I am also looking for such a development board and I think I am going
for the easypic5. Firstly looking at the two web sites it is obvious
the boards are very similar, but the easypic site is easyer to
understand, plus on the site there are plenty of free downloadable
books. You can also download demo versions of the compilers if you
want. This gives me a better feeling for the product.

Hi Mark...

Having used all three of those boards, I would advise you to go with
the MikroElektronika board. The quality is unsurpassed, and I've
never had any kind of failure with their equipment. In the USA, you
can buy MikroElektronika stuff from Circuit-Ed (www.circuit-ed.com).
They are a great company, and they bend over backwards to get things
right.

For the record, I have no affiliation with either company - I'm just a
very satisfied customer. :-)

My QL200 was replaced twice because the boards were defective - one
had a defective on-board programmer, and the other was missing several
solder pads under the PIC. The quality just wasn't there.
Considering the company is in China, every time there is a problem,
resolution can take several days.

The HP488 is nice, and I like the modular E-Blocks components, but
some of the equipment can be a little pricey. Great stuff, just a
little expensive.

Jamie
On Oct 7, 2008, at 1:58 PM, fiestadonald wrote:

> I am interested in getting a PIC developement board to be able to
> program various PICs (8 to 40 pin), be able to debug programs and have
> external inputs and outputs that I can test with. I have found three
> boards that would work out.
>
> 1)MikroElektroniks EasyPIC5 $129
>
> 2)E-Blocks HP488 $274
>
> 3)QLS Electronic Technology QL200 $140
>
> Are there others that have similar features?
> Has anyone ever used any of these boards? What are pros/cons of them?
> I am considering the QL200 just based on features/price but I have
> seen a lot of talk in regards to the EasyPIC5.
> Thanks,
> Mark
>

2008/10/7 fiestadonald :
> I am interested in getting a PIC developement board to be able to
> program various PICs (8 to 40 pin), be able to debug programs and have
> external inputs and outputs that I can test with. I have found three
> boards that would work out.
>
> 1)MikroElektroniks EasyPIC5 $129
>
> 2)E-Blocks HP488 $274
>
> 3)QLS Electronic Technology QL200 $140
>
> Are there others that have similar features?
> Has anyone ever used any of these boards? What are pros/cons of them?
> I am considering the QL200 just based on features/price but I have
> seen a lot of talk in regards to the EasyPIC5.

the easypic5 and ql200 are very similar, i use a ql200, i have found
no problem with it, and no doubt anything you can do on one you should
be able to do on the other, i think you may be abl to get a better
deal on the ql200 than the ep5, and they sell it with the lcd's etc
bundled.

build quality on the ql200 is good, software is useable but not great,
support on its forum is below average, only seemed to have one staff
guy doing it all.

I complained about a fault in their programming software and their had
a patch out the same week!

once more people use it the forum will no doubt grow.

I am interested in getting a PIC developement board to be able to
program various PICs (8 to 40 pin), be able to debug programs and have
external inputs and outputs that I can test with. I have found three
boards that would work out.

1)MikroElektroniks EasyPIC5 $129

2)E-Blocks HP488 $274

3)QLS Electronic Technology QL200 $140

Are there others that have similar features?
Has anyone ever used any of these boards? What are pros/cons of them?
I am considering the QL200 just based on features/price but I have
seen a lot of talk in regards to the EasyPIC5.
Thanks,
Mark