“Have combined the PI zero with a DAC and now have a very reasonably priced AIRPLAY device. The DIY feel of having to solder made the short project feel more rewarding. The fact computers are this small and power is 100% proof we live in the future. Can't recommend enough.”
“At last the amazing Pi Zero gets built-in wifi, with the release of the zero W. I've been using Pi Zeros with wifi dongles for various jobs such as security cameras, temperature monitors, etc. When the Zero W came out I immediately bought one to test it's capabilities. The on-board wifi is tiny, with a very small on-board antenna, so I wasn't expecting much in the way of range or performance. The results of my testing were very interesting - I/O performance through the wifi was limited more by CPU than by the wifi hardware itself, sustaining approx. 15Mbits/sec out and 20Mbits/sec in - sufficient for cameras streaming modest resolution video. The best wifi dongle I could find sustained about twice this I/O rate, so I though that this was a good show for the tiny built-in module (using a wired ethernet interface the unit can sustain 100Mbits of throughput). The biggest advantage, however, seemed to be in power consumption - the zero W with wifi active was drawing between 50 and 70mA of current at 5V. This is AMAZINGLY low consumption - a good wifi dongle would draw around 150mA just on it's own! The W wifi also seemed a lot more stable than some wifi dongles - I've had two Zero Ws now running for days with no glitches at all. Often cheap wifi dongles will drop connections, re-boot the pi, etc.
So in conclusion, for low-power, medium throughput and "install and forget" IoT applications, the Pi Zero W is ideal, and a superb addition to the Raspberry Pi stable!”
“Pi turned up extremely quickly. It needed to as it's being used in our piwars robot as the main brain. The pi itself is great, and at less than £10 is a bargain.”
“I have successfully managed to own all generations of the Pi, the Zero W is possibly the most useful for those embedded applications that require just the right amount of processing.
Along with Raspian Pixel i can achieve pretty much anything that i could possibly want.”
“I loved the original Pi Zero, but to get the most out of it, I had to buy a USB hub, with external power. With this I can connect to wifi and have a keyboard plugged into edit code.
I soldered my own GPIO header onto them, as I want to utilise the pins to control relays and the like. I'm just about to get into PWM / stepper motors so I can build a curtain / blind closer (I wonder if you can get a kit?)
The current Zero's have FauxMo controlling ceiling lights, as hue bulbs are about £15 each, if you have a fitting with three of more bulbs, it's cheaper to buy standard leds and control them this way (unless dimming is a must for you).
The new Zero W cuts down on the size of the total package needed, all I need is a PSU, a PiZeroW and the relay module, this cuts out the need for a USB adaptor (micro to single USB A) and a wifi dongle.
I'm sure whatever project you are into, the inbuilt wifi will be more convenient, and for some, the bluetooth too.”
