In this chapter you will find lots of programmers described which are meant to program all kind of smart card types. Some programmers will only program 1 type of card or chip. In that case you will probably need a second programmer to program the second chip on your card. There are also universal programmers that can be switched to whatever mode (or emulation) is required.

I have divided the programmer into 5 different categories. The selection was made, based on functionality, flexibility and possibilities. These are the categories:
1. Universal Programmers (manual switchable)
2. Universal Programmers (software switchable)
3. Dedicated Card Programmers (no editing features)
4. CAM Programmers/Interfaces/Terminals
5. Copy Stations

This categorization is based on the above mentioned selection criteria. Based on these criteria, category 1 offers most, category 5 offers least.
So does that mean that a programmer from category 1 is to be preferred over a category 2 programmer?
Yes, indeed it does. In general, a manually switchable programmer is to be preferred over a software switchable version. Have a look at this sample why that is so.

The same simple reasoning applies to all the categories. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, so there might be a very good reason why a programmer from category 2 suits your needs better than any of the category 1 programmers. But more to that later.
Fact is that with a pure card programmer, you cannot edit a card. So every serious hobbyïst should have at least a universal programmer, or a pure card programmer, combined with a seperate Phoenix/Smartmouse interface.

Then there is still that one question that keeps popping up: "What programmer should you buy?".
I am very sorry, but I cannot answer that with just one simple name. I would need to know exactly what type of user you are, what you hardware limitations are and what kind of use you are going to make of your programmer.

Hardware limitations might offer the easiest selection criteria. Nowadays, more and more PCs are sold without any true COM port. Especially when it comes to laptops. But all have USB ports. So your choice might be limited to one of the USB programmers, simply because your PC does not have a COM port.

If you think that programming cards is just a boring task and you don't want to do anything else with your programmer but keeping your card up-to-date, then just go for a pure card programmer. Good ones are the CardPro USB, the Infinity USB and the MultiPro USB.

Do you like to do more with your programmer than just straight forward programming?
If so, then you need a universal programmer.
Now here is where the advice becomes much more complex.
That is why I will just name a few top products, and leave the choice up to you:
- The SC-Master Phoenix is probably the best for those of you who want to be able to do handle every card, but are not interested in modifying the programmer, nor write your own software for it.
- The MasterCRD-2 & -LCD are equally good from a hardware point of view, but they cannot work with the top notch SC-Quickburner software that comes with the SC-Master programmers.
- The CLaNZeRS MiniSDK is the top choice for those who like to write their own software to operate the programmer, or those who want to modify the hardware to their own requirements.
- The AD Teknik MP 3.5 USB is the best choice for those who mainly want to straight forward program cards, but occasionally like to do more with it, like editing cards for instance.

Universal Programmers (manual switchable)

Universal Programmers (software switchable)

Dedicated Card Programmers (no editing features)

CAM Programmers/Interfaces/Terminals

Copy Stations

Why manual switchable is preferrable over software switchable?
An explanation, based on the problems surrounding the first generation Multipro and ISO-7816 programmers:
Both these programmers can only be switched with software. You either need the Cardpro software to do everything automatically, or you use the Multipro software to switch any programming mode individually. However. In order for the Multipro software, to be able to change modes on the programmer, it needs to communicate via the COM port. And that is where the problems start.
The original software for the first generation programmers has a bug that does not allow to load eeprom files, bigger than 512 Kbit. To be more precise, 512 Kbit minus 16 bytes.
Now that would be no problem if you could use any other programming software like MasterBurner for instance. But When MasterBurner is programming, it keeps the COM port occupied during the entire programming session. So the Multipro software cannot get through to the programmer to switch modes.
So that's why an option to change modes manually, is allways better.