Demise of S4 product line - where is the replacement ?

[Guest]

Just noticed that the S4 has mysteriously disappeared from the Dataman products page.

Is there a replacement slated ? When will it be available ? Why did S4 production stop before the new model is available ?

I'm guessing a new model will have USB connectivity instead of a serial port, but what else is new ?

Will emulation still be available ? It's one of THE main reasons why I use an S4 (and makes life a heck of a lot easier).

Cheers

Jason Armistead

[Dataman (Neil Parker)]

Hello Jason,

The S4 (softy 4) product has been discontinued.

A replacement S5 unit is in the pipeline with a pencilled in release date sometime in the first quarter of next year. It will have a 48way ZIF socket, USB connectivity and a CF card slot. It will look similar to the S4 in terms of the case design and the portability.

As with any product still in development details are always subject to change. The emulation function is a possibility on the programmer however it may not be available on the first release of the product. If this is the case we will find an alternative emulation solution to offer our customers.

Best regards

Neil

[Guest]

Neil

You've still danced around the issue of why the S4 was discontinued when the S5 is so far away.

I mean, if the S4 was a buggy piece of junk, fair enough to kill it off quickly, but I've never had any problems, other than when the batteries are run down and the unit needs to be reset.

Dataman has left a hole in its product range. Our company uses dozens of the S4s, and now we're given no alternative Dataman product in the portable handheld programmer range, so our only choice is to jump ship to a different manufacturer.

Seems like a strange way to do business.

Regards

Jason Armistead

[Dataman (Neil Parker)]

Jason,

The S4 programmer is now 15 years old and as you can imagine some of the components used in its design are no longer available from distributors. The apparent gap between the end of the S4 and the release of the S5 is due to the fact that the S4 sold better than expected right down to the last unit.

The S5 will be released once it has reached the same high standard as the S4. The charging circuit in S5 has been redesigned to answer the problems seen in the S4 when a low battery state occurs.

I hope this has answered your questions.

Neil

[Guest]

Will the support / software updates for the S4 stop ???
This is a grate unit and I don't want to be left out in the cold...

-Joeylc-