The Current PCB Quality of Itead Studio?

[SolarSunrise]

Did anyone ordered a batch from Itead studio recently? Dave's rant few years ago has dropped their reputation slightly for me but I'm still planning to get a batch. I mean, color solder mask + silkscreen + Gold plated + Expedit shipping = 76$ for 10 boards!!! Most of the complaints arises from the slow shipping but why not use the expedite shipping option?

It is really tempting to order a batch from them.... "Is it the greatest thing since sliced bread"?

[SolarSunrise]

Well I guess you can't ignore Dave's rantings:
http://blog.iteadstudio.com/prototyping-pcb-minimum-spacing-limitation/

We need more people like Dave to criticize and fix the manufacturer's issues...

[M. András]

i did. it came out just as good as the ones from seed i couldnt find anything wrong with the boards however the ones from itead are just a mounting plate for philips/lumileds luxeon leds so nothing major fine pitch stuffs but lots of vias all good

[sacherjj]

I've had a few prototypes from them for work in non-critical space or impedance boards.  If you don't push their minimums, they work fine.  I've been happy with what I've received.

[profmason]

I just ordered 3 sets of PCBs from Itead for the mechatronics course I am teaching this term.  Paying for upgraded shipping meant that they arrived in 9 days to the USA.  Sunny Yu who was the long time prototype PCB guy has left the company and the new guy is Dale Huang.  I had always had a good experience with Sunny as he would quickly (24 hours) point out an problems with gerbers that meant they weren't going to work with their process (Ultiboard not generating outlines, drill file problems etc)   I didn't have any interaction with Dale as all the boards were ones that I had run before. 

Quality was as good as always which is fine for 2 layer through hole student project boards.  I was mainly impressed that they could turn them around so quickly.

Sunny has started his own company MIER that I will try after Chinese new year.

Cheers,
mmason

[zapta]

Hi

I am sunny , Thanks for your support 
This is my website : http://www.smiery.com/ . I am glad to find you on this forum . with old customers' support , my company grow up smoothly , our business expand quickly .

Best Regards
Sunny.yu

"Boards which are seperated only by silk-screen are counted as sub-boards and have to be payed extra."

That's a regression from itead's (and elecrow) rules  ;-)

Any plans for low cost metal stencils for hobyiests? (e.g. frameless, 1" margin around the board area)

How much is shipping (normal and expedited) to the US?

If your prices are competitive you may want to get on http://pcbshopper.com