians to measure the changes in the electrical signal.Quick NavigationBest Overall: Top 3 OscilloscopesBest Oscilloscope- 10 Oscilloscopes Reviewed [2020]Wrapping Up

It shows an electrical signal concerning time, and you can view every detail of the signal. It contains shape, frequency, amplitude.

Oscilloscopes are known as O-scopes that are the type of electronic machines that measures the waveforms of electricity in its screen arrives at various sizes in which you can select from high to medium.

Our team of experts have researched and spent nearly 48 hours for finding the best oscilloscopes for beginners, hobbyists, and professional technicians out there.

Check our list of Best Oscilloscopes to pick the reliable scope within your budget.

For more information about the history of oscilloscopes, click here (WiKi).

Best Of All: Top 3 Oscilloscopes

What is an oscilloscope?

An oscilloscope is the specialized type of equipment that commonly used to analyze and display the waveform of the electronic signals and RF (radio) signals.

The typical oscilloscopes are based around the concept of signals traveling in the form of rising/falling patterns or waves.

Best Oscilloscope 2022 – 10 Oscilloscopes Reviewed

1. Rigol DS1054Z

Rigol DS1054Z Digital Oscilloscope is the best choice for O-scopes available in the market.

The Rigol ds1054z is very useful to any technician or professional who needs to take and record an electric signal for the particular analysis and connections in various channels.

This product has high functions and the capability of the wide range analysis, which is the most important characteristic of the o-scope.

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Important Features

  • This product has 4 channels and suitable for car analysis
  • It has 50MHz bandwidth
  • Sample rate in real-time is1 GSa/sec
  • Waveform capture rate is 30,000 wfms/s
  • Memory depth is 12 Mpts memory upgrade to 24 Mpts through the software key
  • It has an FFT math function
  • 800 x 480 pixels resolution displays

Pros

  • Easy to Operate
  • Comfortable
  • Low-cost

Cons

  • It may produce noise

The Rigol ds1054z has best power performances in the market. This o-scope has an analog exhibition with 64 shadow levels.

It displays the shining performance and the wave swing out, and display the oscillating wave as easy solid.

It does come with 4 channels, 50MHz it giving a combination of functionality, quality, and performance.

Rigol DS1054Z  has a high 7 display, with an intention of 800 X 480 pixels resolution it is possible to see all channels on a single screen with the help of UltraVision x Full Visibility.

The digital oscilloscope has all the numerical operators you require, and a small number of Horizontal and Vertical analysis, that performs a terrific characteristic for a low-end scope.

This oscilloscope has many features, that are great waveform capture rate, different maths functions involve the FFT, pass or fail test, large memory depth, broad dynamic range, auto speeds with statistics, comprising triggering functions, clear display, and multiple remote communications interfaces.

Did you know?

Bandwidth limit begins at 50 MHz, and its upgrades to 100 MHz, which has 12 Mpts to 24Mpts memory depth. This oscilloscope gives the capability to swiftly focus in on the specific part of a registered waveform.

This oscilloscope produces high noise and the math operator produces a low count of FFT.

2. Siglent Technologies SDS1202X-E

The Siglent SDS1202X-E is a unique and fast-growing test instrument available in the market. This oscilloscope produces enough bandwidth for explaining the difficult signals. This product has the greatest sample rate of 1 GSa/s and a conventional record length of 14 Mpts.

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Main Features

  • This product has 2 channels
  • SPO technology used in the current
  • It has 200MHz bandwidth
  • Sample rate in real-time is1 GSa/sec
  • Waveform capture rate 100,000 wfm/s
  • Memory depth is 14 Mpts
  • It has a math function
  • ­­­­­800 x 480 pixels resolution displays

Pros

  • 256-level intensity grading and color display
  • It shows different signals.
  • Simple to connect with an outside device

Cons

  • Not perfect for logic analysis

Spo technology is used in Siglent SDS1202X-E. It gives great signal accuracy and display. This oscilloscope produces low noise.

The digital oscilloscope is simple to operate, and user-friendly panel design is used to access various functions. It has two and four-channel design features.

The two-channel design has the highest sample rate of 1 GSa/s with ADC, the analog bandwidth range is 200 MHz and it stores 14 Mpts memory module. The four-channel has 100 and 200 MHz designs and includes two highest sample rate1 GSa/s with ADCs and it stores two 14 Mpts memory modules.

his Siglent Technologies SDS1202X-E has USB and LAN ports available and using a universal energy source for maximum versatility.

