I've used Scicards Encore-PCB, Pantheon, Mentor Board Station, Pads-PCB , Expedition and Cadence. Even though my experience on Cadence is limited , I don't like the interface. IMO they all have their strengths and weaknesses, but there are certain boards I'd rather do in one software than the other... I like using Pads for the lower tech boards , but when the part count starts getting into the thousands, I prefer Expedition. I'm currently designing a board that has over 5000 parts and almost 24000 pins , plus all the net length restrictions and I'm glad that it is being designed using Expedition and not Pads. Expedition just has more features when it comes to doing really complex boards. Andre Demers CID+ CMRSummit Technologies -----Original Message----- From: DesignerCouncil [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Hausherr Sent: Friday, May 18, 2012 1:59 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [DC] What CAD tools do you use? Mentor PADS Layout - 22 years Never ran across a design I couldn't do. 30+ layers Blind & buried vias Matched Length (Shielded too) Diff Pairs Interactive Route Editing Great library tools RF I can go on & on but you get the idea. The only downside is that many EE engineers use OrCAD Capture with PADS and they're not compatible. But you can translate OrCAD to PADS Logic. Altium beats PADS on the schematic integration and 3D Modeling; however I have never had a customer request for true 3D modeling, just IDF export. Tom Tom Hausherr President PCB Libraries, Inc. 13730 Sorbonne Court San Diego, CA 92128 858.592.4826 Office 858.859.5371 Cell [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: DesignerCouncil [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brooks, Bill Sent: Friday, May 18, 2012 10:52 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [DC] What CAD tools do you use? What CAD tools do you use? Bill Brooks | Datron World Communications, Inc. PCB Designer/Engineer | Office: 760-602-7004| Fax: 760-597-3777 | [log in to unmask] 3055 Enterprise Court, Vista, CA 92081 | www.dtwc.com Performance You Require. Value You ExpectTM ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. For more information please contact helpdesk at x2960 or [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. For more information please contact helpdesk at x2960 or [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------- DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 16.0. To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil. To temporarily stop/(restart) delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET DesignerCouncil NOMAIL/(MAIL) For additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------- ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. For more information please contact helpdesk at x2960 or [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 16.0. To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil. To temporarily stop/(restart) delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET DesignerCouncil NOMAIL/(MAIL) For additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------