Best Pic Microcontroller for General use?

Question

what is the best pic micro controller to always have.

i'm looking for a low cost one thats under 5 dollars.

Answer 1

As the other poster said go DIP, I have worked with the SMT as a hobbiest (school projects) and for most this would be to difficult.

I use the ICD2 programmer which imo is one of the best out there considering the range of applications it is good for.  I bought mine on sale and if you are student i know microchip has some student discounts (although I am unsure of what they are).  Many people I know use the PICKIT and it is a nice little programmer but only for the 16F series (don't quote me on this).  Oh and also the ICD2 has some pretty nice debugging features.  I have used the above 2 programmers and another generic so I know little about other models that exist.

The microchip site really is well documented as far as differences to the units go.  You should look it up.  They have cost per unit, memory size, pin connections etc.  I personally like the PIC16F877/A and these are very popular.  If you are just starting I might look into this, there are also many examples online.  I would look at the 18F personally (this is what i use for the most part).  Some of the 18F are USB compatible as the poster above mentioned.  If you are looking to start with basic MCU you probably don't want or need this capability.  

Other than that the major concern I have is how big is the storage and what MCU connection types do they have.  Ie.  IIC, SPI, UART, CAN communication capabilities, etc.  Watch for the specs on these as the device may have one IIC and one SPI but they use the same physical ports which means you can only use one.  Sometimes I find I need more, esp when working with other MCU, computer, and other digital devices.  These are more important to take into account once you know what you plan on doing with the MCU.  If I was looking to tinker around I would make sure they had 1 of each, and for my personal playing around I would get the USB model (also 16 bits which is handy).  

I hope this helps you a bit in your decision making.

Answer 2

First issue is, how are you going to program the PIC?

I suggest getting the $50 PICKIT 2 Debug Express programmer board which includes a 16F887 processor:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Follow the link to the PIC site here, then the link for the list of supported devices. Pick devices supported by both the ICSD and the MPLAB IDE.

The basic chips can't use this debugger, so debugging them requires dedicated adapter boards with a special processor. I suggest picking from the more capable nanoWatt line here and on the supported device list. This will give you good development tools without having to buy another board.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Here's a list of the mid-range or better devices that supports debugging, most under $2:

PIC16(L)F723, 724, 726, 727; PIC16F87, 88; PIC16F870, 871, 872, 873, 874, 876, 877; PIC16F873A, 874A, 876A, 877A; PIC16F882, 883, 884, 886, 887; PIC16F913, 914, 916, 917;

Non nanoWatt: PIC16F818, 819; PIC16F737, 747, 767, 777; PIC16F946

All the 18's, 24's and dSP's seem to have the debug features. They have more instructions than the 16Fxxx devices, to better support C language structures, and  cost almost the same. 28 pin is the smallest tho. dsP30 are pretty fast 16bit processors, 5V, and still only $3.

The different chips have different numbers of leads and different capabilities. For example, some have a built in USB or Ethernet port. All program pretty much the same, so you can pick and choose for each project without losing anything. Use ones that come in DIP packages if you want to use protoboards or prototype boards, as the surface mount ones are tough for hobbyists to use. Most all except the top end units are under $5.