Raspberry Pi Zero W Basic Starter Kit (Black Case)

I'm old enough that I remember when a very limited computer cost more than $3,000US. Now, I can get a much more powerful computer for less than $50! This will always amaze me.While this could usefully be used as a main computer (Web surfing, Office productivity, Email), I set it up with MotionEyeOS using a Pi NOIR camera I had lying around. (The included cable worked perfectly, but do note that this kit doesn't include a camera.) I also (accidentally) booted it to the Raspbian microSD I had for my Pi3 — the included microHDMI adapter worked flawlessly.Everything clicked together easily once I looked to see where the mounting pins were. I had forgotten that a heat sink was specified, and pleased to stick it on to the processor. The little rubber feet are a nice touch, and the case is molded to show where to place them (and to help retain them).There are several options to the case setup, depending upon whether you want to use the camera connector or not — you can even connect to the GPIO pins from either top or bottom, if you like. For my use, as a security camera, I would have preferred a case bottom cover that didn't expose the GPIO pins, but a piece of electrical tape and some liquid tape will seal that just fine.I almost feel guilty using this only as an IP camera, but it's so much cheaper than any of the alternatives out there, and it doesn't route my video through China, unlike many of the pre-built cameras. I'm looking forward to building another with a regular camera to look at the difference in performance. The NOIR camera definitely has a reddish tint to everything, and it won't actually see in the dark unless you have an IR illumination source. It was pretty cool to look at the IR version of my property as I was walking around with it.If you think you would enjoy a Raspberry Pi, this is a pretty painless way to try one out. The included USB adapter works fine (I tried it only with a keyboard) and I don't see anything wrong with the power supply, which has a convenient switch on the cord. (Do remember to shut down properly to avoid corrupting the filesystem.)If my kids were small, I would probably set them up with RPis for their school computers. Plenty powerful for school work, and tiny, power efficient, and just darn cool.Oh, and be prepared for how small it is!

This is not a very fast Raspberry Pi so if you're looking for a fast one avoid this product I am currently using this as a bot server and a web server. And this does absolutely fine for it. The case construction overall is extremely well-crafted looks to be extremely durable and does come with the IO connectors not soldered to the board. If you are using the io connectors you will need to have soldering skills to attach them. This product does come with several other configuration of the top case which is extremely helpful for either using a camera or using the io connectors or not using anything. The power supply does have a switch in line with it which is very convenient as you could leave this plugged in and turn it on and off by the switch. I am reading this five stars on the quality of everything in the package alone I think this is a very good product but like I said earlier it is not the fastest so if you want the fastest I recommend that you go to the Raspberry Pi website and review the processor speeds and RAM speeds. This does not contain a microSD card you will have to supply one yourself. And this does not have any operating system. So you will have to download and install one from the Raspberry Pi website or wherever you get your Raspberry Pi software from. Although I have used this to edit programs it does take a minute as I said earlier it is very slow equivalent to an 8088 PC but it does have built in Wi-Fi which is a plus for me. There is a way to attach a Cat 5 cable to it but you will need to purchase that converter separately and install the supporting drivers manually. I have not done this and cannot vouch that it does work with all of them. But I do know that it is possible.

From what i see its perfect, it booted raspbian instantly, and looks sleek, the power supply was iffy i thought but i was wrong it powers up every time, it comes with alot and is worth the price, it even came in four days early. If you want a comp to experiment with or wanna build a device then get this. Its cheap and really good. But invest in a Micro usb to Usb splitter if its for Comp use, and dont keep it always on, dont expect more than it handleing Gameboy and Sega Genisis and Snes on emulation, and maybe simple indie games like Exploitable money maybe, havent tried, and GET THE W VERSION its worth it. The classic wifiless pi zero is not worth it. For me its replacing my old PC that died until i get a laptop and ill probably be getting a Atomic Pi or Pi 3b+ to use as an experimental Pc later this year. But for projects or programmers or even light emulators and youtube this is perfect.

The RPi Zero W is obviously perfect. If this review were for that only, it would be a 5 star review. The only issues I have with the RPi is it's a little slower than I was hoping with some of the scripts and programs I have on it, but I am coming from larger Pi's in the past with a little more horsepower, so it's to be expected.The bottom case is very nice, hard plastic. Comes with three tops in total: one with a GPIO port, one for a Raspberry Pi Camera, and a solid one. I'm using mine for a streaming bird house so the camera top was kind of nifty, but this is also where the issues begin.The camera case top isn't the exact right size for the holes on either the v2 or v3 of the RPi Camera (or at the very least, mine isn't). Two out of the four mounting points on the camera top were shorter and possibly not printed/molded correctly which also caused a few issues with my camera setup. Nothing crazy, but definitely not something I wanted to deal with.The power supply that came with it only outputs roughly 1A which isn't terrible (and again, could be my unit) but the RPi Zero W likes 1.2A so just a bit shy. Hasn't caused any issues that I've found yet, but I will be swapping that out soon.Overall, not a bad purchase and I do appreciate the extras, just wish some of them were a tiny bit higher quality and possibly QA'd a little more before shipping next time.