To be frank, the lady doth protest too much.

I've never used a "real" Arduino but have around 15 various Arduino clones (Arduini cloni?) and all of them work perfectly fine. I have Unos, Megas, Pros, Pro minis, and lots of Nanos from about 6 different manufacturers. They all work fine. The differences the Arduino people point are actually the differences between the "R3" Arduinos and prior versions. Really only a concern for specific shields. Most clones are also of the R3 version. Plus, it is open source hardware so the concept of "genuine" is kind of vague. Basically, the ATMega Arduino is a glorified breakout board for the ATMega chips - 99% of the value is in the development tools, sample/demo code, libraries and community.

Well I do believe that covers it and answers the question. I knew we had members using the other boards and have seen a few post on the subject.

Ron

 

Now I need to decide if my conscience will let me buy the fake, or if I should buy the original that started everything.

Hummm

 

Many of the clones work fine, some of the counterfeits (not to be confused with "clone") look nearly identical to the real thing. If you want to feel good, buying authentic will fund new development by the brand, and you're less likely to get fake parts. Whether that matters to you is your decision.

 

To further muddy the waters, there was a split between several of the arduino people and a long drawn out and well publicized court fight.I don't believe there is actually much "true arduino" hardware engineering going on these days. When was the last new design from that group? 2013? The IDE has been kept alive by volunteer efforts and direct contributions.

If you want to support Arduino engineering, make a direct contribution. I have. The IDE is the vast bulk of the value anyway. And/or, buy a Teensy which also uses the Arduino IDE. Paul, the "Teensy" guy has been writing huge amounts of library code for the arduino IDE. The various teensys are far better than any arduino out there. 32 bit processor, super high speed, lots of memory, very cost effective ($12-30).

 

From a moral point of view, it's nice if you are using the Arduino project in it's entirety, IDE, forum etc. to make some contribution towards it.
Buying your first Arduino, Uno or Nano or whatever from a genuine Arduino seller means that not only have you helped the project keep alive, but you are more likely to get support from the seller and the community. The forum is stuffed full of pleas for help then you get the bit "I got it on EBay or the car boot sale and it doesn't work, please help" - there is a thriving industry in electronic goods in fakes and even chips might not be first grade. Having said that, Arduino is open source, so you are free to buy or build what you want.
The Nano is a good board to use with a processor that is exactly the same as on the Uno, but in a different package - as others had said, if you blow a Uno chip, you can replace the chip and not the whole board (assuming the replacement has a bootloader on it) - the Nano is pretty much off-limits for chip replacement. The Nano has the advantage of being small and has pins on sensible spacings (big Uno disadvantage) - it also needs a different USB connector.
What can be really satisfying is to buy a "raw" Atmel Atmega328 chip, install the bootloader or not, and build a "bare-bones" microcontroller board. There are some particularly useful web guides, Nick Gammon (gammon.au) exceptionally good and a real beginners guide on http://highlowtech.org/ - using other chips like the "Tinys" which can perform remarkable tasks

 

... off topic ...
or just buy a TI MSP430 Launchpad and you are free to do whatever you please with the MCU chip.

 

So I am going to spend the money and buy a “real” Arduino. Maybe I will buy some of the clones later, but it genuine for now.
I like the idea of taking off the atmega chip and using it free style with a breadboard or small board.
Does anyone know if someone sells a breakout board for the atmega chip or shall I just make my own?

 

Google returned this high in the list of results:

https://www.tindie.com/products/mwhelectronics/atmega328p-breakout-board/

The Uno isn't far from a breakout, with a couple of bits added for convenience.

 

Why would you want a breakout board? ATmega328P comes in a 28-pin DIP package that easily plugs into a solderless breadboard or a 28-pin DIP socket.

 

That’s wasn’t very clear. Sorry
I want to be able to use the chip on its own.
So I want something small to put the atmega chip on, that I can also solder the rest of the bits and prices to.
So either it’s a small breadboard, small piece of pcb, or something designed to hold a dip socket and to have 3/4 rows spare all around to solder the extra components to.
That Tindie breakout is exactly what I need.

 

If you like the Tindie breakout board then that's fine.
Any protoboard would do the trick and cost less.

 

Instead of soldering direct to the board, solder in a socket then pop the chip into a socket. Now the chip can be replaced without having to desolder anything.

328p chip: http://www.kr4.us/avr-28-pin-20mhz-32k-6ad-atmega328p.html
DIP socket: http://www.kr4.us/dip-sockets-solder-tail-28-pin-0-3.html