Looking for some way to compare universal programmers. I am mainly interested in programming 8051 derivatives on my development machine. I have been looking for a replacement for my Needham's EMP20 as this company is no longer in business and does not support many of the newer devices. My company is considering using a device that is not supported by this programmer and this seems to be the straw that broke the camels back in getting a new programmer.

I understand that there is no such thing as a true "universal" programmer. So generally the more you pay the bigger your universe is.

That being said there seems to be not many objective ways determine that exact quality of a particular brand of programmer. I have been reviewing a few of these programmers on the manufactures websites but as I have never heard of most these companies I have not much to go on.

Is there any general advice when buying a universal programmer?

Should I get the cheapest programmer that does everything I want right now? Or do I push for a more expensive model? Are there companies/models that are significantly better values than others?