Raspberry Pi Zero W Basic Starter Kit (Black Case)

This kit had everything needed to run Pi-Hole. Its metal case does a nice job as a heat sink and fits the board very well. It has been a while since is used Linux and I am thankful to Chat-GPT for helping me along. I would recommend this kit for anyone wanting to learn Linux.

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.

Very happy with this kit. Keep in mind that it doesn't include an SD card and that the case is made of metal (likely anodized aluminum) which could significant impede performance if using over wifi.

Very easy to setup, I am running pi-hole on it and it is protecting all of my network.

At first I thought I got a defective one. It took a while for the SDXC card to get delivered, and during that time I couldn't get the Pi to turn on at all and thought it was defective. There was no activity from the "status LED". Once I received the storage card and inserted it, it booted up fine. Just make sure you don't turn it on without a storage card inserted, because it won't even try!

I'm going to make some magic with this—if I ever have the time! The goal is to dive into the world of Pi and Python. This starter kit, combined with some string lights, little wires, bad power supplies, caffeine pills, and some bad chicken, is exactly what it looks like: the beginnings of a visual proof of a poltergeist! It was fun getting into the world of Pi and Py. Who knows what else I can do with this—maybe set up a home server for my smart devices? It’s the perfect, tiny, powerful device for all your ambitious, slightly weird science projects!

El producto llegó en buen estado y a tiempo. Es mi primera raspberry y me gusta mucho su calidad de construcción, la disponibilidad de componentes, y los accesorios que vienen en este paquete. El disipador es pequeño para que quepa en la carcasa y no enfría mucho si quieren hacer overclock. La raspberry ocupa solo 1.5 A por lo que el cargador de 3A ayuda a que soporte teclado y ratón alámbricos sin problemas, además de que tiene interruptor y facilita el corte de corriente. Uso Raspberry Desktop de SO y funciona relativamente rápido excepto para navegar en internet con Chromium, pero es muy buena su velocidad de internet mediante SSH, conexión con repositorios y VNC. Creo que con otras opciones de navegador web alternativas fluiría mejor, pero es riesgoso por los ataques que muchas paginas web hacen hoy en día... Por si tienen problemas con su primer arranque: El led solo es de actividad de la micro SD por default (como el del disco duro de una PC), por lo que si no enciende o se apaga a los pocos segundos o parpadea en un pulso lento constante, quiere decir que el SO de la memoria está corrupto o no es compatible con ese dispositivo, por eso ocupen Raspberry Desktop (Pi OS), solo soporta 32 bits para SOs. Creo también es compatible Raspberry lite, Libre Elec (Kodi), Retropie y Kali ARM para Zero. Después de iniciar ya pueden cambiar las preferencias del LED.

Setup Pi-hole in less than 15 minutes. Would have been nice to include an SD card reader but not really a fault since I already had one.

Setup was a breeze, works great. Came with everything I needed, and some things I didn’t.

Adquirí este kit para armar un Pi-hole y eliminar los molestos ads en toda mi red doméstica, lo cual pude hacer con este paquete que viene muy surtido de accesorios. Algunos dicen que la calidad de los accesorios es mediocre, a mi parecer están bien para ser un kit de $500. Tengo 1 mes utilizandola 24/7 y funciona de maravilla, apenas y reporta uso de CPU y memoria atendiendo queries de 37 clientes en promedio a lo largo del día. Recomiendo comprarle el adaptador microUSB a Ethernet marca Plugable, no hubo necesidad de instalar ningún driver para tenerlo funcionando.

Bought this to experiment. It took a bit to get it running how I needed, but it is working. Would be nice if Vilros's site was better organized with their instructional materials. Not a massive deal because there is a ton of info available on a multitude of sites.