Anybody using Opto22 SNAP-PAC system?

http://www.opto22.com/site/le_pac_rollover.aspxhttp://www.opto22.com/

They advertise pretty heavily in the trade magazines and I was just curious if anyone here has any experience with them. I did a little reading and it seems like they do have some limitations compared to traditional PLCs (can't upload program from controller; no ladder logic programming) but it looks like an interesting product and there is a very large selection of I/O available.

Any opinions?

I tried a half dozen points 2-3 years ago, and found that I couldn't get the I/O to respond after power cycling. Sometimes it would wake-up and respond, and other times, it wouldn't. It was all benchtop testing, not field installed.

I figured I missed something so I called their tech support twice, (left voice mails, I think) and sent a couple emails but never got a response to any inquiry.

I could have done something wrong, but the lack of tech support follow-up was unacceptable. I think I gave the hardware to the local community college to play with.

Things might have improved over time.

We have 11 makeup air heaters on a building using OPTO22 vintage 1998 or so. From day one various analog inputs would go high range and you would have to cycle power and sometimes it would work with one try. With 11 units on a 485 buss if one goes offline it really slows down the comm with the OPTO MMI. Two or more off line forget it. Don't use a Dwyer pressure transmitter with it. I found out that the Dwyer will over range to some 30+ma and the OPTO analog will saturate and show a low signal!!!! The biggest pain is not being able to upload from controller. The software can also get 'confused' as to the correct file loaded so you can't go online at times without downloading back into the unit.

Maybe the newer stuff is better. I won't find out.

Thanks for your input. I downloaded the PACcontrol software and the flowchart programming looks interesting but on the other hand it's just one more thing to confuse Bubba. They don't seem to have a very large installed user base as of yet. I agree that the inability to upload from the controller is a major drawback.

I used Opto22 back in the early 90s to do injection molding control. I loved their Cyrano Flowchart programming system and we didn't have any hardware problems. Following that good experience I've kept an eye on Opto since then and I regret to say the apparent unreliability of their H/W has been a regular topic, particularly in the last few years. As a result, I regret to say that I probably wouldn't use it again - pity really, I think the basic concept is sound, but the execution seems to be lacking something somewhere.

There's a ready mix in our area that's used opto 22 for 15 years. He loves his system. Says its been very reliable. I think for process automation its pretty descent. The draw back is high speed automation.

I loved their Cyrano Flowchart programming system and we didn't have any hardware problems.

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The flowchart programming is what really intrigues me about the system; the software seems pretty solid. But most of the comments I've heard are negative. I met with my [unnamed national electronics distributor] rep today who handles Opto22 and he didn't have anything good to say about them. Apparently the regional support from Opto is very poor. I still haven't decided whether I want to fork over $1000 for a test rack to play with.