What's the difference between Phidget and Arduino?

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
1

Arduino can do everything a Phidget I/O could do, and a little more, right?
So why are the phidgets so expensive?

Thank you, very much,

2

I think the question is better addressed to the makers of the Phidget I/O.
The arduino is sold with very little mark up.

3

Phidget devices, in general, do more for you... a mixed blessing.

Want to just plug something in, use it the ways the mfg imagined you might want to? Buy Phidget

Want to be able to "get your hands dirty", make things do ALL that they can, including your new ideas? Buy Arduino.

Beware: Many Phidget devices require you to run them through a proprietary .DLL (or similar, I may have the exact term wrong). This is GOOD 'cause it does things for you. This is BAD when it doesn't do the thing you want, or work with the development environment of your choice.

4

These were my take-homes from when I looked into Phidgets;

  • Phidgets are effectively just a IO to USB bridge
  • You need to completely control them from a PC-based software application (eg they arent programmable).
  • They have no inherent timing capability
  • Digital Input has a max resolution of about 125hz (8 ms).
  • There is a good range of language / os support (Mac, Linux, Windows)

Phidgets are a commercial product, primarily orientated around doing input/output with a PC-based application, via USB.

Arduino is an open-source microprocessor development platform with a relatively low knowledge barrier.