I would never pay for test for a few small boards (prototype).
I usually test them myself with the help of the netlist and a beeping ohmmeter, unless there are too many parts which could be the case with 155 sq. inches of PCB.
In my previous job, we had boards that size that had 4500 SMD parts (dual side SMT), more than 7000 nets and 5/5 mil trace/clearance, so test was mandatory.
But that is beyond home-brew, LOL.
Just my two cents.
JPL
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "leon Heller" <leon355@...> wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "mcjonster" <mcjonster@...>
> To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 7:51 PM
> Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] electrical testing - worth it?
>
>
> > Does anyone have an opinion of paying extra for electrical testing? A
> > place like gold phoenix charges $99 for 155sq inches and $20 extra for
> > e-testing. How high is pcb failure rates normally and when is e-testing
> > using recommended? I think if I use bigger traces I can avoid the extra
> > $20 fee but if I soldered everything to it then it would be a huge pain if
> > something didn't work.
> >
> > If it's like 1 in a million that might have problems I'd say forget it but
> > if it's like 1% or something then it'd definitely be worth it. The guys
> > at Gold Phoenix don't seem to speak english very well so I thought I'd ask
> > here.
>
> Someone on the SparkFun forum had serious problems with their cheap BatchPCB
> service (they use Gold Phoenix) - several of his boards had shorts and they
> weren't anything special. I don't usually bother with testing on boards I
> have made by PCB Pool and PCBtrain, the quality is excellent. I would if I
> was using 6/6 mil designs, though, just to be on the safe side. I'd advise
> testing with GP.
>
> Leon
>