Microchip tends to change a lot more than just pinouts, so a device programmer will need to
support a variety of different device programming algorithms, pinouts, and whatever else
differs from one to the next.

I gave up years ago on clone type programmers. It really will save you a boat-load of time
and frustration going with a solid & supported programmer.

Most clone types don't stay current with software & firmware updates, so you fall behind in
support for a lot of new PICs.

A PICkit2 or MeLabs USB programmer would be worth the investment.