I've been using this for a number of years, both for my customers to update
firmware in the field, in a production line environment (many 100K's units
programmed by non-technical personnel) and occasionally for my own
development use (I use CCS PCWHD development tools and like them a lot) as
well as programming multiple prototype units from time to time. We've used
them quite successfully for production programming PCB assemblies with soft=
ware
developed with Microchip and other 3rd party tools.

Standalone, can be USB or battery powered (4-AA Alkalines)
Can work as a PC based programmer with CCSLOAD software (free)
Supports almost every PIC part that can be programmed with ICSP
Can store up to 4 hex file images, each up to 512 Kbytes
Can also read code image from target board (non-code protected) to be used =
in cloning other boards.
Free PC programming and image management software (CCSLOAD)
Works as In Circuit Debugger with CCS Development IDE (if you happen to use=
 that)

http://www.ccsinfo.com/product_info.php?products_id=3DLoad_n_Go
http://www.ccsinfo.com/content.php?page=3Dccsloadsw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D4KXYXgOC4_I

No affiliation with CCS, I just like their tools and support, have been
using them as my primary PIC development tools for over a decade now.

FWIW, as a Microchip Design Partner I get Microchip tools at a steep
discount (or free) however I'm not a big fan of them and rarely use them.
Interestingly, CCS often supports new PIC parts much sooner than Microchip
does with their tools. CCS tends to update their tools about once a month
or so. This is a big plus for me as I often use new-ish PICs in new designs=
..

Matt Pobursky
Maximum Performance Systems

On Tue, 25 Nov 2014 13:37:12 -0500, Neil wrote:
> What is the latest preferred choice for a PIC programmer that can program
> directly from pre-compiled hex files?
>
> The intention is that I give pre-built hex files to others to flash
> firmware and don't want to give out the source code, nor have them work
> in that environment.


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