PCBPCAD51/PCBPCAD720 Review

[Chris56000]

Hi!

One of the members on here had mentioned that he wrote/compiled this tool which sells cheaply on eBay, and I will admit I bought it and was not pleased, for the following reasons:-

a) The schematic symbols are atrociously proportioned – where else do you see a whacking great long box for a resistor that's so out of proportion to the other component symbols in any Electronics textbook or any other EDA tool?

My erstwhile College Lecturers would have played hell at me if I'd handed in a circuit drawn like this!

2) I couldn't find any line or polygon drawing tools;

3) Most important of all, there appears to be absolutely NO schematic symbol or PCB footprint editors built in the software – if there is I couldn't work out how to use them!

So I'm afraid this tool gets a big "thumbs–down" from me!

If any other Members have bought and tried this and can confirm the features I think are completely missed out are there, please feel to correct me!

I would be pleased to read other Members' experiences with this software!

Chris Williams

[Warhawk]

That SW is terrible just from the printscreens. I do not necessarily judge the outdated user interface. I only care about stability and functionality.

I guess you're aware of KiCad but are you aware of Horizon EDA? It may be something for you to check. The author is active here.
https://horizon-eda.org

[nigelwright7557]

Hi!

1) The schematic symbols are atrociously proportioned – where else do you see a whacking great long box for a resistor that's so out of proportion to the other component symbols in any Electronics textbook or any other EDA tool?


2) I couldn't find any line or polygon drawing tools;

3) Most important of all, there appears to be absolutely NO schematic symbol or PCB footprint editors built in the software – if there is I couldn't work out how to use them!

1/ If you dont like it change it.  I like to put resistor value and wattage on them hence being a little longer than normal.
2/ You can draw lines which means yo ucan also do polygons. Polygons are automatically filled in software.
3/ Rubbish ! There is "schematic definitions" and "PCB definitions" software modules for creating and editing defintions. Also component wizards for SIl, DIl, valve base, quad packages and BGA !

I think that covers everything so in that case its maybe not so bad after all ?

[nigelwright7557]

That SW is terrible just from the printscreens. I do not necessarily judge the outdated user interface. I only care about stability and functionality.

I guess you're aware of KiCad but are you aware of Horizon EDA? It may be something for you to check. The author is active here.
https://horizon-eda.org

They are just low res screenshots. Clearly the real software works in whatever your pc screen resolution is in.

As for Kicad (spit) you wait 6 months for a bug fix. If you email me I fix a bug in less than a day usually.
Kicad has better basic libraries than me but  I guarantee the one library component you want wont be in Kicad when you need it.
I provide component wizards which create components from a few parameters.

You pay your money (or not) and take your choice.

I have done around 300 pcb's with the software and never had a problem.

I also take on board any suggestions from my customers directly.



If the software really is a pile of poo then how come I have sold thousands with very few negative feedbacks ?
The one thing ebay customers do if they have a problem is ask for a refund and/or leave a negative feedback.

[Ysjoelfir]

Aaaah, I remember that discussion about this software.
IIRC the author showed clearly that he doesn't realy care about feedback from the users, instead tries to "argument" that he has done like hundreds of PCBs with this great software and they were up to industry standards but with just way lower price, also everybody that has problems with his exclusive software is just to stupid to figure out the easiest things..
Also there were arguments that there are like a million customers that were not complaining at all - which to me sounds more like "ok, it was so cheap, I won't bother complaining at all, writing a complaint costs more than the software." than anything else.

When I started my business I looked into various software, this one included.
I thought it was reasonably priced and despite the VERY strange appearance on the website I was willing to give it a try - until I found out the mindset of the person selling it.
You should look it up, its... interesting to read.

My suggestion is: Don't bother and try KiCAD or Horizon EDA.

[nigelwright7557]

Aaaah, I remember that discussion about this software.
IIRC the author showed clearly that he doesn't realy care about feedback from the users

I simply argued my point of view, I didnt realise that was banned on here ?

I actually took on board some of the more sensible comments.
I added Control Z "undo" and Control Y "redo".
I added a better drag and drop on PCBCAD720.
I added forward annotation.
I added "copper pour out of bounds" in design rules checking.

How's that ignoring comments ?

I have changed quite a bit of the software after buyers have commented over the years.
One suggested adding "delete" key as well as press "d" to delete.
Another suggested not rotating component reference and value when component is rotated to make drawing more readable.
Someone suggested "autoplace and route recursively until best layout is found" which I added.
Someone suggested a "Swap autoplace" function to get best layout of components. This sometimes routes almost impossible pcb's.
etc etc

[Ysjoelfir]

Oh, I didn't realise it was you But that made it easier for me to find the topic I remembered reading a while back.

I think anyone who is interested in the software will find everything interesting in this thread - https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/pcb-design-software-with-components-autoplacers/msg2566560/#msg2566560