AVR vs PIC in the real world

[John Gutmann]

Ok so first off I know we use the PIC in FIRST. And secondly I am a very very expirience AVR programmer. I have just for many week now looking at the differences between PIC and AVR microcontrollers. For those of you who know something about this topic is there one reason to choose one over the other? Is one more "advanced" persay? Is there a reason one will rarely find a AVR inside of a device, as to PICs are more common? I am looking out at learning more about and starting to play with PIC microcontrollers.

-John

[ZZII 527]

AVRs have a few things going for them, and I'm sure other will bring up more points, but here's what I know:
1. They are inherently faster than PICs. A PIC with a 20MHz "clock" actually runs instructions four times slower. An AVR with a 20 MHz clock runs at 20 MHz. I don't know the technical reason why this is, but it is.
2. They are much cheaper to start with - the programmer is only $35 and the development environment is free.

Other than that, they both have such a wide range of chips that you can find what you are looking for from either brand usually. If you have experience with one, you can pick up the other very easily.

[chris31]

Here is a good article that covers a few basic points.