“This board compliments the Pimoroni Pico Plus 2 W. Yeah it gives you more GPIO, it also can be easily powered by a battery. And it has an on-board LiPo charge too. What's not to love?
The only downside I've encountered is that there is a white LED, to indicate it's powered up, that is always on. Not ideal when running from a battery. However, you can cut a track on the other side of the board to switch it off (semi-permanently). With all those GPIOs, it would have been nice to use one so it could be switched off under program control. Otherwise, it's a very capable board.”
“Just bought a couple of these (they were on offer), and having previously used Raspberry Pi2 W, I am blown away by these.
Firstly, I do like being able to turn off/on the board without having to unplug any cables, so that's a major point in it's favour.
Secondly, the ability to plug in a LiPo and run from that is a definite benefit.
Thirdly, the extra FLASH is very useful. Whether using MicroPython or an SDK app using LittleFS, a flash filesystem is handy for things like configuration data (such as Wifi credentials) and the like. With 16MB (as opposed to the standard 4MB on a Pico2W) I can't see needing more any time soon.
Finally, the PSRAM is also very useful! In my SDK apps, I add a couple of lines to initialize the hardware, and then I can deal with it as I see fit - convenient when downloading stuff from an HTTP connection, as the normal 520KB doesn't go very far...
I'm sure the extra GP pins will come in handy at some point too, but not today.
Of course, there is a price to pay (even when discounted), as the board is around 50% longer than a standard board; but you have to have board real-estate to fit on the Wi-Fi module, the PSRAM, the LiPo connector, and the extra button - not to mention the SP/CE and QW/ST connectors.
There are also 3 LEDs on board - a user one (connected to the wireless GPIO like a regular PicoW/Pico2W) in a bright green, a power indictor (white), although you can disable it by cutting a trace on the back of the board (near the USB connector), and a charge indicator (red).
All in all, a fine piece of design and engineering.
I have been purchasing from Pimoroni for over 10 years - and without exception, the products have been (and continue to be) excellent quality - but more importantly, if there are any issues, they are always dealt with professionally and swiftly; that's why I recommend them, and keep returning...
Thanks, pirate people.”
“Superb value of development kit which simply works out-of-the-box. Together with the purchased battery it is possible to walk around with a handheld development kit. Thanks to Pimoroni some introductory microPython examples were immediately usable and demonstrable such as linking to my phone. Minor, minor, minor observation but the board does not include headers (and the order form clearly states this fact) but in hindsight to use with breadboard I should have ordered said headers; it would be nice if pre-soldered headers were offered as an option. All-in-all, great, many thanks.”
