OpenBCI modules sold in the OpenBCI store versus OpenBCI modules sold on Ebay & Aliexpress: which ones are better?

Last Updated on July 10, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org

William Croft from OpenBCI says:

«Those clone boards (from China) are notorious for not working correctly»

Competition stimulates business. We invite all YouTube video makers, reviewers, students, but also all other persons interested in OpenBCI modules to test whether William Croft’s statement is true.

  • OpenBCI modules can be bought in the OpenBCI store, but also on Ebay and Aliexpress. Are there any differences between the modules bought in different stores? Are some better, some worse?
  • How is the support?
  • Do sellers react on customers whishes?
  • Are the specifications which are given correctly?
  • Does the description respect the unspoken rules of open source hardware?
  • Are some stores better or worse?
  • Are for instance the OpenBCI modules sold in the OpenBCI store worth the extra money?
  • Is there a difference in function at all between modules sold in different stores?
  • Are some sellers open to user wishes and modifications?
  • Every year, new OpenBCI modules, EEG caps and accessoires are available in the OpenBCI store, on Alexpress and Ebay, and we think it is worth testing those and compare those to to each other, and review those.
  • Robert Oostenveld mentioned several issues of OpenBCI:
  • https://petergamma.org/issues-robert-oostenveld-associate-principal-investigator-at-donders-institute-for-brain-cognition-and-behaviour-in-nijmegen-the-netherlands-reported-about-openbci/
  • Chinese sellers and developers seem to offer many different variant of OpenBCI, for instance modules with 8,12, or 14 channels, which is quiet strange. Is this a demo that they are capable to develop different kind of OpenBCI modules customers request?
  • Do developers and sellers know about the issues Robert Oostenveld mentioned? And do they resolve them? This is highly desirable.
  • The issue with the WIFI shield seems already resolved. But this needs to be tested and verified, and if it works, spread widely.
  • OpenBCI has the potential to be the most low-cost high qualiy modules which are available and the market, which eventually means, that they can also have the largest community of users worldwide.
  • The Muse headband has lost many users since the Muse SDK is not available anymore, especially the developers.
  • Affordable OpenBCI modules can be a great alternative to the Muse headband. It offers more channels and fast WIFI.
  • Resolving the issues Robert Oostenveld mentioned would make OpenBCI modules more usable for research and developement.