CADSTAR Reviews

The latest version of CADSTAR offers functionalities allowing for transition, from schematic entry to PCB design and Gerber generation. Despite its appearance it remains user friendly. However it may not be as advanced as competitors like Altium.

CADSTAR may have limitations when it comes to large designs as its focus is on less complex and smaller projects. Its schematic entry and PCB layout features are more geared towards product development than advanced circuit designs.

Its intuitive interface and powerful features make it a reliable tool for our business operations. By saving us time and effort in designing circuit boards it enhances efficiency and productivity. Overall while there might be alternatives CADSTAR has proven beneficial, for our business.

Not difficult to use for a professional experienced in the field.

Not as advanced as the top competitors (e.g., Altium).

Schematic entry and PCB layout for product development.

The tool size is moderate compared to Mentor Graphics tools. It has features like a Hierarchical design, where the blocks can be reused throughout the design and can be copied to other designs. I like the variant manager, one of the most powerful tools it has inbuilt. It does support macros, so some of my colleagues developed many valuable macros for us. These macros made our life easy.

I must say it looks like a Windows98-based tool with its GUI. Creating Library is not an easy task. Symbol and Components graphics look old school.

For beginners, the tool looks challenging and less enjoyable. PCB designer need multiple steps to create the PCB outline. Routing multiple tracks is not easy compared to other tools like Altium, PADS.

It is a Schematic and PCB design tool used by Electronics/Electrical engineers to design their boards. I am using this tool in my organization for designing product-specific circuit boards. I use the standard central library to add the components in the schematic and sometimes reuse the circuit blocks.

The PCB design package in Cadstar is very nice & advanced one, you have multiple options for routing, Placement, Defining the design rules, DRC , vias definition & much more.

The earlier versions of cadstar was having limitations but the newest version seems to be too advanced so it is ease to do from schematic entry to PCB design to Gerber generation & release.

If you are looking for a design tool for schematic design, pcb design & have less complex & small designs, you can easily look towards Cadstar & this will fulfill all your work requirements.

For low frequency & simple designs, you can do schematic entry, library part creation ,