On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 11:10 PM, Olin Lathrop wrote: > Xiaofan Chen wrote: >> Looks good. But I have never used your product and do not know >> how good it is. =A0I am speaking from my own experiences. PM3 >> has also other advantages like more chip supports, memory >> card, support by Microchip, integrated into MPLAB, etc. > > True, it depends on what you need and what your priorities are. =A0Howeve= r, at > less than 1/10 the cost of a PM3, a USBProg can be the right answer for y= our > production line in a good many cases. Agreed. >> BTW, IMHO the box of USBProg 2 looks not very professional. But >> it is just my personal perception... > > It's a Unibox #128 with custom cutouts and text silkscreened on top. =A0U= nibox > does the customizing for a reasonable extra fee when we buy them in lots = of > 250. =A0These things are rugged little boxes. =A0We haven't had any repor= ts of a > box breaking or a programmer dying in the field, so I think they are doing > their job. That is good. > What would you suggest while still keeping the price reasonable? =A0The > current box adds about $10/unit to a build of 250. =A0Keep in mind that t= he > volumes aren't high enough to afford a full custom mold, so it has to be > something available off the shelf that the manufacturer is willing to > customize at our low volume. I see. It is actually not that bad. At least it is better than this (sorry Funny NYPD). ;-) http://www.auelectronics.com/images/BB0703_White.jpg > Is it that you don't like the basic box, or the plain text graphics, or > what? =A0The footprint of the Unibox 128 is just about right, although it= 's a > bit taller than it really needs to be. Somehow I like the bare-board USB-Prog better. One thing is that box seems to be too big -- now I understand that it is because it is taller than really needs to be. This photo is also not good. It is cut off to the right. http://www.embedinc.com/products/usbprog2/eusb4_1_1024.jpg The printing is not bad. The cost adder of USB-Prog 2 compared to USB-Prog is US$45 and IMHO it deserves a better looking casing. But I understand the problem. Mold is expensive and it is difficult to get a good looking casing in low quantity. So you have done a good job already. But still the box itself gives me this impression. Maybe I am a bit particular in this case. > If the box were really snazzy, would that make you buy one, or N? =A0Or > conversely, at what price would you buy a current USBProg2? =A0At what pr= ice > would you buy one in a really nice looking box? Depending on the situation and here is just my personal opinion. If the company need it and it meets the demand, US$125 is quite cheap and since I know your product will be not of low quality in terms of the de= sign, I would recommend to buy it. Cost is less an issue here. But then again PM3 may get better chance to go in as Microchip is the recognized vendor. Box is not a real issue but the management or the other colleagues may say hmm that does not like a professional product to be used in the critical production line. For my personal use, I would then be careful as US$125 is above my free-to-spend limit and needs approval from the finance minister at home. Then I will look around and find that PICkit 2 is at US$35 and within my budget and my use cases. So I will get it instead. But then if I really needed for personal use, then I will get the approval and spend the US$80 or US$125, most likely US$80 USB-Prog though. -- = Xiaofan http://mcuee.blogspot.com -- = http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist