Mega 2560 R3 fake confusion

Community General Discussion
1

I purchased what was advertised as a genuine Mega 2560 R3 from Amazon.co.uk (from Amazon directly, not an Amazon seller). It came in what appeared to be a genuine Arduino box, and in most respects shows no signs of being a fake, but it doesn't have the R3 marked on the back, doesn't say 'Made in Italy' and the silkscreen on the rear is different.

At first I thought I had been sent an older model, but looking carefully at the PCB it definitely appears to be an R3. I'm very confused - can anyone shed any light as to whether this is indeed a fake? If so it seems rather odd as it's both a very good one, in that the packaging looks virtually identical to my bona fide Uno R3 (purchased from an authorised distributor), the fonts are spot-on, the PTC fuse is the correct colour and type, the Italy map on the back is nicely detailed, but odd that the back would then be a massive giveaway by being so different from the official product..

Any assistance gratefully received so I know whether to send it back to the vendor and demand a refund so I can buy an official one. I got it from Amazon as I wanted it in a hurry for a project I was working on and already had a next day order with them and it was out of stock with my favourite official distributor, but now I'm cursing myself for trying to save time.




2

Difficult to say. I suggest sending an email to... trademark (at) arduino.cc

3

According to your photos,

  • It has a gold polyswitch.
  • It does have "Made in Italy" printed (in all caps) next to the corner of the MCU as well as on the back.
  • It is very shiny! :astonished:

It seems to me that if they were to counterfeit it, they would wish it to match the version on the website.

Frankly, very few of the counterfeits come with a manual (as best anyone has said).

4

I received a very similar one from a seller in from China on Ebay. It claims to be genuine, and it looks to be geniune by all tell signs like the one above. The only thing I can say about it at the moment is that one of silver things that staples the power thing seems to have excess glue on it. Also the TM is not very visible, it looks like a bit like a block but then again it's really small so it might be supposed to be like that. The 3rd thing is that it doesn't say Made in Italy on the top left, but I think I saw some images of others are the same. Any update or comment on this would be appreciated.