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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 December 2024, in the Oscilloscopes category, the mindshare of Keysight Oscilloscopes is 11.7%, down from 19.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes is 6.5%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Oscilloscopes
 

Featured Reviews

RH
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
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

"It breaks down all the parameters that we need to look at."
"The user interface is nice. It describes the output well, so it's easy to use."
"The technical support is good, and it has very strong customer support. They sent an engineer to us who gave us some training and tutorials."
"Their software and hardware are integrated, so we don't have to spend a lot of time processing the data."
"The user interface is very simple. Everyone can use it."
"We rely on the data and we make our design calls, risk-assessment, all based on the measurements that we take with the Keysight equipment."
"It has the highest bandwidth and resolution on the market."
"The user interface is very good, very graphical. It provides a lot of help in using and operating it."
"It has a very low noise floor."
"It is easy to connect with, accurate, reliable, and hardly fails."
"The ability to have both the time domain and frequency domain, where the frequency domain is a very broad spectral plot, is extremely valuable."
"The product is quite reliable and straightforward to use. Typically, there are no households that we have to set up."
"Most of the features offered are free, like serial data analyzers or jitter measurements."
"The noise floor for reference clocks is pretty low, so this instrument is able to measure it where others cannot."
"It is a more efficient, easier way to do measurements."
"I have been able to do quality measurements that I have been unable to achieve with the equipment from some other vendors."
 

Cons

"I would also like to see a more detailed change-notice from version to version, what changed. If they had a more detailed description of what is changing and the reason for it, rather than just releasing, that would be good for us so we know whether or not to upgrade."
"We tried to connect multiple computers with a KVM switch but we could not do that using Keysight VNA. Keysight VNA comes with the PC inside it. We have other equipment as well, and we tried to combine it so that we had one monitor to control everything. With Keysight we could not do it. That's something of an inconvenience."
"The user interface can be buggy at times. But I'm an engineer, I figure out how to get around them pretty easily so that's not that much of a concern."
"The user interface has a load of features that come with it, which is why it is an eight out of ten."
"Everybody is looking for more automation support, so that if they can incorporate more protocols. It makes it easier."
"We are using this product to support connected devices for IoT development, but we need more automation."
"The user interface is not that good. It's not very intuitive. It's functional, but it's not designed for ease of operation. It's designed for functionality."
"There is room for improvement with some of the features of the scope. I would like them to make it a bit more simplistic... For example, if I want to look at what the total jitter is, they should make it simpler to find that, with different tabs."
"They could use an RDA interface."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"In the next release, I would like to see report generation. It would make it a lot easier to refer back to and, when doing final testing, seeing what went on during the pre-test would help."
"Sometimes, it's difficult to find menus on the user interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing always is very expensive. There's no free lunch."
"The pricing is always high."
"The major factor influencing the decision-makers is the price."
"It's very expensive."
"While I don't have transparency on the pricing, it works within my budget."
"The pricing is good for what they offer."
"If we rented the product, it would be more affordable than buying new."
"The pricing is very expensive, but with leading technology, nothing is cheap."
"Buying Rohde & Schwarz gear is like buying a Mercedes. It raises eyebrows when you're asking for that level of performance."
"The pricing is too high."
"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."
"One of the things I liked less, not only me but also my company, was that Rohde & Schwarz are very expensive... There are solutions that are almost the same that sell at better prices."
"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 way too expensive."
"The pricing is very expensive."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
17%
University
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
20%
Government
13%
University
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: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.