The vertical input range is 500 UV/div, and which has a digital trigger operation with great sensitivity and mean jitter, 400,000 frames/sec waveform capture rate.

The new generation oscilloscope stands with many powerful triggering methods contains sequential bus triggering. This oscilloscope has serial triggering that allows long waveform recording and analysis, and the highest recorded waveform range is 80,000 frames.

The Digital oscilloscope has an automated computation function for 38 parameters, Gating, Math, History, measurement Statistics, and Reference uses.

Did you know?

The waveform generator is not available in the high-level models, and there is needed an extra system for the waveform sometimes.

It shows the decoding measurement within the function list. The Bus protocol data can be fast and intuitively shown in the table design.

3. Siglent Technologies SDS1052DL

The Siglent Technologies SDS1052DL can be able to utilize two channels parallelly as well as it equipped with one efficient external triggering channel.

The highest sample rate of 500MS/s in real-time, the bandwidth range is 50MHz, vertical sensitivity lengths are 2mV/div to 10V/div.

The digital oscilloscope has two Mpts memory depth, which serves to assure accurate waveform analysis and it captures the larger signal ranges.

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Main Features

  • This product has 2 channels
  • It has 50MHz bandwidth
  • Sample rate in real-time up to 500 MSa/s
  • Waveform capture rate 100,000 wfm/s
  • Memory depth is 32 Mpts
  • It has a math function
  • 800 x 480 pixels resolution displays
  • It has an automatic screensaver from 1 min to 5 h

Pros

  • Easy to access
  • Inexpensive
  • Excellent quality

Cons

  • May cause a Noisy

In this oscilloscope, events are display in the waveforms on a 7-inch color LED screen and the oscilloscope has simple to use in low light situations. It can be able to support 32 parameter ranges, and basic mathematical processes to speed are difficult to measure.

This oscilloscope used PictBridge technology, which can help to print the computation results using the data. Digital oscilloscope has some features Edge, Video, Pulse Width, various trigger modes and it automatically tests 20 measurements.

It comes with a digital recorder, which can be used to copy the data in real-time, and also copy the data in deadtime.

Typically, it has 6 digits frequency and it shows real-time counting. This oscilloscope is mostly used in the laboratory and it shows the waveform of the electronic signals.

The signal generator used 108 MHz and it has 15 Millivolts of RF used in lock-in function. The Digital oscilloscope store the test data for recorder function and digital filter.

USB oscilloscopes give a great performance in a small area, relatively inexpensive by utilizing the user interface and more processing of the system. It comes with an established guide, a CD, 2 great probes and a USB wire. This Siglent technology is a small unit.

Did you know?

This product produces a little noise that may affect the environment and human beings.

4. Hantek DSO5072P

Hantek DSO5072P Oscilloscope screen is sharp and bright. Plus, you don’t take a hard time to learn the performance.

The digital oscilloscope has a multi-tester unit, which design to correct measurements of waveform features such as voltage, mean, frequency, maximum and minimum volts.

The automatic graphic user interface indicates the simple-to-use model.

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Main Features

  • This product has 2 channels
  • It has 70MHz bandwidth
  • Sample rate in real-time up to 1GSa/s
  • It has multiple trigger modes
  • It has a 4 math function
  • 800 x 480 pixels resolution displays
  • It has various automatic measurements
  • Great display, Record range up to 40K

Pros

  • It has various trigger modes
  • Portable
  • High LED display

Cons

  • Some users said it may break easily

It has 1GSa/s of this oscilloscope assures the maximum efficiency in estimating wavelengths. Digital oscilloscope has 2-channel, the two-channel has 500 MS/s sample rate, which is obtaining events for the highest update rate.

This oscilloscope has great capacity, usability, and cost. The digital oscilloscope provides great features for unskilled technicians and beginners, and it simple to operate. This oscilloscope comprises bandwidths from 70MHz to 200MHz.

It saves time with the help of strong shortcut keys and multifunctional handles and automatically identifies the sine and square waves from the auto set function.

The edge trigger mode has used to tests the analog or digital circuits, and it modifies the wavelength.

In this oscilloscope, the vertical control is used to perform and transfer the waveforms, change the vertical scale and location, and established data parameters, and execute math computations.

The normal mode is used to update the waveforms and it identifies the valid trigger position.

The horizontal control is used to perform and transfer the waveforms, change the horizontal scale and location. Moreover, the screen center is used to verify the trigger area. The zero-volt source level is connected by the channel input.

