A friend pointed me to a Ben Heck episode in which he solders a mini oscilloscope to demonstrate surface mount soldering technique.  I thought this would be a fun and useful project to do so I ordered one: http://www.gabotronics.com/development-boards/xmega-xprotolab.htm

I opened the box last night to take look at all the SMC to get an idea first hand on what I am dealing with and to my surprise it was already fully assembled.  I was sort of disappointed that I did not get a chance to continue to hone my skill on SMC soldering but then I took a close look at the components on the board and realized that while I do think I can do it (if Ben can then so can I) it would have been quite a challenge.

Xprotolab-back

I haven’t fired it up yet but soon as I do I’ll share my impressions.