First of all this is not to start a war. I have not done much research on PIC microcontrollers. I am starting to get the impression they are pretty cool, just not as user friendly as the atmel/AVR/arduino environment. What would you say is the PIC chip's saving grace? Why use them? In what area do they shine? Just a question for sh!ts and giggles. Please don't hate on me for this (if you can't say anything nice...); if I wanted to do untainted research I'd be in a corner with a stack of books. Thanks!