Arduino Opta PLC Second Impressions: Mehh
Alright, let’s talk about the Arduino Opta PLC. First off, I’m glad Arduino is trying to step into the industrial automation space. It’s exciting to see them take their user-friendly approach into new territory. But, honestly, they’ve got a long way to go to get the basics right.
The hardware, thanks to Finder, is solid – no complaints there. But the software? That’s where it all starts to fall apart. The Arduino PLC IDE has been a nightmare for a lot of users. Constant crashes, confusing layouts, and just an overall clunky experience. No industrial automation engineer has time to deal with this. Going online with the PLC should be seamless, but instead, it’s a headache.
And here’s the kicker: in earlier versions of the software, you could program the Opta over Ethernet, which was fantastic for flexibility. But now? That feature’s gone in the later updates. Why? It’s insane to remove something so critical when connectivity is the backbone of industrial automation.
At £130 mehhh. Right now, it feels like they’ve put the cart before the horse – focusing on making it look professional while missing the basic functionality that engineers actually need.
Overall, I’m rooting for Arduino on this one. They’re stepping into a space with a lot of potential. But until they sort out the software and fix the connectivity issues, it’s hard to recommend the Opta PLC to anyone who needs something reliable and easy.
Stupidly I'll keep trying with this thing and hopefully I get somewhere.
