Cheapest FPGA miner for starters?

[Abiky]

I've been into ASIC and GPU mining for a few years now, and have been deeply interested into FPGAs lately. Doing a little research, I found out a very useful site with lots of info to get started with FPGA mining (https://fpga.guide. FPGAs are a great alternative to ASIC mining (in my own opinion) since you can easily change the PoW algo to mine any coin as long as there a "bitstream" available for it. I'd be interested in programming an FPGA too, but it looks very complicated to do so.

For now, I want to explore FPGAs more thoroughly (for learning/educational purposes) without breaking the bank. I've done a quick search at eBay, but prices are pretty high. I'd be deeply interested in a miner that's well within the $100 budget. Even if I won't be able to make a return on my investment with it, I'd enjoy making use of it for fun. Any suggestions or recommendations will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[badbart]

I have 5 hosted F1+s and they are ok.  I think they steal hash power but have no proof.  What I've found is if a bit stream comes out and it is decent a ASIC will be made in a couple months.  They seem to have a cycle of a couple good months followed by bad months and the process repeats.  CKB was great now ASICed and HNS was decent then more FPGAs piled on and soon their will be an ASIC.  Same story with DGB, SPDR andd VRSC.  At this rate these things need to be profitable for at least 3 years for me to consider them a success.  I think their are private farms that have better bit streams and machines but have no idea how to get any.

Not sure if this is legit:
https://www.blackminerscam.com/blackminer-f1-scam/

Closest your going to get to$100 is a f1 mini

[Abiky]

I have 5 hosted F1+s and they are ok.  I think they steal hash power but have no proof.  What I've found is if a bit stream comes out and it is decent a ASIC will be made in a couple months.  They seem to have a cycle of a couple good months followed by bad months and the process repeats.  CKB was great now ASICed and HNS was decent then more FPGAs piled on and soon their will be an ASIC.  Same story with DGB, SPDR andd VRSC.  At this rate these things need to be profitable for at least 3 years for me to consider them a success.  I think their are private farms that have better bit streams and machines but have no idea how to get any.

Not sure if this is legit:
https://www.blackminerscam.com/blackminer-f1-scam/

Closest your going to get to$100 is a f1 mini

I'm going to have a go with the F1 mini since it's the most affordable FPGA miner available on the market. I don't mind if it "steals" hashpower, as long as I'm able to learn how FPGA mining works. I want it for learning/experimental purposes, than making profit. I'm not surprised to see some PoW algorithms being taken over by ASICs, since there's really no such thing as "ASIC resistance". Developers need to adapt PoW algorithms over time, in order to maintain such resistance. The beauty of FPGA miners is that you can easily adapt to another algorithm by simply downloading a bitstream or programming it by yourself. ASICs on the other hand, are disposable since they're fixed to an specific hashing algorithm. That's why FPGAs have brought my attention lately.

Nonetheless, I appreciate your recommendation for getting started with a cheap FPGA miner for learning purposes. I'll try doing solo mining with it, to see what results I'll get in the short term. I'm planning to upgrade to a much more powerful FPGA miner once I learn how everything works. My next mining setup will consist of FPGAs and GPUs, instead of ASICs. I'll be a fun and exciting journey as I mine altcoins for profit.