It's 2025 and a quarter of the 21st century has passed. AI is at the center of the tech stage, and as I write this, TikTok went off-line in the United States, shining a light a data security, privacy, and governance. This year, I expect the tech industry will surprise us with new innovations and more change. I hope all of you have had a great 2024. Let's talk about roadtests in the year which has just passed.
What is a RoadTest?
If you are new to the element14 Community, the term RoadTest may be unfamiliar to you. So, let me explain it is. The element14 Community helps promoted new product introductions for various suppliers of Avnet, inc. RoadTests are one of the activities available to element14 members to participate in. In essence, a RoadTest is a product review of an element14 member based on hands-on testing and experiments. It goes beyond a web review with a star rating that is common on consumer sites all over the Internet. Rather, it is a comprehensive review that shows the initial product experience of the RoadTester through videos, charts, screenshots, tables, graphs, and other multimedia.
2024 RoadTest Summary
In 2024, we roadtested 23 products, which averages to be about two per month. (Less products were roadtested this year than 2023 because we changed our roadtest shipping from the U.S. to the United Kingdom, taking several months to train the new staff.) As in every year, we roadtested a wide variety of products, covering 11 product categories. The leading categories were Single Board Computers, Power Management, Microcontrollers, and Wireless. Power Management accounted for the largest single-category roadtest, showing the high emphasis that power management had for our key suppliers.
The roadtest review completion rate for 2024 was similar to the rates of previous years. I account it being a few percentage points down decause of the shipping changes and a number of roadtests were launched late in the year, thus, their completion rates were not tallied in the final annual rate. I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the element14 community RoadTest Program.
The Best RoadTest Reviews for 2024
I asked community members what they thought were the most interesting roadtest reviews of 2024 and compared them to my top review choices. This year, when I chose my best reviews, I took into consideration how well the reviewer performed when there was a problem with the product or the software. I think that is a telltale sign of a great reviewer who can adapt his or her review to uncertain situations. All the reviews listed below are excellent reviews. They are written with expertise and a commitment to high performance.
Here are the best roadtest reviews for 2024 listed in no special order:
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Power - strb: Member since 2015 Posts: 157 Discovering the Toshiba e-Fuse IC Evaluation Kit EVB-TCKE805NA |
Power - Gough Lui: Memeber since 2011 Posts: 3,114 Power Integrations LinkSwitch-TN2Q Reference Design RDR-707Q RoadTest Review |
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MCU - rcsim10: Member since 2017 Posts: 9 |
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Interfaces - JWX: Member since 2022 Posts: 595 |
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3D Printing - Attila Tőkés: Member since 2018 Posts: 99 |
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Power - Jwx: Member since 2022 Posts: 595 |
Test & Measure - john.porter: Member since 2016 Posts: 63 john.porter: B&K Precision DAS60 High Speed Multi-Function Recorder |
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Industrial - MARK2011: Member since 2011 Posts: 319 |
SBC - vlasov01: Member since 2016 Posts: 303 |
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MCU battlecoder: Member since 2015 Posts: 145 |
Last Word: Many Thanks to the Reviews and the element14 Team
I'd like to thank all the element14 members who either applied or roadtested a product in 2024. Many roadtesters spend over 40 hours total in testing a product, which is a sizable commitment of time and effort. I'd also like to thank the element14 Community teams who have helped me manage the program. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work, especially with shipping, that is done.
Have a Great 2025!
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