Prototyping boards were never at the top of my priority list when spending money. The cheapest thing I could find would suffice. The most I had previously spent on a prototyping board was seven or eight dollars from local electronics surplus stores. They did the job.
However in the fall of 2011 I picked up a $24 prototyping board (PB-10 by Global Specialities ) from Newark since my old board was giving me hassles. The problem I started having with the cheapo prototyping boards was that wires would get stuck in the hole, and would require a lot of force to yank out, and some paths just totally stopped working.
The PB-10 is a great. The insertion force is minimal, nothing gets snagged in the holes, and the battery posts are fantastic. No more battery contacts pulled out and accidentally whipped across expensive components.
Have built a couple of projects on this board, and I don’t think I will cheap out again on a prototyping board.
It’s the little things that make a development project work smoothly.