I'm a little confused right now as the oscilloscope you recommended earlier has a 50MHz bandwidth.

To fit within your budget.

What I find interesting (I think this may be useful) in the Hantek one is that it has a function generator and can analyze digital protocols. Currently I'm just doing some very basic stuff but this will hopefully grow. I also have many esp and pico to play with so I would be working on microcontrollers.

While seemingly very convenient inbuilt AWG's are generally feeble beasts but if you can work with their very limited amplitude outputs they can be useful however at some time you will lust after a proper AWG.
If you are to enter into the digital realm you might want to consider a 4ch DSO especially for the likes of SPI where you can have 2 digital channels plus a CS and Clk channel.
Lowest model from Siglent that supports 4 channels is the $ 399 SDS1104X-U.
https://siglentna.com/digital-oscilloscopes/sds1000x-u/

The keys to understanding instrument functionality are manuals and datasheets which we shouldn't be scared of as we are engineers aren't we and live by datasheets.

 

In my opinion, why and how you plan to use an oscilloscope is important.

If for the moment you are just an occasional user tinkering around with hobby electronics, I would go with the lower priced Hantek handheld. In fact, as a working professional, there are times that having a handheld would be handy.

After using an oscilloscope for awhile you might develop your own preferences and knowledge to be able to select and move up to a more capable model.

Another reason for having a handheld as second scope is that on a few occasions you wished you had an isolated scope (one not connected to ground).

 

I also have many esp and pico to play with so I would be working on microcontrollers.

That has little to do with what scope bandwidth you need. I used a 15MHz scope for my RPi projects. Pi Zero has a clock frequency of 400MHz, but none of the I/O's can toggle that fast. Even if they did, there are ways to work around equipment limitations. I used a frequency counter to measure how fast I/O's could toggle.

EDIT: Just checked a Zero W and clock is more like 700-1000MHz

 

If for the moment you are just an occasional user tinkering around with hobby electronics, I would go with the lower priced Hantek handheld. In fact, as a working professional, there are times that having a handheld would be handy.

After using an oscilloscope for awhile you might develop your own preferences and knowledge to be able to select and move up to a more capable model.

That has little to do with what scope bandwidth you need. I used a 15MHz scope for my RPi projects. Pi Zero has a clock frequency of 400MHz, but none of the I/O's can toggle that fast. Even if they did, there are ways to work around equipment limitations. I used a frequency counter to measure how fast I/O's could toggle.

This is all very confusing to me but given the above, I think:
1. I'm just a hobbyist (and mostly do not know what I'm doing, this is mostly for learning) so I wouldn't benefit much from pricier models
2. My use cases were covered by dso-138 upto now, I just wanted a new gadget or something with better UI (everything has better UI then dso-138)
3. If 15MHz scope was enough for RPi projects, then I would surely be fine with a 40 or 70MHz scope
4. Only OWON handheld and Siglent SDS 1104X-E made me say WOW to myself when I saw them on YT but the price difference is huge, so probably I would be happy with the first one

Hence I think the best option for me right now would be the OWON handheld model 242s or 272s depending on what I find locally, keeping in mind that actually this is more of a toy/gadget right now and something that will tell me what features I use and what I am missing.

I would hate to go to far with the price as I tend to regret this stuff if I'm not using it later or do not need the added features.

 

That sounds like a very reasonable approach. If you later decide to drop the hobby altogether, you haven't spent a whole lot in order to find out that you aren't really interested in it (and you can probably recover a fair amount of it by selling it or get the satisfaction of donating it to someone or someplace). If you do jump in with both feet and discover you need a better instrument, then you haven't wasted a lot of money on this one. Plus, having multiple scopes comes in handy at times. Plus you can still sell/give/donate this one after you upgrade. Few decisions are permanent and this is certainly not one of them.

 

My choice would be to go with the handheld.
I have no personal preference or experience but I would go with Hantek 2C42 (the lowest priced entry model).

 

Thanks for all of your input guys, I've decided to go with OWON hds272s, I really liked how it functioned on yt reviews and seemed to be getting good reviews as a beginner scope. I'm pretty excited but have to wait 20 days now for a freighter from China
If I'm still interested in this hobby a year from now I will be surely better informed when considering a normal sized one and will check one of Siglents, they seem to gather very positive reviews and does not look cheap anymore (as OWON does).

 

Sorry, late to the party but I feel that you @kajman applied a very sensible approach to the purchasing decision. This should be a good reference for anyone starting on this hobby.

As for my experience, I have an Owon oscilloscope (albeit a USB-based one named VDS1022I) and it is a great scope for the price.

Good luck with your purchase and have fun!