I have to agree with Dan about the picstart plus.

Of the professionally produced programmers available, generally they
will cost about half as much as a picstart, but they may not support all
pics, they generally lag behind new pics by a few months, and some
charge for upgrades in firmware or software.  I found out with the
Parallax programmer that every time new chips came out, I had to buy an
'upgrade' for my programmer, which wasn't expensive, but it was a
hassle.  It didn't have a zif socket, and the software (at the time) was
all in dos.

Of the homebuilt/hobbyist programmers available most do not program all
of the PIC line, they usually lag a few months behind in supplying
software/firmware/schematics to support new chips, generally are less
integrated (run this program to assemble, this program to burn, etc),
and when the author stops doing the pic thing, you end up on your own.

With the picstart when a new chip comes out, a new version of the
programmer software (MPLAB) comes out, available for free.  The picstart
supports every PIC sold.  MPLAB is an integrated environment, which
allows user expansion.  I can program my PICs in C, compile, simulate,
and program without switching applications.  The downsides are that the
schematic/software/firmware are closed (ie, not available), and the
interface is also closed (though some are working on 'opening' it...).
It does not program as quickly as some programmers (though it's not
meant for production use).

The extra $50-$100 it cost me is worth it for what I use it for.

-Adam

Steven Rightnar wrote:
>
> Can I get some sugjestions on finding a programmer. I am a beginner and I am
> looking for one that would have good supporting documentation. I have found
> the schematics for many different programmers what worries me is that after
> I build it I will be on my own to figure out any problems that arise.
>
> With regards,
>
> Steven