PCB design for downhole oil and gas tools. Altium Develop allows for complete documentation generation from a single software source, easily updated when changes are made. Having access to real-time component availability is a great help. A common library of verified parts is also of benefit, as we have multiple people using the software on an occasional basis.
Pros
Fabrication and Assembly documentation using Draftsmen
Search of manufacturer parts database
Bom generation using customer templates
Cons
I find changing layers while manually routing a bit cumbersome.
Templates for component creation would be great at lower level subscriptions.
Board outline creation and manipulation is difficult within Altium Develop and is often easier in another tool than imported. Getting scaling correct can be a challenge on importing.
Likelihood to Recommend
I have used Altium Designer over the past few years and my biggest complaint was the annual subscription cost. Altium Develop has addressed this issue, especially for a low use environment.
VU
Verified User
Consultant in Engineering (Oil & Energy company, 201-500 employees)
We use Altium Develop for developing PCB's, specifically boards that are usually 2-8 layer and typically less than 100mm x 50mm. It provides an good platform for managing components, drawing the schematic and laying out the board. Documentation generation is also (mostly) straightforward to use and it used frequently. We do not use the multi-board or harness solutions.
Pros
Component management
Schematic drawing
Good user experience with layout
Cons
Draftsman could do with some improvement - it doesn't flow or react as well or as quickly as the schematic designer or the pcb layout.
Updates tend to break more things than bring features or improvement to features. I recommend longer testing periods for updates.
Stop adding new features and go back and address a number of the bugs in bugcrunch
Likelihood to Recommend
It's generally well suited to any PCB or schematic/wiring diagram drawing requirements. I can't speak about the harness design or the multiboard features because I haven't had a need for them. There is a number of features like those (and the wirebonding feature) that are quite niche, which is why I would prefer less time was spent on niche features and more on the stability of the program for the standard features most people purchase your software to use.
VU
Verified User
Engineer in Engineering (Oil & Energy company, 11-50 employees)
