Hi,
I want to learn embedded software development. From what I learn from internet - Adruino is a good place to start. I think of buyin some starter kit. My question is about original Adruino(Genuino) and other "arduino-compatible" - different chinesse stuff sold on e-bay(no-name, DCCduino, infiduino and so on). That stuff on e-bay is much cheaper (~50$ compared to 111Euro of orginal). Say, is it worth to buy from e-bay? What cons and pros of that. Maybe you know better option for this?
Reasons to buy a real arduino.cc Arduino/Genuino:
- Financially support development of the Arduino IDE(software). If you're going to be using their free software, giving back in some way is the right thing to do.
- Confidence in the hardware: You are likely to run into some problems while learning. It's hard to know if the problem is something you did or caused by the cheap board's poor quality control, counterfeit chip, hard to find driver, etc.
- Faster shipping(depending on where you are) - you are probably anxious to get started and sometimes shipping from China takes like 6 weeks.
Reasons to buy a cheap "arduino-compatible"
- If you can't afford a real Arduino. A low quality Arduino is better than no Arduino!
- When learning there is the chance you will ruin your Arduino. With a cheap board the cost of a mistake is lower so you can feel more free to experiment and can afford to have some replacements on hand.
- Often the Chinese boards work just as well as the official one.
pert:
... cheap board's poor quality control, counterfeit chip, hard to find driver, etc.
Yes, well put. How tech-savvy are you, Zentar? When I first went shopping for this stuff, I read a lot on the web. I read about the various problems people encountered when trying to use one company's software with a knock-off board from some other or unknown manufacturer, and I used that information to gauge whether or not to deal with the headaches, or just get the right board. I have a wide mix of components and boards, and I have dealt with drivers from dubious sources, counterfeit stuff that does not work so well, and other counterfeit stuff that works fine. I try to avoid counterfeit because I don't want to support somebody trying to deceive, but I have ended up with some stuff that I'm pretty sure is counterfeit. If I'm getting a knock off, I want the seller to specifically say it is a compatible and not try to pass it off as the real thing with the fake logos and names. And I have dealt with some boards where the soldering is not very good, and parts have actually fallen off of some cheap Nanos. I am willing to accept some risks and an occasional setback or headache. I am handy enough to do some re-soldering and touch up of problems or cannibalize parts from one board to another (pretty good at soldering if I do say so).
If you don't have a technical background, I would advise choosing from well-known companies with good tech support where paid personnel can help with getting started problems. Adafruit and SparkFun, for example. Adafruit is the manufacturer of the official Uno. If you have trouble with it, they have a forum where paid employees of Adafruit help. Of course, technical people can also have times where they just want something to work or want tech support, too. I have purchased from Adafruit. Adafruit has distributers worldwide, and also sell online and ship almost anywhere. If you buy an Uno or starter kit from them, that supports the arduino.cc project. SparkFun is the official manufacturer of the Arduino Pro Mini.
There is more than extremely expensive genuine product, and extremely cheap Chinese stuff too. There is a middle road. Adafruit and SparkFun have high quality and supported Arduino compatible boards, such as Redboard, Pro Micro, Metro Mini 328, and the prices are quite reasonable. I wish I had known about the Metro Mini 328 when I started out, I probably would have started with that one.