PICkit 3 In-Circuit Debugger

I personally have had nothing but trouble with the PICkit 3. I am constantly having to unplug and reconnect the programmer to get it to work in MPLAB. I also have problems using the compile and program function from within Proton using the command line programmer supplied by Microchip.

The PICkit 3 software has yet to mature like the EXCELLENT PICkit 2. I am sure in time the PICKit 3 will be as easy to use as the PICkit 2.

Bottom line.. do not purchase the PICkit 3 as an entry level programmer until Microchip has ironed out the bugs. I recommend purchasing the PICkit 2 and then migrating to the PICkit 3 when you need the additional device support. The standalone GUI and the command line programmer for the PICkit 2 are both very good.

The PICKit3 has been around for some time now and is a direct replacement for the PICKit2. However there are a lot of people who have found that it’s not living up to its name and is no way a direct alternative for the PICKit3. So who is right?

The two Debuggers come in identical form factors and have the same connections and pin outs so there are no problems there. The PICKit3 has a better micro inside it and clams to be faster. So I connected one of my board in which has a PIC24F and tested to see which was quicker.

My program is 6265 program words long and I’m using MPLAB v8.56.

The PICKit2 programmed the board in around 9 seconds and clearly displayed is progress of the programming, number of bytes and verifying progress – all good to see.

The PICKit3 first had to have new firmware downloaded. This is because it follows the same idea as with the IDC’s in that different firmware is used for the different families of micros. So every time you switch families you will be prompted for this – personally I find this a little annoying. Next I had to go into the Debuggers setting and enable power to my target – this is not self detecting like on the PICKit2 you need to set this up yourself. The I got to program the device and it was quicker at around 6 seconds. I did now ever notice the only feedback I got during the process was “Programming...” and “Programming/Verify complete”. Ok but not as informative as the PICKit2 was.!?

So the PICKit3 is quicker but more fussy to get going first time and lacks feedback. Considering the saving of 33% in time, hardly notable to me really.

Debugging is the real game, we could use anything to program a device but for an engineer we are going to use it as a debug tool – so how good is it.

I picked to point in my start up code and then another a hundred lines later. Running the debugger with the PICKit3 was as expected, normal code skip as the debugger stops on the line after the one you select. And all other functions like watching values in memory worked without error. The PICKit2 also performed equally as well so there is a draw here between the two.

Both the debuggers support stopping on access to a memory locations as well as writing a set value which is nice for catching certain errors. Especially as these are both low cost debuggers.!

So what’s the differences? Well the PICKit3 has a added StopWatch feature that allows you to see how long it takes to run between break points – minor improvement and not something that I think many people will use.

The big difference is in the supporting software. With the coming of MPLAB’X the poor old PICKit2 will no longer be supported. So regardless of what you think, you will have to switch to the PICKit3. There are also a number of new micros that are also only supported by the PICKit3, so we are all going to have to make the move.

The things we will lose however are seen as a big negative by a number of people I have talked to. The PICKit2 has a inbuilt serial interface so you can talk to the serial port on your micro and also has a logic analyzer in it too that can let you monitor a few pin of your project and help you debug it. As someone who has access to tools that can replace these functions then I’ll not be affected much. However as someone who supports schools and hobbyist and does not have a scope or other tools at home then the loss of these are a big deal. Microchip need to remember that the hobbyist influence the market.

For me the PICKit2 is ahead on points and I’ll stick with it until I have to change or the PICKit3 steps ahead of it.

I bought a PICKIT3 and returned it after a few days as I could not get it to work consistently with MPLAB.  Having read all the forums I found this was quite a common issue, amongst others with this programmer.  I wondered if Microchip has been infultrated by Microsoft who regularly test their substandard products on unsuspecting consumers. I swapped PICKIT3 for an ICD3 which has none of the former's problems although it did cost a lot more and may be out of the reach of some hobbyists.