preferable HMI+software

We use Maple System and they have held up great! Software very easy to use and their support is some of the best I have ever had to deal with.

All of their screens are MQTT publisher's with select models being both (Publisher & Subscriber).

Remote Access - Yes

And let's not forget the price! Very affordable!!
 
i used to buy Maple System HMIs, their tech support is unbearable.for example,

they dont have lamp option their push buttons. i add a lamp

i was struggling to upload tags,lots of software glitches.
 
I am a Red Lion fanboy. Crimson software is free, and 3.0 includes an emulator. It is extremely flexible and powerful. It is very reliable like their hardware.
 
The last years I have worked with Beijer E-series (E-designer), Beijer iX-series (iX Developer), Rockwell PanelView (FactoryTalk) and mainly Siemens (TIA V13->V15). Did a little playing around with emulated HMI using Codesys on a rPi.

Out of those, I prefer Siemens. Since that is what we mostly use, it is the package I am most fluent with. After they got rid of the eternal crashes it is fast and stable. It looks good and I can pretty much do what I need with it. I have yet to run into a bad screen. Only issue we have had we're caused by bad memory cards. Prices are pretty good once you get some volume. Software is expensive, but once you have it, maintaining it is not to bad.

iX developer is not bad either, but after having so many problems with drivers, cables and reliability issues, we walked away from them. I like the look of the screen, especially the new X2 Pro, and the ease of downloading a back-up with USB stick. Rep says problems are solved, but I just like the drag and drop functionality of TIA.

PanelView is a pain for me, we use Siemens PLC's, so have to go through an OPC server. Graphics looks ancient. (but costumer is king, right...)

All in all, you are likely going to recommend the package you know best.
 
My favourite is now obsolete, Beijer E/I Designer, it had everything built in that I needed and a good interface, the downside there wasn't any programming you could do to get around missing features. The replacement iX Developer is missing so many features and has a horrible interface and creates huge files that were too big to email. After hoping for 6 years that Beijer would fix it I have finally given up on them, we had many heated discussions.

Red Lion Crimson is OK but far from perfect, you can program around many missing features, but a lot of what I would expect to be standard features are missing, so you have to program around them. The interface is OK, the copy between screen items is excellent and saved me a load of time, but there isn't an easy way to be working on three screens and move between them. On other software there are tabs of open screens so that you can hop between. They work a bit backwards compared to other HMI software, in most you set things at a screen item level, but in Crimson you set things at a tag level that then changes the screen item. For instance you don't create a drop down list for the screen item, but instead for the tag.

For small jobs the Eaton/Moeller 'Easy' range of HMIs is quick and easy.

My general message to HMI software designers is something I heard a lot at school many many years ago, 'must try harder'.
 
I agree with OkiePC and the Red Lion. I have been using Crimson 3.1 on a couple of projects, and like that over 3.0. I have never used the emulator in 3.0, so can't comment on it's usefulness.

I have also done a couple projects with View Designer in Studio 5000, and that is quite to my liking. I despise FTView, in any flavor.
 
Have used Red Lion, Beijer, Schneider, Omron NS series - CX-Designer, Siemens, Omron NB series -NB Designer. Omron NS series for me using CX-Designer - it could be better though - as can any of them.
 
I second Maple Systems, cheap software, cheap harware, easy to program, have not used their technical help line so I can't comment on it.
 
I started using Weintek a couple of years ago and actually quite like it. The technical support from their UK distributor is very good once you get to speak to him as he is often out and about, and the guys in the office can't help.
 

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