Advin: A vendor to avoid

[Steven Hirsch <snhirsch@gmail.com>]

I'm ready to strangle the folks at Advin.  I've been looking for a reasonably 
priced device programmer for months and their brand had come highly 
recommended.  One of the key requirements was that it properly handle small 
bipolar PROM devices.

Recently, a Pilot 143 came up on eBay.  I wrote to Advin and asked them 
explicity if it supported, e.g. 74S297 and 74S571.  They responded by telling 
me that the unit was so old that no device listing was available and that the 
only way to tell was to download the software and see if they were listed.

I did and they were.  A week and $150 later, I was staring at a Pilot 143 in 
clean, functional condition.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it 
could neither properly read nor write the PROM devices.  Imagine my further 
surprise when the same technical support folks who told me that the software 
was determinant NOW told me "..oh, not all devices in the software are 
supported by the hardware and that unit won't handle 74S PROMs".  All of a 
sudden they DO have supported-device data.  Jerks.

I'm out $150 + shipping and still don't have the functionality I need.

So, onward and upward.  Does anyone have experience with Andromeda Research 
device programmers?  This is a reasonably inexpensive unit ($290) that claims 
to support just about everything you could hope for.  Even better, they make 
the bare boards for the various adapter modules available at dirt cheap 
prices, along with a parts list if you want to build your own (example: the 
74S bipolar module is normally $139 - board is $39 and uses parts I have in 
the bin here).

Having been burned once, I thought I'd exercise due diligence this time 
around.  Anyone want a nice, clean programmer that will handle standard EPROM 
and flash devices?  Best offer over $100 (plush shipping) takes it.

Steve