Which oscilloscope should you buy first?

The two specs that actually matter

Channels: buy four. Everything digital is multi-signal — SPI is four wires, I2C plus a trigger is three. Two-channel scopes make you debug with one eye closed. Bits: buy twelve. An 8-bit ADC divides the screen into 256 levels; 12 bits gives 4,096 — the difference between seeing power-rail ripple and seeing staircase art. Bandwidth matters less than beginners think: 70 MHz honestly covers most MCU-era hobby work, and on some models the community unlocks more (see the tracker).

The decision by budget

• ~$25 — FNIRSI DSO152: a single-channel pocket toy that shows you what a waveform is. Great gift; not a debugging tool.
• ~$130 — Hantek DSO2C10: the cheapest honest bench scope. 2 channels, 8-bit, basic — but the specs are real, unlike the similarly-priced tablet scopes (see why).
• $300–470 — the real answer: Rigol DHO804 vs Siglent SDS804X HD. Both 4-channel, 12-bit. The Rigol is silent (fanless, USB-C powered), touch-driven, and has the bigger firmware-unlock ceiling; the Siglent wins the spec sheet (2 GSa/s and 100 Mpts vs 1.25 and 25) and costs a little more. There is no wrong choice; there is only the fan question and the hack question.
• $500–770 — the one-box lab: DHO914S — adds a 16-channel logic analyzer, an AWG and Bode plotting. Worth it if you'd otherwise buy those separately.

What the old advice gets wrong

"Get a DS1054Z" was the right answer for a decade — it isn't now. New, it costs DHO804 money for an 8-bit, fan-cooled, non-touch scope; its remaining arguments are the mature unlock and ten years of tutorials. Used at a good price, still fine. Similarly, ignore the Siglent naming trap: the SDS1104X-E's bigger number hides an older, 8-bit design — the decoder guide untangles both brands' schemes.

The traps

1. Grey-market "bargains". Rigol NA's 3-year warranty applies only via approved resellers — an AliExpress Rigol carries a seller-only promise, whatever the listing (or AliExpress's own AI-written articles) claim. Amazon/authorized-distributor pricing is usually within $30 of the grey price; buy the warranty.
2. Probe bundles. Scopes ship with probes matching their stock bandwidth. If you plan to unlock, the bundled probes become the bottleneck.
3. Shared sample rate. That headline GSa/s divides across active channels on every scope in this class. Four channels on a 1.25 GSa/s scope = 312 MSa/s each — fine, but know it.

Just tell me

Silent + touch + tinkering appeal: the DHO804. Maximum capture per dollar and a fan doesn't bother you: the SDS804X HD. Everything else on the full table.