No, I will not ask “chinese or not”, since I have a strategy for all such sourcing: I buy an original sample (wtf is “original” …), and a copy as well.
That way, I have e.g. filled my stock with arduinos clearly below the “original” price. With buying an original sample, I support the originator (though arduino is open HW and may legally be produced by anybody, except for the logos and the name), and I have a testing solution in case something doesn’t work with the cheapos as expected.
That’s my way to do it and it works fine.
The “cheap” versions are usually for “cheap” applications, for testing and experiments. A final build will usually be equiped with a regular sample.
A compromise from my point of view.
Here’s btw an interesting video about the 1MB thing:
I have one “genuine” PixRacer and 2 “clones”. All 3 perform the same.I like these FC’s and have them in Multirotors and a Rover. I have several Pixhawks in a couple flavors, all of them could be considered “clones” and they all perform well also. If it’s mission critical then buy a PixRacer from Mrobotics or a PIxhawk Cube from Proficnc. No direct experience but the Pixhacks from CUAV are reported to be quality units and development is active.
Another thing about “chinese sources”: These guys don’t write regular invoices. For me, running a software-company as a freelancer, this is only a choice, if an item from china costs clearly less than half the price: Total price minus VAT minus income-taxes. And VAT is almost 20% here.
It’s ok for arduinos: An Atmega2560-Arduino costs €7.50 vs. €35 ! With that difference of almost 500% there is in fact no risc. And besides this, to build an Arduino is not rocket-science, so the technical risc is close to zero.
This looks very different for a Pixhawk. It is a sophisticated device, consists of a dozen of components which provide more than enough temptations to “save” money upon production. And it costs quite some money, even from china. And no warranty, no support.
No, it is absolutly possible that I do not buy even one copy from there. I can book a “regular” purchase with a correct invoice in my country as business-expenses, and this is even the truth as I will not only “play” with it but also want to exmine the technology and the software behind it.
The bigger problem is to find one AT ALL here in Germany, there is more or less only one source.
You should also look at the Pixhawk 3 Pro from Drotek (Pixhawk 3 Pro). It’s certainly the most powerfull and advanced pixhawk.
It’s a bit expensive, but french quality …
