Low Cost Alternative for nFR24LE1 Development kit?

[Ram02]

Hi, I'm new to development using nordic's products. Basically I'm a Hobbyist working on a project of mine, which needs a low cost wireless. I was looking for a Rf Soc and found nRF24LE1 which fits my requirements. I found a development kit that costs $100, and I came to know that it is not a standalone kit and it needs nRFgo which comes around $400. Is there something I'm missing, because Texas Instruments and Cypress offers Development Boards for $25. Or is there any 3rd Party development board available for nordic Soc?

[mr_creosote]

$5 PROGRAMMER: You can use an Arduino Nano or Uno as a programmer. see hackaday.io/.../5794-nrf24le1-wiring-library and the github lib it points to. i've added a connection diagram for a Chinese nRF24LE1 board: raw.githubusercontent.com/.../Arduino Uno to nRF24LE1 pin mapping.png. an Arduino Nano works well too.

TOOLCHAINS: Keil compiler with the 4KB increased limit (serial # for it is in the nrfgo SDK help file). nrfgo SDK. Arduino IDE.

CODE CHANGE: I made a small change to the Arduino and the enhanced shockburst code examples from Nordic without which I was having trouble doing software serial I/O between the nRF and the Arduino. Connect P0.3 of the nRF to the Arduino's D07 (pin 7). Let me know if you want it, I haven't posted it online yet.

[mr_creosote]

Do the following to have the arduino programmer work within your IDE. No debugging, of course.

Flash programming parameters: Flash menu item: 
Flash | Configure Flash Tools | Utilities tab:
[X] Use External Tool for Flash Programming
Command: perl
Arguments: "<your location>Programmer.pl" "#H" <your com port>

e.g.

"C:\nRF24LE1_Programmer-master\Programmer\Programmer.pl" "#H" COM5

should generate

perl "C:\nRF24LE1_Programmer-master\Programmer\Programmer.pl" "C:\My nRF projects\test.hex" COM5