What is the Ideal Prize?

My vote goes to the voucher too, for the same reasons already mentioned by fellow members.

Fabio

I voted for the voucher, then I could choose what was useful to me.

I think that people have different gear and interests so it's unlikely that a single biggish ticket item would appeal to all.

MK

The list is awesome! I will be glad to get any prize from this list for sure :-)

But as we are making electronics here, maybe it would be good to grant some Farnell voucher for winners.
This will allow them to realise their dream projects or upgrade their home labs

dougw  I like the list.  There's quite a bit of variety on it.  You never know what sparks passion in a person.  They might be still fighting with that brick of a laptop - or really want that 65" monitor.  The person with a 3D printer may be unmoved by it as a prize, but to the person with only an Exacto knife and a coping saw... the 3D printer is almost too much to hope for.

While it doesn't hit the target price range, a nice reflow oven would help with all those SMD's.

dougw  For RF, a spectrum analyzer or vector network analyzer - something a bit cooler than the Nano VNA.

Why don't we get "points" that are separate from the prizes and are given from, say, 0-100, based off effort, to all contest participants.

Then, you collect your points and can redeem prizes from the element14 swag shop

*minimum order applies, so shipping is less and you aren't paying 10 USD ship for a sticker

That could be, *fun* potentially.

I wish we could vote for a 'top three' since it was hard to decide on one. If I'm honest, e14 has disproportionately great prizes (although, if I'm more honest, often one would be able to buy them outright working for minimum wage for x hours and be farther ahead versus the time invested in most of the great projects). So I don't know of many places that offer fancy 3D printers, oscilloscopes, and other tool kits. It works great for us nerds since we'd be doing these projects just for fun anyways.

For the comments about non-participation since  one may already have something similar to the offered prize - Here are some of my thoughts. Perhaps E14 could consider doing a "or voucher equivalent" to their website. Sometimes I consider the prizes, but often I participate based on amount of other side-projects weighed against how interesting the topic is to me. If I've been mulling over a project and a contest comes along, it really bumps up my motivation. Another thought is that it is great for the E14 team to continue offering similar prizes since it is a great way to attract new people to the community. I know I've sent links out to friends with "Hey - you've got a shot to win a 3D printer if you participate".

More specialized tools like spectrum analyzers may be a little /too/ specific for general contests, but if they are offered for RF themed contest then it makes sense.

I forgot to put a good power supply on the list - that is either the first or second instrument one should invest in. I would put it before an oscilloscope.

The prize definitely can inhibit participation as can a prior win. However I don't think this needs to change - contests where I abstained for those reasons worked great without my entry.

I was thinking about what RF instrument might work for the poll and was considering some fancy SDR, but I don't have a feel for what is desirable in that field.