An old fitter once told me, “when it comes to tools, you buy cheap, you buy twice.” And that’s something that’s stuck with me because every time I try to work in a budget, something invariably goes wrong and breadboards are no exception. I’ve had a few over the years but this is my first Elegoo - an Amazon recommendation.I’m working on a couple of Arduino (clone) projects at the moment and a breadboard is the way to get things working in a hurry - or at least, it should be.The problem (with the cheap ones) is this — the sockets are stiff and often have unreliable connections. This results in two things:(a) a lot of loud cussing because the fine leads on components like small resistors, jump leads and many other small components bend as I try to push them in. This can be exceptionally frustrating.(b) worse, when the connection fails, so does the circuit, but then it can be anything from tricky to a virtual impossibility to figure out what is wrong: is my design off somewhere or have I put a lead in the wrong hole? Finding it’s nothing more than a failed socket is enough to bring tears to your eyes when you’re up half the night trying to find the fault which was no fault of your own. Other than trying to save a few quid on a BBB - a Bargain Basement Breadboard.And yes (a) has happened recently and it was fortuitous that Amazon recommended these and our of desperation, not to mention sore pinkies from fiddling with overly stiff sockets, I took a punt.When they arrived they looked just like every other breadboard I’ve had - that was until I tried to put a clone Arduino in there and oh boy, those sockets felt tough. My heart sank a little but it’s new, so I figured they’re just a little tight and breadboards are not ideal for such large pins, particularly when you’re trying to put 30+ in at one press!Then came the acid test. How hard is it going to be to mount a discrete component in there. First off, I tried an LED. In she slipped, buttery smooth and fitted like a glove.Perfect fit, both leads, first time with very little effort. Nice.Now some Dupont pins (Elegoo also available on Amazon) and in they went - first time, smooth and with very little effort. 1/4w precision resistor - with fairly delicate leads? Dropped in like a champ.Very occasionally I did find that some holes were a little tight but that’s more about my lazy attempts at not centering the component before trying to insert it. Compared to the BBB this was like going from a 1* B&B to a 5* hotel!It was only at this point that I noted another (small) but interesting departure from my other BBB... the power rails feature slightly larger sockets. Again this sounds like a “so what?” but you can tell some thought went into this as the power, ground in particular on audio circuits and many digital designs, carries a fair amount of current and larger pins means lower resistance which means less hassle. Sweet! I’m starting to fall in love with this.For larger designs, most breadboards can be connected and this one is no different, but careful attention to tolerances has ensured that it’s possible to stretch fairly large HATs (Hard Attached on Top) across more than one board. Considering the tolerances involved this is quite a feat and I’m grateful for both the locking mechanism and the very sticky pad which held tight to the surface of a scrap piece of “hardwood” flooring.It will take longer to determine how robust these boards are but my initial impression is that they are built to last and should give a long service life. Unlike, it has to be said, my BBB which I’ll be donating to one of the apprentices just to tease them. :)Photos show the slightly larger power strips and a BBB with an Arduino clone vs. the Elegoo hosting another Arduino with an AZDelivery resistive touch screen (available on Amazon for the Uno).