April 14, 2026
Soldergate: $100 for your soul?
PCBWay sponsorship: full-size SD module for Arduino projects
He took $100 in boards — honest review or just a free ad
TLDR: A creator accepted $100 in PCB credit from PCBWay to build a safer full‑size SD card module, comparing PCBWay to rival JLCPCB along the way. Comments erupted over tiny sponsorship money, ad saturation, and trust, while others praised the useful details and nitpicked the design and parts choices.
A maker took a modest $100 sponsorship from PCBWay to build a full‑size SD card add‑on for Arduino, promising full honesty — and the comments section exploded. One camp shrugged and said the write‑up was actually useful (hello, KiCad 10% donation and a one‑click “Share & Sell” for open hardware), while others called it Soldergate. The spiciest reaction? Viewers fuming that $100 in PCB credit isn’t payment, it’s publicity bait. Cue the meme parade: “sellout for solder,” “exposure bucks,” and “logo-for-boards economy.”
Critics also dragged the ethics: even a negative review still links back, boosting search rankings — so who really wins? Meanwhile, sponsorship fatigue set in, with folks noting that PCBWay and JLCPCB are already everywhere, yet the ads keep coming. Practical tinkerers chimed in too: one commenter said they might switch from JLC after the breakdown, but also nitpicked the design (move those mounting holes!) and asked why bother with 5‑volt compatibility when so many hobby boards now run 3.3 volts. Another thread dove into supply‑chain nerdery: can JLC now assemble anything LCSC sells, or is it still a limited parts library?
The author’s story — slower human checks at PCBWay, slick automation at JLC, and the need for safe voltage shifting on SD cards — got readers talking. But the real headline is trust: is $100 of freebies a harmless boost, or paid influence in disguise?
Key Points
- •PCBWay sponsored up to $100 of PCBs for a review, which the author accepted for a full-size SD card module for the BurgerDisk project.
- •The author previously used PCBWay but switched to JLCPCB when PayPal was removed; PCBWay now supports credit cards with low fees.
- •JLCPCB’s BOM system allows precise component selection via LCSC references and interactive placement checks but its fast DFM can miss significant issues.
- •PCBWay’s process relies on manual review and component selection from BOM descriptors, making ordering slower but potentially catching errors before commitment.
- •PCBWay donates 10% of orders for KiCad-made designs and offers a “Share & Sell” program for open-source designs; specific parts required sourcing, extending lead time.