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Keysight Oscilloscopes vs National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Keysight Oscilloscopes
Ranking in Oscilloscopes
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
National Instruments (NI) O...
Ranking in Oscilloscopes
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Oscilloscopes category, the mindshare of Keysight Oscilloscopes is 12.6%, down from 19.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes is 0.9%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Oscilloscopes
 

Featured Reviews

RH
Feb 3, 2019
We are able to easily record and save our test setup
The most valuable features are its quality and reliability. The type of instrument they make is pretty much the industry standard and trustworthy. They align R&D and design their equipment well, including post-processing stuff. The user interface is getting better due to a lot of feedback from users. With testing getting more complicated these days, you have to go through a lot of different drop-down menus and then go through a lot of steps. It's hard to say there is an easy solution, but of course, from the user's point of view, we would like to have something as simple as possible. The good thing about the GUI interface which is, of course, software-based, is that you can record and save your test setup very easily.
DC
Feb 3, 2019
The integrated lateral view makes it easier to develop your test systems and test software flow
The application space that this solution targets is 5G and high-speed systems. 5G is where we are developing some chips to test whether it prequalifies for a necessary requirement before we embed it into our box. Then, in high-speed systems, we're still figuring out how exactly we're going to test this out, but it should be also on prequalification. We are not using this product to support connected devices for IoT development nor are we planning to going forward. We are measuring millimeter wave signals. My colleague deals with the automation of the test systems. The user interface is okay.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The user interface is very user-friendly. You can use a lot of functions in their scope and will provide them for you. You can update the scope's software by asking Keysight to update the software when you want."
"It has the highest bandwidth and resolution on the market."
"It's easier to automate and connect with multiple devices, and at the same time with laptops."
"Its 4 port has true differential with quite a few de-embedding features. It goes up to 40 GHz with high performance."
"Because they're such a big industry standard name, their products are standardized across many customers, which is why people own these products."
"The user interface is very good, very graphical. It provides a lot of help in using and operating it."
"The user interface has never been better. They improved it a few years ago with a more modern oscilloscope interface and it's easier to use, even for more junior people in our lab."
"It does everything that I need it to with the PLTS software and the network analyzer software."
"It makes programming simpler."
"We haven't need technical support yet because all documentation is well done and there."
"The user interface is very good. Their boards are reliable. We buy boards from them, they are reliable, and we don't have problems with them."
"It helps us to save on our investment with a lot of the stuff that we buy, as we can find defects quickly."
"It saves me a lot of time. You can click a button and walk away, basically doing a week's worth of work in 20 minutes, it's a pretty good time saver."
"The user interface is absolutely great. It creates an easy working environment because it has well-integrated hardware and software. So, it is easy to use."
"Because their view is a graphical user interface (GUI), it's very easy to program the tool."
"The integrated lateral view makes it easier to develop your test systems and test software flow."
 

Cons

"The user interface has a load of features that come with it, which is why it is an eight out of ten."
"I would like to see the possibility of interacting with the software, new features for software post-processing. For example, once you're done measuring, it would be nice to be able to generate some data starting from the measurement data."
"I would like more customized functions, so we can do the programming and definitions ourselves. There is an automation flow to capture this signal, and we would like to do this ourselves."
"While the user interface is good with respect to instrumentation, but with respect to documentation, I do not like it. Its documentation is slightly bad. It was not organized properly. The way it's organized is very difficult to understand, so it takes lot of time to search for one thing in particular."
"Everybody is looking for more automation support, so that if they can incorporate more protocols. It makes it easier."
"Something I'd like to see is much better documentation and some good examples. That would be very helpful for a new user to get better at using the new test equipment."
"I would like be able to measure multi-lane simultaneously. Right now, the high-performance jitter solution measures one signal. I would like to capture many at the same time."
"I would like them to build in more high-speed functions, such as FEC or PCIe, built into the array. PERT to be built-in for more specific product call. These would make our lives much easier."
"National Instruments needs to be focusing on its 5G RF applications. They are aware of this, and that's where most of their R&D is going."
"There is a learning curve. It might take a year if you're not well-versed with it."
"I would like to see them increase the productivity and auxiliary functions."
"It took a good year until I felt proficient using the product, as It is a complex program. Their newest version has a less steep learning curve, but back closer to 15 years ago, it was a lot less user-friendly."
"I would like more speed and a reduction in size."
"I would like to see more of a tasking user base and documentation inside the instrument itself, rather than having to go online for it."
"There is a learning curve. It takes one to two months to get acclimated to the tool."
"I would like to have more RF. They're going that way, but still there is some work that they have to do."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's expensive, but the quality matters."
"The pricing is good for what they offer."
"If we rented the product, it would be more affordable than buying new."
"They're not cheap."
"Pricing always is very expensive. There's no free lunch."
"Keysight is on the high side. If they could make the price lower without sacrificing the quality that would be great."
"Pricing can be improved a bit. They try to make the pricing competitive but I think there are times that the competitors have good pricing."
"The pricing is on the high side."
"It's a bit expensive. However, you get the entire package, not just the box. It's a box which supports older releases."
"These products are a very low-cost, effective alternative to traditional Big Iron ATE hardware."
"I have saved almost 50 percent of my total budget for a project by using their products."
"The price is a little steep. A lot of people, like our customers, use a different machine because of the price. The price has to come down a bit so we can do other tests without paying the equipment's high costs."
"I would like more competitive pricing."
"It's reasonably priced for what we spend our money on in the lab. It's one of the lower-end purchases."
"The pricing was good. Compared to the others, it was very good."
"The cost of the equipment has room for improvement. The pricing could improve."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
18%
University
12%
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Healthcare Company
9%
University
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Also Known As

InfiniiVision Series, Infiniium Series
NI Oscilloscopes
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nokia Bell Labs
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Keysight Oscilloscopes vs. National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.