Hi Daniel.
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Your comments about what to look for are invaluable, as are your "what to expect from the Arduino board generally, reliability-wise". I am delighted to learn my experience is not the norm, for I would very much like to be able to use them in our projects.
And I appreciate the difficulty of debugging in this very indirect manner.... -
I understand your comments about Atmel (stock options aside
etc., but let me note:
a) We have had certain MAJOR manufacturer's uP's (I will leave unnamed, but not Atmel...) lose their programming periodically - we still have not figured out why. (And we have not ever had this happen with select other manufacturer's uP's, so it's not simply that we are idiots...) And we have found design/functionality errors in the silicon itself for that same (major) manufacture, a truth which they reluctantly confirmed when we called...
b) One ARM chip my colleague used could be directly sparked onto the chip itself with a 1/8" piezo-generated static discharge and be fine (both physically, and even continue running!), while another manufacturer's ARM chip would reliably hang during operation if the spark generator was discharged two inches above the PCB in open air...
So I have stopped assuming anything until I have personal experience, and/or feedback from someone with personal experience such as yourself.
I will let you know what I learn (if I can eventually figure anything out...).
Thank you again for all your prompt, friendly advice,
David