Can you recommend an inexpensive programmer for a DIP40 PIC 18F4550?

Question

I have found several on BangGood and AliExpress, but the drivers and software seem to be coming from sketchy Russian "pay-pirate" or Chinese sites.

14rhb · Answer

Hi David, I use the Microchip Pickit3 and combined with the Microchip MPLAB X software IDE (and XC8/16/32 C compilers) find it is a great combination - just make sure you buy a genuine Pickit3 from Farnell/Newark etc. UK price is around £35 I believe. You program the PIC via a simple 5/6 way 0.1" header. Rod

COMPACT · Answer

I have a PICKIT 3 but have never used it. Silly me! They're now up to PICKIT 4. The PICKITS have the advantage of debugging capabilities and being inexpensive. If you're looking for a capable supposedly "Universal" (but not) programmer get one that's well supported. Cheap and odd branded device programmers seem to lose technical support and device updates quickly. The good ones tend have premium prices and have great longevity and support. I've got an old Conitec GALEP-4 which I've had for about 10 years or more and it can program PIC18F4550 but there are many others like the Dataman models. Conitec even have an upgrade path to their latest GALEP-5 albeit unecconomical. The more modern programmers have USB interfaces e.g. GALEP-4. My old GALEP-4 uses a parallel port so I have to use PCs that have a suitable parallel port which generally means having to be hosted by a desktop PC. Unlike many legacy parallel port based applications which are restricted to using ports 0278, 0378 and 03BC, the GALEP32 software works with my PCI card parallel port which resides at a different I/O address.

Can you recommend an inexpensive programmer for a DIP40 PIC 18F4550?

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