The fancy bottom-side silkscreen layer with the logo and map of Italy
That is interesting since the boards I got from HK had that.
Why buy the Chinese clones? With a minor bit of effort you can program the bare chips and use them.
Yeah. That's where I'm heading now. Gonna get an ISP, go barebones and low power. My first real Italian Arduino was a great start for me.
As a postcript: I blew up the USB interface on one of my Chinese clones. But it was totally my fault - accidentally put 12v thru it. Poetic justice and Karma is satisfied? XD
Apologies to TommieTippee for sorta hijacking the post.