Looking for the "best" Arduino...suggestions?

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Frequently-Asked Questions
1

Hello everyone!

I am new to the Arduino world. I first knew about this hardware & software through a professor in my university. Since then, I have been meaning to get one (or maybe two) boards for the solely purpose of deep study and understanding of this new architecture.

So my question is: Given the fact that I am new, Which Arduino board would be best for me, in terms that I am looking for the one that is the most COMPLETE board?

PS: since am new to Arduino, perhaps I am looking for "official" boards instead of clones...or if clones are common and a good choice, maybe I can get two: one official and one cloned.

Thanks!!

2

you sorta answered your own question, a 2009 official board is probably the best place to start if you want a whole package (shield compatibility, usb etc)

3

If you are just starting out, for the least heartache I would go with a standard Arduino 2009 (Arduino Duemilanove) board with a standard USB connector; while not the cheapest or the smallest (and maybe you have a closer source), I would go with SparkFun's boards. Their build quality, IMO, is excellent. For me, they are close by - but you might be able to find an official supplier closer to you. Once you have that up and running with the IDE, and you know what you need for an official project (and your skills are better), you can then move on to other boards or minimalist designs from other suppliers (or roll your own, if you want)...

4

Thanks for the responses...

One doubt though. I understood that Sparkfun's boards are different? I mean, the 2009 official board does not belong to Sparkfun? Sparkfun has its own Arduino boards?

By the way, I forgot to mention that I am an Electronic eng., and I know about microcontroller programming in C. Maybe this does not affect the outcome of the selection.

5

what they call the "Arduino Main Board" is the 2009, many places sell it

for example

http://store.fungizmos.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=180&zenid=708c70f0cb4ca6349ee532b645536fc8

or

http://www.solarbotics.com/products/50450/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Product+Search&utm_campaign=Product+Search+(Mar10)

but you might want to consider a starter kit

http://www.solarbotics.com/products/28935/

6

I think that the Arduino "2009" is starting to stand out. As I've seen in many webpages, the "2009" Arduino is sometimes bundled in some starter kits which sounds appealing...

Now I want to know your opinion about the Arduino Mega... I think that my purchase decision will be based on which one is better between the two.

Thank you all again!!

7

"Better" is an ugly word to use here m8. The two are very similar, the mega being the extended version of the 2009 - more pins is really all you get. Some minor things change (e.g. I2C has its own pins), but the mega will still support most standard shields. I am actually quite surprised that they haven't begun selling the starter kits with the mega rather than the 2009 (probably because of its price). I would suggest getting the 2009 as your first board, as most tutorials are written for it, and its just traditionally the board to get (I have 3 2009's and no mega after over a year of arduino-ing, mostly because I have yet to find a need for the mega). Hope this helps :wink:

8

more pins is really all you get

Actually, there are a number of additional capabilities in the mega.
It has more timers, so can control more servos (48 on the mega compared to 12 on the standard board) or more simultaneous tones using the Tone library.
It has more hardware serial ports.
More PWM outputs
More analog inputs
a lot more memory (RAM, Flash and EEPROM)

Most people don't use all these capabilities, but you may want to say more about the kind of things you want to build

9

Good point about the extra RAM and EEPROM, forgot to mention that. The rest (e.g. more PWM, Serial, etc.) is what I was referring to loosely when I said "more pins".

10

My first board was a Duemilanove - I like the fact that if I do something stupid, I can swap the chip, versus the Mega which is not swappable. I like prototyping with this board because everything "just works".

I then buy the right board for each specific project. I've built a project around a mega (I needed LOTS of I/O) and a project around a pico - I wanted small, but with USB.

Everything else gets packed away at the end of a project, but my original Duemilanove always seems to be close by on my desk :slight_smile:

11

Imagine if the mega used a DIP chip. That would look reidiculous.

12

If you need more oomph than the standard Arduino board in a DIP form factor, have a look at the Sanguino: http://sanguino.cc/

Its kind of mid way in capabilities between the Duemilanove and the Mega. Note however that it does not take standard shields.

13

I want to thank you all for your time in this thread. Really.

I have a final question yet (I promise hehe). I have my choice of Arduino board but surfing the web, I found an Ethernet Shield for the Arduino. I thought it could be a very useful and fun accessory to work with! Pinging the board, etc...

What have you heard (or even worked) about it? I believe that I am going to include it in my purchase.

Thanks again!