[DFTF] Jags v. Vics...

[Joe Johnson]

This is part of a series of posts called Drinking From The Firehose on getting Dr Joe back up to speed on All Things FIRST.

Today's topic:
Jags v. Vics

I know I risk of starting a flame war, but it has to be asked.

Victors or Jaguars?

I have asked a lot of folks and here is what I have been able to find so far:

• Size: Victors Win
• Cost: Victors Win ($89 vs. $119 -- though I think there is a discount for FIRST teams, even after the discount, I think Victor remains lower cost)
• Reliability: Victors seem to have the public on this one, but it is not clear if this data is tainted by "the early years" of the Jaguars
• Smarter: Jaguars have an enormous brain inside that larger package -- not sure what that buys you in FIRST circles because we are limited in what we can do with it but it is there. Also can be a negative because some say the controller resets in some cases and causes flaky behavior (forgetting PID controls and otherwise going insane)
• More Features: e.g. Sensor and Switch Input, PID control (without the main controller even in the loop), current readings baked in (if you use CAN)
• CAN interface: pro and con for Jaguar - CAN can be better but the implementation has caused some problems (blocking controller code from running in some cases)
• Over Current Protection: Jaguars have baked in self protection (60A for 2 sec, 100A for 0.2 sec). Blessing and a curse. We already have a circuit breaker so we are double fusing in a sense but at the same time, not letting the electronics fry seems like a good idea too.

Over all, I think I am in the Jaguar camp because I am excited to implement some of the features available via CAN but I want to hear other input.


Thanks all,
Joe J.