Did you know?

This Hantek DSO5072P oscilloscope comes with 220v if the range is higher than 220v you get an alert sound.

5. Rigol DS1102E

Rigol 1102E model is a higher selling product of the 100 MHz digital oscilloscope category and which obtains wide the utilization in analysis and improvement wing.

This digital oscilloscope produces high-ranking digital signal processing. This oscilloscope has a great display, and which is created with 2 channels as well as one external trigger channel.

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Main Features

  • Memory depth is 1M
  • It has 100MHz bandwidth
  • Sample rate in real-time up to 1GSa/s
  • It has 12 analog channels
  • It has a 5.7 inches LED display
  • 800 x 480 pixels resolution displays
  • It has 20 automatic measurements
  • Multiple trigger modes

Pros

  • Less noise
  • Well built quality
  • Easy to use

Cons

  • Color screen is bit grainy

The patch panel is simple to use, and it is easy to measure the wavelength and simply produce the waveform result. Features are multiple mathematical computations, record mode, temporary triggering abilities, and flexible trigger sensitivity.

A digital oscilloscope is automatically tested 20 parameters and it has 10 voltage as well as 10 parameters per time. It contains the cursor mode is used to measure the length which contains 3 types of cursor mode, they are auto, track, and manual.

The signal generator produces great PC UltraScope software utilization, which allows to Recovery and measure waves and performs local or remote maintenance.

It is easy to store digital storage data on this Rigol DS1102E oscilloscope, and a USB port is used to store the images

Featuring, keylock function is used in the digital Rigol oscilloscope. In addition, the menu off/on mode-locked with all keys except f1 to f5, which locked the keyboard.

This digital oscilloscope has a multi-trigger function, which comes with some effective features such as a video trigger, pattern trigger, duration trigger, etc.

This oscilloscope has 20 measurements for parameter waveform and waveform values are tracked. True RMS voltage, max-min voltage, peak voltage, and arithmetic means are automatically measured by voltage data.

The pop-up menu is easy to read and use the function and which has fine slowed scan capacity. It has multiple math functions, and Pass/Fail discovery function allows to output measurement for the results.

Did you know?

This oscilloscope doesn’t contain ultra-scope software jpeg setup and the X-Y mode, which does not have extra calibration frames to secure the capacity

6. SainSmart Mini DSO213

DSO213 is the most advanced version oscilloscope in the SainSmart DSO oscilloscope. Sainsmart DSO213 is a 4-channel oscilloscope for basic electronic design tasks, which gives 4 application regions, suitable for users to store and upgrade at most 4 various application firmware.

It helps to USB charging and flash disk storage, which used in educational environments, electronics support, design, and more.

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Main Features

  • This oscilloscope has 4 channels
  • Memory depth is 4k
  • It has 15MHz bandwidth
  • Sample rate in real-time up to 100MSa/s
  • It has a 3 inches LED display
  • 400 x 240 pixels resolution displays
  • It has Micro USB interface

Pros

  • Affordable
  • Durability
  • Good quality image

Cons

  • Contains a limited waveform

Implemented with a 400×240 resolution display, it gives to several measured AC current, including sawtooth, triangle, sine, and square waveforms. This oscilloscope is easy to operate, which like smartphones.

This digital oscilloscope has a multi-trigger function, which comes with features such as a video trigger, pattern trigger, duration trigger, etc.

This SainSmart Mini DSO213 oscilloscope has FPGA features, and the addition of FPGA to operate the control of outer ADC and data cache.

Its little form portion suitable to fits inside any pocket, so it’s constantly available when you require the oscilloscope. The waveform pictures are easy to storing and moving with the help of 8 MB flash storage.

The display has low resolution, so it produces low-quality images.

7. Tektronix TBS1052B

The Tektronix TBS1052B Digital Oscilloscope mostly used for today’s schools and colleges.

This oscilloscope directly gives the courseware details on the shows, and it can use to background theory, level by level guidance, ideas, and advice or an effective method for students their lab work.

The TBS1000B gives three useful tools, is used to capture the signal and monitors the signal length.

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Main Features

  • This oscilloscope has 2 channels
  • It contains courseware features
  • It has 30 to 200 MHz bandwidth
  • Sample rate in real-time up to 2GSa/s
  • It automatically measures 34 parameters
  • It has 7-inch WVGA color display

Pros

  • High quality built
  • Ease to use and install
  • Dual-channel frequency counter

Cons

  • Charging things are separated

The TBS1000B begins with standard 7-inch high-resolution, TFT shows clear signals and important on-screen information.

