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5stars
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Small form factor96% agree
Fast74% agree
Quiet100% agree
41 reviews
worth it, IMO
The mini hdmi port makes it easy to set up. A simple setup, I connected it to the television, powered the board with a 700 milliamp phone charger, and plugged the keyboard, mouse and wifi dongle into a powered usb hub. It is running Raspbian. My observation is that the internet is slow, slow like if you took your old 2g cell phone to the coffee shop to use their wifi. It works, it's usable, it's not fast, so it probably won't be your primary internet machine unless it's your only machine. That said, it's not a cell phone, you don''t have to jailbreak it, you can switch the os by changing the tf card, and there are countless things other than internet it could be used for. It's worth the money, IMO. Read full review...
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: rhin0xx
The fatal flaw with Raspberry Pi Zero's
While the Raspberry Pi foundation has produce some real knock out products, including the Raspberry Pi, Pi 2, and now the Pi 3, the Pi Zero simply isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Touted as the $5 SBC (Single Board Computer) The raspberry Pi Zero hit the market with much fanfare, and media hype. However as consumers began to get past the hurdle of even finding one, they found that it leaves a lot to be desired. I am one such person, and here's my review...
With the form factor being very very small, I realize that there are some features that simply can't fit onto the pi zero, such as the large connectors for USB, Ethernet, and such, and in most instances, this is taken into consideration when reviewing an SBC. However, the Pi Zero has several features that most certainly could have fit, and quite frankly, should have.
1) CPU - The Pi Zero was launched AFTER the raspberry pi 2 model B. This means the pi foundation had access to a much faster CPU than what is on the Pi Zero. With a single core, at such a low clock, the pi zero falls short of the pi 2's multicore CPU's speed, and being only a single core, this makes it almost 8x slower than the pi 2, and much much slower than the pi 3!
2) USB Fail -
With two USB micro connectors on the Zero, one would think you could use them both for data. This however is NOT the case. One USB micro connector is ONLY FOR POWER!!. I find this extremely odd, as there appears to be surface pads on the underside just a bit away from the power USB port, that they simply could have extended the traces to.
3) The REAL cost -
While the Pi zero is sold for $5, most places simply refuse to carry them in stock, but opt instead to sell the "kits" and "bundles" where they pile the rest of the stuff needed into a package,that sells for much more than the board alone, and usually at a substantial markup. This is to be expected from businesses trying to make a buck, and i can't really fault them for the practice. However, this does highlight the second flaw with the pi zero. The overhead costs of getting it up and running. Like other pI's, you'll need power, and micro SD, but unlike other pi's, you'll also need to spend on a mini-hdmi adapter, or hdmi -> mini hdmi cable. You'll need to buy a USB hub if you plan on using in a keyboard, mouse, and WIFI, so that will also need a power plug, and a USB to USB-micro adapter / cable. I say "if you plan" on using keyboard and mouse, when in all reality you will HAVE to use these, as there's no on board Ethernet, and using the OTG method means you have no way of testing, and using the wireless module you'll need as well.
At the end of the day, yes, the SBC will cost you 5$, you'll then spend a 10$ - 15$ on a decent power supply, 5$ - 10$ on HDMI adaptation devices, 5$ - 10$ on wireless ethernet module, and 15$ - 20$ on a reliable powered USB hub, simply to get to the point where you can even use the device.
All said and done, you'll spend more on accessories required to use the device comfortably, than if you were to just buy a raspberry pi 3.
If you absolutely MUST HAVE the small form factor for your projects, then by all means, get a zero, and all the required accessories, if you don't have to have the small size, then save your self some time, effort, and headaches, and just purchase a raspberry pi 3.
This review in NO means reflect upon ebay, or the seller i dealt with, they were fast, precise, and were a pleasure to do business with. This review solely focuses on the pitfalls, and drawbacks of the pi zero itself. Read full review...
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: woo17
A mainframe computer is the palm of my hand.
Easy to assemble. No spinning hard drive to crash. Small, light, powerful, runs on a 5v recharge pack used to charge cell phones, etc... Runs on UNIX which I love. Is so much faster than even my windows tower computer, my iMac G5 or even my macbook. The boot up is so fast you can not read what comes on the screen before it's gone and you're at your desktop. I have a regular mouse and keyboard attached to it and the HDMI is plugged into a 17" RCA flat screen TV/Monitor that also works on 12V so... As a Ham Radio operator I take this in the field with no problems. No generator needed. It also controls my Yaesu FT100D radio and it runs my Packet terminal plus the field repeater. It's a ham radio operators dream come true. People first laugh at the little clear box with the screen lit up and nothing on it until I show them that all this high tech stuff going on is all run out of that little box. I use an Elippis Jetpack to connect it to the internet via Cell towers or I can connect to the internet with it over my ham radio equipment direct with a ground station or through one of our Amateur Radio Satellites. As I said, this is the dream of dreams come true for our portable operations... Also does the work of a GPS with moving map software on the screen. You should see it process, transmit and receive a SSTV "slow scan TV" picture... So far, I can say that other mobile stations compared to this set up is like comparing a moped to a mack truck... lol.. :)Read full review...
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: scconsign
Great System!
I use it as a standalone system to run a digital menu and it works great! No internet on this zero model, but I didn't need it.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: scconsign
Meh
I bought this pi before finding one at my local Micro Center so when it arrived I didn't try using it until now. It seems to be DOA.
With that aside, I find the over all quality of the product to be pretty disappointing. The very first one needed to be exchanged because the pads came right off and the same goes for the second one and to top it off this one I got from eBay didn't even power on. Luckily you can buy the
Zero-W for only 5 bucks at Micro Center.Read full review...
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: nick20kn
Outstanding small-form computer
Extremely versatile handheld computer! You may want to get a small USB hub (you'll need a USB-C to USB female connecting cable) and a sufficient power source (2 amp is fine; cell phone or USB chargers tend to be 500mAh to maybe 1A--not enough!) in order to use it adequately.Read full review...
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: ymaxx
Used for Retropie
Works very well on retropie, running NES titles at full speeds.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: vbe_sports_memo...
Perfect
Bought a few. They all work great. They are the exact type sold on the major websites out there, so highest quality. Best part about it is I was able to order more than one and the price was about the same.Read full review...
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: anato.konon
Small and Inexpensive
The Pi Zero is a good match for projects where small size and power consumption is a plus. I coded my project on a Pi 3, configured the Pi so that it would automatically run the code on startup, then moved the SD card to the Zero.
Slower than the Pi 3 and with less RAM, but still great for many projects.
Also, because it's cheap, great for 1st-time users. No worries about damaging the board because it's easy to replace.Read full review...
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: digitalfoundry
TinyCore+, Debian, Ubuntu and straight BBC-Basic with no problems.
HDMI and SSH are both built-in however, this was never intended as a Media Center SBC. . Removeable Hard Drive for instant updates and Distro-Changing on the fly.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: joe57600