mach 3 vs UCCNC and VistaCNC pendant

[mattcarson]

Hi, I've been using the Mach 3 controller with the UC100 controller for a while but there are several issues I want to deal with. (I also own UCCNC and the 2017 screen set, and am using the 2010 screen set for Mach3)
I've stayed with Mach3 partly because the UCCNC GUI is not as user-friendly to me (visually), but mostly because my VistaCNC pendant is much rougher than with Mach3, which is a deal killer.

But Mach3 likes to frequently hang up on G20 and I also have constant UC100 sync errors that I have improved with better grounding, shielded USB, etc, but still plague me at the worst possible moments!
I can imagine why switching to UCCNC won't fix the sync errors if those are electrical noise related, but perhaps there is an explanation why the pendant grinds when moving in 'smooth' mode? I have the PS1-A.

While I'm here, anybody know if switching to Mach4 is worth it (mostly for bug reasons)? It did not support everything when I checked a few years ago.
thanks

[dhanger]

Have you upgraded the firmware in your VistaCNC pendant lately? I have the P2-S pendant, when I first tried to use it a few years back with UCCNC I had similar issue that you describe, they issued new firmware for both our models as of May of 2020 and when I upgraded the issue went away and I've been happy with it (mostly) since then. It still isn't perfect but at least the rough motion got taken care of. It does have an annoying lag problem still, often it takes a second or two to respond to jogging with the pulse wheel but once it gets moving it's smooth.

[CL_MotoTech]

I have a P4-S. It works beautifully with UCCNC, I do wish the UCCNC plugin had options like it does in the M3 plugin though.

Definitely flash the firmware. I also found that I have to run the pendant off a powered USB hub, making sure to plug it into USB 2.0 (not the blue port). I am not sure if this is related to the P4-S or all of their pendants, but definitely mine was super unreliable until I started using the hub.

I tried M4 for about 6 weeks and hated it. I had issue after issue. It was worse than M3 in my opinion.

[dhanger]

Ah, that's a good idea to try a powered hub. Maybe that will clear up the lag I'm having, if so I wouldn't have any complaints about the pendant whatsoever. Overall I really like the unit.