I'm a big fan of the Arduino platform, decided to replace the Uno with the Arduino Nano IoT 33 board so I bought 4 of them lately
NOTE: I bought GENUINE boards in their original boxes with holograms etc. from local shops.
See photo's.
But to my disappointment the quality varies greatly!
Of the 4 boards, 2 of them were so different!
1 had a very bad silk screen print and the board looked far worse than any chinese board I have seen.
2nd board had lost all ENIG gold plating, looked also bad generally and I had to resolder the retaining clips of the USB connector to prevent it from loosening.
I don't expect this from a 'made in Italy' board especially for it's price.
I'm now looking for another board for my projects, maybe the Pico 2040??
Any suggestions?
Ordering from China I got boards with "Made in Italy" printed on it. Not many Chinese people can read and understand that text and simply leave it unmodified in the production files downloaded from the Web (Arduino sites?).
Arduino should take care to remove all "Italy" references from the published PCB files.
I would not put this on Arduino's company responsibility.
Their PCB design is made in Italy. Those copying the files to produce clones should correct the file to match their production... but I guess they don't care.
I added 1 photo on the 1st post to show the amazing difference in silk screen print quality.
As I said, even the most cheap chinese boards have better quality.
I used them as I needed them but I have now filed a complaint at Arduino.
The reason for this post was also to see if other people would have the same problem but reading the replies here most are buying chinese boards so chances are rare I will get reactions with the same experience.
I do buy from time to time boards directly from Arduino rather than Amazon. the quality was always good.
May be they changed their provider and their quality check is not what it needs to be? or may be some "fake genuine" boards made it through in your reseller's stock...
The USB connector is not soldered properly, it will break off in no-time without the retaining clips being properly soldered.
Also a GENUINE board!
Just discovered this on the Micro board I also bought.
I am very disappointed. As I said, I love the Arduino platform. Thanks to Arduino I got a new hobby after years of illness. I would love them to solve these issues.
But still, both Arduino's of the Photo are genuine because if I look at the 6 boxes I have, they look the same, no color change etc. and with the stickers inside.
The foam changed over time so maybe also the PCB version?
In fact, not soldered at all. Quite a bad defect in fact. Certainly looks a nice board in that photo, proper artwork.
I think we feel that it would be rather surprising that a counterfeiter would actually go to the trouble of producing not only the boards, but the boxes and leaflets as well.
I was pleasantly surprised by a quick response of a employee of Arduino. He apologised for the situation and asked for the sticker labels with the batch codes to investigate further.
He even offered to look into compensation/swap but that is not needed, all I look for is that they improve the quality so users will get what they expect to pay for.
So another proof of authenticity are the labels beside the holograms.
Strangely on the box of the Micro there is no such a label but it's the most HQ board although with a loose connector
Must say I’m surprised , I buy direct from Arduino for my boards ( why wouldn’t you ?) and the quality is always superb . Boxes come sealed with oval tape .
Be interested to see how Arduino respond - to me they look fake .
These bought a couple of weeks back
