(Assuming the board is genuine) In terms of getting a refund or replacement, you are probably better off first contacting the seller. But I don't think that was rsfoto's intent. Their intent was to give feedback to Arduino regarding production issues. For that purpose it is better to contact Arduino directly since the seller is probably only a middleman for the product and has nothing to do with the manufacturing. The exception would be sellers like Adafruit or Seeed Studio who actually do manufacture some official Arduino boards but even then it might be a good idea to let Arduino know how their manufacturers are doing.
rsfoto:
Now I have to ask ¿ is there any long time advantage of genuine Arduino over all this clones ?
The biggest advantage is you are supporting the Arduino project. Some of the money from the official board you buy is going to paying developers to work on the Arduino IDE, the Arduino libraries, the Arduino Web Editor, the Arduino forum, etc. When you buy a clone/derivative/counterfeit none of that money helps the Arduino project. Most of the manufacturers of these boards are not at all involved in the Arduino community (there are some notable exceptions).
However, buying official Arduino products is not the only way to support the Arduino project. You can simply donate money if you like or you can volunteer some of your time by doing things like providing support on the forum, beta testing the IDE, reporting bugs, submitting fixes/enhancements to Arduino software, publishing Arduino sketches/libraries, etc. The thing I really like about volunteering is that I know exactly where my contribution is going instead of a monetary contribution where it's uncertain how the funds will be used. But certainly Arduino needs income to keep going and the financial sustainability of the Arduino company is very important to the community.
rsfoto:
Well yes, after reading all the posts and analyzing my boards they are fake.
If that's the case you can report it to trademark [at] arduino.cc. I'm sure they would be especially interested to know if one of their official resellers is selling counterfeits (clones are fine, but counterfeits are not).
for this enlightening thread about my Arduino boards. Very interesting.
Now I have to ask ¿ is there any long time advantage of genuine Arduino over all this clones ?
If yes then I will change my buying habits and go for Genuine Arduino but as you have seen in my former post, even official Arduino resellers have gone into the clone business ...
It is everything about the price nowadays, well mostly ...
Learned a lot about this stuff.
Again big thanks and regards Rainer
I see nothing wrong with using Arduino clones, as long as they are marked With the company's name That manufactured It, prominently displayed. This means this company is taking responsibility for the quality of the product, and not trying to deceive you.
However, I have a big problem with companies who do not properly mark their own products. Leaving you to guess who manufactured it, and who is responsible for its quality/warranty. This is a big problem for the Arduino community in general and especially the creators of the Arduino. If you want to use Arduino for your project, make sure that you either Preferably by genuine Arduino's, Or purchased properly marked and identifiable clones. It is only fair to the Arduino creators. Also only buy from companies that you can hold responsible if they are selling fakes. Make sure you can get your money back if there are problems.
And also let the Arduino community know who is selling fakes. I'm sure the creators of the Arduino platform want to know.
Anyhow it was interesting and will make up my mind. Another thing is that is they perhaps lower the price of their boards more people would buy them and perhaps have less product piracy, but OK everybody can set their prices as they wish.
I just did take a look at their webshop and everything sold out ???
The sold out products are certainly disturbing, especially considering that we are at the start of the holiday buying season. Luckily some of the products are available from their resellers but if something isn't done soon I'm sure it will lead to more people finding clones or counterfeits in their stockings this Christmas.
It makes every sense to contact the actual seller as in most countires its the person who sold you something that is responsible for the goods and the original manufacturer has no responsibility to you.
In theory, handling first-level customer complaints and what-not is what the retailer is getting their cut. They in turn complain to their supplier (whether it's the Real Arduino, or some other manufacturer), hopefully eventually resulting in better products. If you're paying a local dealer more than the "cheapest I could find on AliExpress or eBay" for an Arduino derivative, then part of what you should be paying for is for THEM to have picked out a legal and "good" derivative.
I have no tolerance at all for producers who "fake" the Arduino name, and won't paste their own name on their boards. I'm not too fond of of producers that ONLY change the name, but have cloned the entire design. But there there are lots of really nice derivatives these days, well beyond "clone" status. (I don't know whether any of them would be a good choice for a custom-made enclosure; one of the common changes is to update to full-sized USB connector to USB-mini or USB-micro...)
westfw:
In theory, handling first-level customer complaints and what-not is what the retailer is getting their cut. They in turn complain to their supplier (whether it's the Real Arduino, or some other manufacturer), hopefully eventually resulting in better products. If you're paying a local dealer more than the "cheapest I could find on AliExpress or eBay" for an Arduino derivative, then part of what you should be paying for is for THEM to have picked out a legal and "good" derivative.
I have no tolerance at all for producers who "fake" the Arduino name, and won't paste their own name on their boards. I'm not too fond of of producers that ONLY change the name, but have cloned the entire design. But there there are lots of really nice derivatives these days, well beyond "clone" status. (I don't know whether any of them would be a good choice for a custom-made enclosure; one of the common changes is to update to full-sized USB connector to USB-mini or USB-micro...)
Hi,
I agree and now that I had this experience I will be looking for real arduino or compatible ones and not those fake or piracy arduino
(It can be "fun" going through AliExpress or similar to see what sort of useful variations exist, and which vendors look more reasonable than others. (hint: it's probably a bad sign if the same vendor "store" sells clothing and sex toys...))
For example, THIS is pretty interesting:
It's marketed (well, described) EXACTLY as a Nano with Screw terminals. Unfortunately, it's about the same prices as the Nano plus a matching screw terminal adapter (which is a more flexible combination.)
But it's something that I've seen ONLY from that one vendor on AliExpress (so "yea for being original rather than just copying!"
