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Keysight Oscilloscopes vs Rohde & Schwarz 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
Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes
Ranking in Oscilloscopes
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
12
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 Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes is 6.6%, down from 8.3% 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.
AM
Feb 4, 2019
The ability to have both the time domain and frequency domain, where the frequency domain is a very broad spectral plot, is extremely valuable
There is certainly a learning curve. Finally, watching YouTube videos on using the instrument got me over the hump, as well as a sit down session with one of the oscilloscope experts. The Rohde & Schwarz user interface is very oriented towards drop and drag functions on the screen. Some of those are just not obvious how to use. You have to have somebody get you over the hump. My understanding is they have a newer user interface, but I haven't gotten around to upgrading the firmware on my scope in some time, so I'm not familiar with it yet. In comparison, I love the LeCroy interface. Recently, I've learned that there are ways to adapt these instruments to become a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), which is of interest to me. If I can use probes that are not in the 50 ohm domain, which is what you would have with a normal Vector Network Analyzer, then doing power applications for me, this would be a lot safer. Using a traditional communications type Vector Network Analyzer in the 50 ohm domain and having these high DC potentials (adding the DC blocks is adding air to the test method), then having an oscilloscope type front-end which is lot more tolerant of overload, it is a lot safer. The vector network analysis that I need to do is well under a gigahertz, and the other instruments that I have sort of stop at 40 megahertz. Trying to get past 40 megahertz into the mid-hundreds of megahertz and have high impedance probes that will tolerate DC, that is really of interest to me.

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 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."
"The most valuable features are its quality and reliability... The good thing about the GUI interface which is, of course, software-based, is that you can record and save your test setup."
"The product's functionality makes things easier for my partner, who is doing the PCIe design. He is able measure the product's usage and bit error rate."
"I use the serial decoder for the serial interfaces, which helps me debug my product quickly."
"While it depends on the field, the learning curve is usually really quick."
"Their software and hardware are integrated, so we don't have to spend a lot of time processing the data."
"Its versatility and accuracy are the most valuable features."
"The Keysight Ecal feature has made it very easy for me to do calibrations."
"Most of the features offered are free, like serial data analyzers or jitter measurements."
"It is easy to connect with, accurate, reliable, and hardly fails."
"The product is quite reliable and straightforward to use. Typically, there are no households that we have to set up."
"The instrument has a wide bandwidth. You can sweep across a wide range of frequencies."
"It is a more efficient, easier way to do measurements."
"The characterization of RF channels was helpful... The user interface was very simple to operate and there were a lot of tutorials."
"I have been able to do quality measurements that I have been unable to achieve with the equipment from some other vendors."
"The most valuable features are its wide bandwidth and 8 ports."
 

Cons

"I would like more accuracy, particularly for multiport measurements."
"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."
"We are using this product to support connected devices for IoT development, but we need more automation."
"The integration between different software and hardware panels could be improved. In the software, it's not as strong as the other solutions."
"They can improve, but I don't know how."
"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."
"Their GUI is not the best. They need to improve on that. I think their software team needs to put in a little bit more work on how they are presenting the application on the scope."
"I would like to see better post-processing data utility tools like a de-embedding."
"They could use an RDA interface."
"Sometimes, it's difficult to find menus on the user interface."
"I'm against the Windows-based tools. Now everybody is running scopes, VNAs, and all their tools based on Windows. I don't want to see that in the future."
"There was a learning curve. Their use interface and the way that their products work are not intuitive to somebody who switches from other vendors."
"The user interface could be improved, e.g., the documentation on the menus. I have to open a separate document to figure out the functionality sometimes."
"It would be good if they would try to automate most things because it has more pressing buttons and repetitive work. If there were automation scripts that they could provide, that would improve things."
"We would like to have autotracking and auto error tracking for regression testing. We would like to know what error happened, when it happened, and during what scenario (such as setup), because right now we have to manually look at when it happened."
"The Rohde & Schwarz user interface is very oriented towards drop and drag functions on the screen. Some of those are just not obvious how to use. You have to have somebody get you over the hump."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's very expensive."
"Our solution is upgradable. However, upgrading depends on how much money the company is willing to spend, because each upgrade will take a million dollars."
"The price is affordable for us, but for smaller companies, probably not."
"It's very expensive because this type of equipment is not so common. For a company buying it, this is a big investment."
"If we rented the product, it would be more affordable than buying new."
"Keysight is on the high side. If they could make the price lower without sacrificing the quality that would be great."
"The cost is always a struggle. We always wish that we could do more for less."
"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."
"When we chose this, the price was really reasonable, and it is a high-end product. It had a high price, but we understood that because it has 8 port, the same noise floor (as the competition) with double the measurement capabilities and a cheaper price."
"If we are looking to purchase a product, we ask for a loaner for a month or so to test it out. Then, we will make a decision."
"The pricing is expensive, but very fair when you look at the technology that you are getting. These are higher-end pieces which have a ton of engineering in them that is not evident on the package. However, you could imagine the amount of time that the vendor has spent on the firmware, optimizing the internal layout, developing custom ICs, etc. They're releasing a mass produced product, but these things are built to last."
"The pricing is very competitive."
"The pricing is too high."
"The pricing is very expensive."
"Buying Rohde & Schwarz gear is like buying a Mercedes. It raises eyebrows when you're asking for that level of performance."
"The pricing is way too expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
18%
University
12%
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
21%
University
10%
Educational Organization
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Also Known As

InfiniiVision Series, Infiniium Series
RT Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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