Perhaps it’s because I was raised around adults breaking down PCS, tools, and things around the house before fixing them up again to be “even better.” Perhaps it’s because I shocked myself on the electric fence too many times as a kid. Either way, I have a thing for tinkering, a thingkering if you will, and when I get my hands on devices that allow me to explore that creative space, I’m a happy little camper.
So, when we scored ourselves a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W at the office, I immediately snuck the device home without telling a soul where it had gone.
Because I needs it.
But this isn’t a review on how much of a nerd I am; this is a review of the tiny 51mm x 21mm board that allows you to do, well, almost anything.
Packed onto its tiny PCB, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W holds the RP2350 CPU, an upgrade to the ever-popular RP2040, 520Kb of SRAM, 4MB of flash RAM, 26 multi-purpose GPIO pins, including 2x UART, 2x I2C controllers, 2x SPI controllers, 24 PWM channels, 12 PIO state machines, and a USB 1.1 Host and Device controller, as well 2.4GHz wireless functionality and Bluetooth 5.2.
It also has the ability to run on variable voltage, starting from 1.8VDC all the way up to 5.5VDC, and can function between -20°C and 85°C.
Essentially, this is the perfect little chip to run in almost any environment, while accepting power from different sources, including your standard batteries.
Now, I see some of you reading the spec list, thinking to yourself I have no idea what any of that means, and that’s ok. Personally, if you’re just getting started with DIY smart stuff, the full Raspberry Pi offers an easier-to-understand experience because of everything that it offers. However, if you’re really serious about doing some cool DIY projects at home, this board still makes things pretty easy.
Utilising MicroPython, a subset of Python 3, you can create lines of code and then drag and drop them onto the Pico 2 using the Micro USB cable. Voila, things will work—if your code works.
Of course, being a microcontroller with only 4MB of RAM, we’re not going to be playing Crysis on this thing, but thanks to the new RP2350 chip and Wireless capabilities, we are able to run an extensive amount of code on the device that handles anything from IOT to remote-controlled robots.
For anyone who’s running an older Pico or the Pico 2 without the wireless capabilities, this board has been designed in the same way so you can fit it in to your old builds without having to move anything around. Also, for anyone going for a fresh start, but with lacklustre soldering skills, like myself, you can pick up the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W with headers pre-installed.
The best part about the device, aside from everything you can build on it, is the price. For just under R170, you can pick up one of these tiny boards, with the headers pre-installed, and immediately start tinkering. The extra accessories, like temperature sensors and motion sensors, that you can use for some home DIY projects are also superbly cheap, meaning you can really let your creativity flow without breaking the bank.
Since I’ve already got a full Raspberry Pi doing other things around the house, I’m thinking I might just use this one to combine two of my current favourite things and attempt to build myself a keyboard, from scratch.
Overall, if you’re into DIY gadgets and tinkering, then the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W is just something you have to pick up. It’s cheap, it’s great, it’s a lot of fun.
