Hantek 6022BE vs Rigol DS1054Z
Head-to-head spec comparison to help you pick the right scope for your bench.
Hantek
$85.29
Rigol
$349
Spec-by-Spec Comparison
| Spec | Hantek 6022BE | Rigol DS1054Z |
|---|---|---|
| Bandwidth | 20 MHz | 50 MHz |
| Sample Rate | 0.048 GSa/s | 1 GSa/s |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| Memory Depth | 1 Mpts | 12 Mpts |
| Display Size | N/A | 7" |
| Weight | 0.2 kg | 3.2 kg |
| Price | $85.29 | $349 |
| Rating | 4.5/10 | 8.5/10 |
| Protocol Decoder | No | Yes |
| Function Gen | No | No |
| WiFi | No | No |
| Battery | No | No |
| Buy on Amazon | Buy on Amazon |
Pros & Cons
Hantek 6022BE
Pros
- Cheapest USB oscilloscope that actually works
- Tiny and portable — fits in a laptop bag or jacket pocket
- Works with open-source OpenHantek software (much better than official drivers)
- Bus-powered via USB — no wall adapter needed
- 1Mpt memory depth is genuinely decent for this price
Cons
- Only 20MHz bandwidth — severely limiting for most real work
- 48MSa/s sample rate means aliasing starts well below 20MHz
- Requires a PC to operate — useless in the field without a laptop
- Bundled software is mediocre; use OpenHantek instead
- No protocol decoding of any kind
Rigol DS1054Z
Pros
- 4 channels for $349 — nearly every competitor at this price is 2-channel, making it the go-to pick when you need clock, data, enable, and ground all visible at once
- 12Mpt memory depth captures long protocol bursts that 1–2Mpt scopes miss — a full UART session at 115200 baud across hundreds of milliseconds stays in buffer without retriggering
- A well-documented firmware procedure unlocks 100MHz bandwidth from the stock 50MHz — the community has published step-by-step guides since 2015 and it takes under 10 minutes
- SPI, I2C, UART, and RS232 protocol decoding included with no upsell — some competitors charge extra license fees for the same decoders
- Ten years of community answers: searching 'DS1054Z + [your problem]' returns solved threads on EEVblog, r/AskElectronics, and YouTube before you finish typing
Cons
- 50MHz stock bandwidth can't cleanly capture SPI clocks above ~10MHz or RF signals — the firmware unlock helps, but it's still a soft ceiling
- Menu navigation is physical-button-only — no touchscreen, no scroll wheel; takes a few sessions to get fluent
- Interface looks dated next to modern touchscreen scopes; not a functional problem, but noticeable
- Anyone doing daily professional bench work should budget for the DHO924S — the touchscreen and 250MHz bandwidth are genuinely worth the extra $550 at that usage level
Our Verdicts
Hantek 6022BE
The Hantek 6022BE is the bare minimum USB oscilloscope — and I mean that literally, not as a compliment. At ~$65, you get 2 channels and 20MHz of bandwidth piped through your laptop screen, which is enough to verify that a PWM signal exists or check audio frequencies. The 20MHz limit is genuinely painful: you can't reliably see rise times on 3.3V Arduino signals, and anything SPI-related at normal speeds is already at the edge of what this scope can resolve. Skip the official software and use OpenHantek instead — it's actively maintained and much better. If you can stretch to the Analog Discovery 3, the difference is night and day. If you're truly at a $65 ceiling and just need to verify signals exist, this will do — but you'll outgrow it fast.
Rigol DS1054Z
If you're buying your first oscilloscope to learn embedded systems, debug Arduino or ESP32 projects, or study signals at school, buy the DS1054Z — 4 channels, full protocol decoders, and a decade of community support for $349 is a package that still has no real competition at this price. Don't buy it if you do professional bench work daily or need clean capture above 50MHz; for that, the DHO924S at $899 is the right tool. The honest tradeoff: DS1054Z gives you 4 channels and the largest hobbyist knowledge base on the internet; DHO924S gives you 250MHz and a touchscreen for $550 more. For a first scope for a hobbyist, student, or maker, this is the buy.