The interface is simple to operate and it gives quick access to the oscilloscope functions and includes high-resolution pans features.

It allows you to see the signal details, which are 200 MHz bandwidth, 3% vertical measurement and 2 GS/s sample rate. The sampling rate performances don’t decrease when adjusting horizontal settings or using multiple channels.

It begins with built-in dual channel frequency counters which control the trigger level and it gives a simple way to find the different signal wavelengths parallelly.

This oscilloscope gives measurement capabilities and advances math function and it easy to estimate the signal condition.

The limit test feature enables to design templates for one or two source waveforms, giving flexibility when making the masks for multiple signals.


The USB memory device stored waveform data and, the USB host port front panel allows storing the machine settings and screenshots which also helps the built-in Data Logging feature and it allows to produce the oscilloscope to protect user-specified trigger waveform to a USB device for 24 hours.

This oscilloscope doesn’t display the minimum and maximum range of voltage

The front panel gives fast access to the FFT function that able to displaying both frequency and time domain waveforms parallelly, which gives a useful way to see the relation between the signals and FFT results.

8. Owon HDS1021M

The Owon HDS1021M is an electrical test machine, it comes with 20 MHz bandwidth and a single channel. This digital oscilloscope tests the electrical signal, resistance, capacitance and measure the Ac and Dc voltage.

Moreover, in this oscilloscope has 18 automatic measurements, they are frequency, period, and in-depth analysis of waveforms. This digital oscilloscope saves four waveforms in internal memory.

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Main Features

  • This oscilloscope has Single channels
  • Sample rate in real-time up to 100MS/s
  • It has 20 MHz bandwidth
  • The record length is maximum 6,000 points
  • Multiple trigger modes included
  • It has a 3.5″ color TFT-LCD display
  • 640×480 pixels resolution displays

Pros

  • Portable
  • Good for troubleshooting
  • Handheld device

Cons

  • Some customers complaint this resistance doesn’t work properly

A multimeter is an electrical testing tool and it including various features of an electrical circuit to establish proper performance or diagnose problems.

The multimeter has two modes: auto, which automatically chooses the appropriate operating area, and manual, which enables the user to choose the operating area.


The auto scale allows the device to set up trigger mode, and voltage division. This oscilloscope has multiple triggering function and a raise time is 17.5 ns.

It’s mostly used for electronics applications such as electrical engineering education, repair and servicing, product design, and assembly lines, among others.

Did you know?

This Owon HDS1021M oscilloscope meets analog and digital circuit requirements, which measure the waveform length

When it comes to its performance, this oscilloscope has a USB port, it connects to the PC, which involves transmitting data and remote operation with the help of Microsoft Windows compatible software.

This digital oscilloscope has European Conformity marking. It begins with a voltage probe and a set of test leads.

Sometimes the software performs poorly and the oscilloscope scan rate is very slow compared to other models.

9. SainSmart DSO Note II

The SainSmart DSO Note II is a handheld Oscilloscope which is a staple to any electronics toolkit.

This oscilloscope has 2-channel functionality, and it used for academic experimental, maintenance, and engineering projects.

The color display shows to measure the AC current, including square, sawtooth, triangle, and sine waveforms.

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Main Features

  • This oscilloscope has two analog channels
  • Sample rate in real-time up to 10 MSa/s
  • t has 1 MHz analog bandwidth
  • The record length is maximum 8K
  • Multiple trigger modes and math functions are included
  • It has a TFT-LCD color display
  • 320 x 240 pixels resolution displays

Pros

  • Accurate measurement
  • Easy to use
  • Convenient for quick measurements

Cons

  • Poor battery life

This digital oscilloscope is easy to operate, utilizing taps and swipes similar to any smartphone. Its little form factor convenient fits inside any pocket, so it is easy to carry.

It has 8 MB flash storage; it performs to storing and transferring the waveform picture.

On the other side, this oscilloscope has multiple trigger modes, they are ascending and descending edge modes.

It also has various synchronous mode, they are auto, normal, single, none, scan value and average.

Did you know?

This SainSmart DSO Note II oscilloscope has fitted with alternative triggering abilities and flexible trigger sensitivity.

