>I am looking for a programmer capable of programming at least six 16C7X
>devices simultaneously . Any recommendations based upon experience will be
>most appreciated.

|Why ? Most decent PIC proggers blow the device about as fast as you
|can insert & remove it from the ZIF socket - a gang programmer
|wouldn't save much time.

The 16x84's are pretty slow to program (the 16F87x's probably are too,
though I've never tried 'em).  If the programmer's VDD can handle it,
it's perfectly easy to give multiple chips the "start programming" com-
mand; since a 16x84 takes about 10 seconds to fully program, the time
savings with a 4-gang programmer can be substantial.  If the programmer
has two seperate sets of power supplies, or if two programmers are loc-
ated near each other and connected to one machine, the time spent swap-
ping chips can be overlapped with the time spent to program others.

Of course, there's a point of diminishing returns.  Going from 4 to 8
will double the cost of the ZIF sockets (the major cost item on the
programmer) without coming anywhere near doubling productivity.  The
4-banger I built, though, has programmed many thousands of 12C508's and
hundreds of 18-pin parts and is still going strong.