The widely used USB protocol is not the easiest thing to understand, especially if you are a beginner. With the USBuddy breakout board you can easily tap into the USB signals coming and going while the device is still connected to the bus. It also monitors power consumption.
This board also comes in handy for reverse engineering devices without having to take the device apart. There are several USB logic analyzers available out there. The most popular being a “Salae Compatible” model available for less than 10 euros if you buy from China. This cheap model can only analyse USB 2.0 but it is still enough to give a great introduction to USB and reverse engineering.
If you are developing a high power device, the USBuddy can tolerate a whopping 4 amps and 24 Volts. This seems excessive (and is far beyond the USB spec), but in these days of high power USB “fast charging” you may find you need these parameters while working on that next great product.
