As Arduino is open-sourced platform It allows multiple manufacturers around the world to make exact copies of Arduino which will be available at a lower price. Usually, the price difference between original and clone one is about 60% to 80%.
We can categorize Arduino manufacturers into three categories:
Official Arduino Platform
The Arduino board was first designed in Italy by Massimo Banzi, founder of Arduino. Till now Arduino boards are officially manufactured only in two countries: Italy and USA (New York). One can choose any one of these either from an Italian store or from an authorized distributor of Arduino boards available around the globe. List of official distributors are available which can be read by clicking here.
Brief specs about them are:
- Great build Quality
- Original components used that have long term reliability and functioning
- Price is a bit high
- Premium packaging and look
- Premium packaging and look
One can buy Official Arduino board from the official website by clicking here. Thanks to Arduino store worldwide shipping, it can be received anywhere around the world.
XDUINO – Third Party Manufacturers
Arduino is an open-source platform that doesn’t prohibit third-party manufacturers from making their own compatible board. Due to policy of Trademark infringement, any third-party board cannot be called Arduino as it is a registered trademark. However, Arduino allows the use of the suffix “Duino” in their names. Many large authorized manufacturers design Arduino with their own branding. Some of the popular manufacturers are.
- RedBoard from Sparkfun
- DFRduino from DFRobot
- Seeeduino from Seed Studio
Brief description about them is:
- Good build quality like original one
- Cheaper than original one
- Arduino Authorized
- No compatibility problem
To get an updated price of these boards visit their official stores:
Amazon Sellers
The Arduino boards are also easily available from online marketplaces like Amazon. Beware, as on Amazon, you may find some counterfeit Arduino boards as well. Before buying read the reviews.
To buy Arduino boards from Amazon click here.
Which Arduino to Buy – Original or Clone
Buying an Arduino depends upon the needs of a person. Beginners usually make a lot of mistakes; one wrong connection can burn the Arduino board completely. As a beginner it’s better to go with the clone version or with the authorized manufacturer as they are less costly in case if someone does wrong wiring than he/she can easily go for a new one.
As an expert, going with the original Arduino board will be beneficial for complex projects that can easily handle multiple input outputs with great efficiency and precision.
Here are few reasons why choose Official Arduino board only:
- Reliable Manufacturers: Arduino is itself founder of these boards they know what they are making and how to make them in the best possible way. Buying Arduino boards from official stores can give a product designed using cutting edge technologies. Kind of quality product we get is exceptional.
- Quality Products: Official Arduinos are costly but we get the quality for what we paid for. Another difference is while paying them high, a portion of which goes to the Arduino project which helps them to improve their platform and I think they deserve that.
- Compatibility: Official Arduinos are highly compatible with drivers, shields, IDE libraries and other Arduino boards.
Note: It is always recommended to go with the original product to support the platform.
Conclusion
For the beginners who don’t have any prior programming experience and want to learn using the Arduino platform there are multiple Arduino available in the market. Arduino is manufactured by many companies, so we have given the list of Arduino manufacturers which can help newbies in buying their first Arduino board without any confusion.