This digital oscilloscope is pocket-size, and it has 2 analog channels. This oscilloscope has a 320*240 color display, 8M Memory Card, and rechargeable lithium batteries, and it supports SD card, USB flash disk storage, and USB charging.


SainSmart DSO Note II oscilloscope stores files in DAT, BUF, CSV, BMP format. It uses a built-in flash disk to save and read the waveform images. This oscilloscope has various math waveforms, they are DATA, -DATA, Inp+D, Inp-D, -Inp.

This oscilloscope has poor battery life, it automatically shut off after one hour

10. GW Instek GDS-1054B

The Instek GDS1054B digital storage oscilloscope does come with 50MHz bandwidth and 4 analog input channels.

Featuring it comes with innovative design, small appearance, and abundant functionalities and it easily measures the waveforms. This device is mostly used for the educational field and industrial sector.

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Main Features

  • This oscilloscope has four analog channels
  • Sample rate in real-time up to 1GSa/s
  • It has 50 MHz analog bandwidth
  • The record length is maximum 10M
  • It has Zero Key function for horizontal time, vertical voltage
  • It has 7-inch WXGA LCD display
  • 800 x 480 pixels resolution displays

Pros

  • Great performance
  • Highly durable
  • Great LED display

Cons

  • Difficult to install

This oscilloscope included parameter measurement, cursor indication, digital voltage meter, and data logging. It has 256 color gradient display functions and providing waveforms to recognized with the senses of transparency and gradation or scale.

Digital oscilloscope has two adjustment knob such as horizontal time scale adjustment knob and trigger level adjustment knob, which enables engineers to work more efficiently and engineers easy to understand the electric circuits while calculating the unexpected and fast-developing signals.

Did you know?

A defect message displayed if the DUT’s waveform is unusual and touches the template. This function is useful to the engineers to observe the waveforms.

The GDS-1054B oscilloscope has a strong and unparalleled memory depth for data recovering. Featuring, 10M memory depth enables users to easily know the waveform detail while managing the fundamental estimation applications.

The GDS-1054B oscilloscope has Fast Fourier Transform mathematical analysis mode, is equipped with the 1M memory depth recovering mode.

FFT analysis mode is used to update the waveform rate. The zoom-in function is used to identifies the partial waveform.

The display screen has divided into two windows: the upper window displays the waveform data log in a long time and the marked region of the waveform required to be zoomed in, the lower window displays the increased partial waveform.

The function doesn’t enable the engineers to perform a measurement but also takes the waveform features in the multiple timeframes.

The only downside of this product is that the Autoset key doesn’t activate the channels in which the input channels are connected.

More than that, this oscilloscope has 36 automatic measurement parameters. It is measured the waveforms and the technician can choose various measurement parameters to the measure key.


Best Oscilloscopes for Hobbyists & Beginners Comparison Table

PRODUCTWEIGHTCHANNELSBANDWIDTHSAMPLING RATEDISPLAY
Rigol DS1054Z6.6 pounds450 MHz1 GSa/sec7 inch TFT display
Siglent Technologies5.51 pounds2200 Mhz1 Gsa/use7 inch TFT-LCD
Siglent Technologies7.4 pounds1150 MHz500MS/s7 inch TFT-LCD 
Hantek4.19 pounds270 MHz1GSa/s7 inch TFT-LCD
Rigol DS1102E7.0 pounds2100MHz1 GSa/s5.7 inch TFT QVGA
SainSmart10.1 ounces415MHz100MSa/s3″ inch color Display
Tektronix6.85 pounds250 MHz2 GS/s7” WVGA Color Display
Owon HDS1021M3.8 pounds120MHz100MS/s3.5″ color TFT-LCD
SainSmart DSO2128 ounces31 MHz10 MSa/s2.8″ TFT LCD
GW Instek6.17 pounds450 MHz1 GSa/s7″ WXGA LCD

Wrapping Up

While all our products featured are reliable in the list, the Rigol DS1054Z Digital Oscilloscopes is our Top pick.

It works well and the construction is as good as that of expensive top-brand items.

Check out our reviews and choose what suits you!!!

DISCLAIMER: IF YOU PURCHASE ANY PRODUCTS IN THIS POST, WE MAY RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION. WE PROMOTE ONLY THE PRODUCTS WHICH WE TEST AND RECOMMEND. READ OUR AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER HERE.

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About Kim Goodwin

Kim Goodwin holds a Master's in thermal engineering from the University of Rhode Island. At Thermo Gears, she reviews most equipment that uses thermal imaging technologies.

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