Quote Originally Posted by T.Jackson View Post
We go straight to PCB; if the design needs corrections we simply modify the layout and request another 1 off board from our suppliers.
So you could end up with half a dozen PCB's that are of no use what so ever and have costed you a small fortune for one off runs.. not to mention the time wasted in lead time from the PCB house. This would be fine if you worked in a multi-million pound company, but for hobby or small companies I still feel that breadboarding first is the way to go.

I used to work for a national defence organisation in the UK, and spent a lot of time in the labs with the engineers and designers. They would often supply me with the probervial "design on the back of an envelope" and I would first build the circuit on some strip board - they would then test it to see if it works as they predicted, and then it would be passed for prototyping - once the prototype board was etched and tested the first revison batch of PCBs were made. By the time the whole project had been researched and developed and then put forward for production the revison of the PCB may of changed five fold, but originally the concept was prototyped on a breadboard / stripboard first.

For hobby use - can't see the point of using a simulator. Breadboard the circuit, and test in the real world. Then build a prototype PCB and test that - it it works add the glitter round the edges (logo etc) and publish !