Hi,
Can anyone tell me if there’s a good reason to use a RPI Pico W instead of a ESP32?
Because you have one lying around spare.
4 Likes
RPis run more or less a full OS, so you get more run-time versatility with a RPi.
The other way around.
Many esphome components only work with the esp32 and don’t on the pico. When it’s about pricing and availability you often get two or three esp32’s for the price of a pico with wireless
@WallyR the pico is a MCU and not to mistaken with the broadcom based raspies you are thinking of
1 Like
Ohh, never had a Pico, so did not know that there where MCUs in the line up.
Learnt something new there. thanks! 
There are tons of places that list and teach you about the Pico/esp32. .What festures, capabilities, available gpio’s, hardware performance, etc, etc are the reasons someone may choose one board over another.
For example if im just doing a simple project and only need a switch/button and maybe a senosr for a project. Thats only 2 goio need. No high performance, extra RAM, no BT, etc.
Here, Id want to use the smallest, cheapest board that will get the job done and a using a 10-12$ Pico when I could use a 2$ esp8266, it doesnt make much sense to use a Pico and I wouldnt, it would be a waster IMO. Now it can be saved for a future project that may need lots of gpio’s or something specific to the Pico. In that situation, then id use the Pico.
Actually, while you are right, esp8266 wasn’t included in the question.
Well, it was used in the context of an example or a hypothetical situation. I thought for sure that would be allowed here, is it not now?
They may not have explicitly asked about the esp8266 but I added it in there. Theres a common misconception that the esp32 is newer and therefore the 8266 is old/outdated and should be avoided for some reason.
I wanted to clear that up with the OP if they are in that camp.
Esp8266 are dirt cheap, have tons of guides and documentation online and its a very useful board still and its a very good choice to use to learn with and practice circuits or soldering.
As I said, you are right.
Im not sure why you even made the initial comment about it not being mentioned but, here we are… I just got out of HA forum jail so, im going to slowly and quitly back out of here and make my exit before i get sucked into a silly debate that sends me back to the booty house again…
Why not a esp32-c3 for $1.8
More (usable) gpios, Bluetooth and long term support from espressif till 2033.
On the other hand the esp8266 will be EOL/EOS by espressif in 2 years already…
Like i said, theyre cheap and good to learn on. Regardless if Espressif stops supporting them, theyre still usable. Also, I suspect you’re either a humanoid robot or maybe you just dont understand nuances. I was using the 8266 as an EXAMPLE. There are lots of other alternatives out there and that was the point I was making.
Are they $1.80 on AliexpressCrap? Cool! Theres too many crooks and scammers operating on there and I choose not to support them or their business practices just to save a few dollars. I can afford to pay extra for next day delivery and peace of mind in the event of a problem, i know it will be promptly dealt with and a replacement sent.
I only use genuine $70 Arduino Gigas. I use them just to blink some leds, but I feel so safe to have all the documentation and long term support…
If I ask whether I should eat apples or bananas and you say pears, I would also point out that it wasn’t the question.
It’s not relevant to ESPHome (I think), but RPI’s can be a good choice for a project that needs regular Bluetooth (as opposed to BLE).
I have a pi zero that runs Monitor.
So if you were thinking about having a esp for a dedicated ESPHome BLE scanner, you may reconsider it in favour of a rpi Monitor node.
I admittedly don’t know much about the various pi mini type variants as I’m generally happy in esp land.
Suggesting buying an esp82xx in 2024 as an example isn’t that smart as you pay more to get less compared to a similar (or cheaper) price esp32 variant
Not recommended for new designs (NRND)
Marketing status that can be assigned to a hardware product still in production but not recommended for new designs because newer products have been released that introduce improved functionality, address obsolescence issues, or reduce the production cost.
While its not the norm today it is great if a hardware vendor commits and provides long term support which not only covers (low level) security bugs but also gurantees that recent frameworks are compatible.
Specially if you plan to install connected devices in your home having the commitment of the manufacture to also ship (at least security) fixes 10 years in the future is something worth thinking about.
I almost expect the author did proper due diligiance and discarded the pear (esp82xx) already - hence didn’t asked for it.
Obviously my post was a joke. I never had loose money to try $70 Giga. Anyway I completely agree with you for value of long term support. But nowadays… 10 years…