{"id":21148,"date":"2021-07-28T16:44:11","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T15:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148"},"modified":"2021-07-29T16:31:16","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T15:31:16","slug":"review-of-the-maker-pi-pico-from-cytron-technologies-a-raspberry-pi-project-board-worth-your-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148","title":{"rendered":"Review of the Maker Pi Pico from Cytron Technologies &#8211; a Raspberry Pi Pico project board worth your time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21149\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Board.jpg?resize=560%2C420&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Board.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Board.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Board.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Board.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Board.jpg?resize=560%2C420&amp;ssl=1 560w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Board.jpg?resize=260%2C195&amp;ssl=1 260w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Board.jpg?resize=160%2C120&amp;ssl=1 160w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Board.jpg?w=1120&amp;ssl=1 1120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Also in my review box from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cytron.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cytron<\/a> (along with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21134\">yesterday&#8217;s Edu:Bit<\/a>) was a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cytron.io\/p-maker-pi-pico\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Maker Pi Pico<\/strong><\/a>. This is a board that houses a Raspberry Pi Pico and measures approximately 95mm x 70mm. The version I&#8217;ve got is the ordinary Maker Pi Pico, but there is also a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cytron.io\/c-development-tools\/c-maker-series\/p-maker-pi-pico-base\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maker Pi Pico Base<\/a> which just has a slot for a Pico that you may already own.<\/p>\n<p>The idea of this board is to make it simpler to add components onto a project, but still keep it to a manageable size.<\/p>\n<p><em>TL;DR &#8211; a great add-on home for your Raspberry Pi Pico at a great price. Find out where to buy it at the bottom of the post!<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Features<\/h2>\n<p>It has the following features:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>6 Grove-compatible sockets for adding on inputs and outputs via Grove cables.<\/li>\n<li>An SD card slot (so you can read and write files).<\/li>\n<li>A 3.5mm audio output jack and a (fairly loud) buzzer for playing simple sounds (and, thank God, a small switch to disable the buzzer!).<\/li>\n<li>Low-power LEDs on every pin so you can see what&#8217;s happening, input and output-wise.<\/li>\n<li>A socket for an ESP-01 wi-fi module.<\/li>\n<li>3 user-defined buttons.<\/li>\n<li>A RUN (reset) button.<\/li>\n<li>A single Neopixel-style RGB LED.<\/li>\n<li>A header that breaks out the debug pins and also allows you to wire up your own RUN\/reset button.<\/li>\n<li>All the Pico pins broken out as pin headers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s quite a list, I think you&#8217;ll agree. They also provide <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/CytronTechnologies\/MAKER-PI-PICO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lots of demo scripts to use when trying it out<\/a>, so the software is &#8220;there&#8221;, too. These scripts come in both CircuitPython and MicroPython flavours, although the board is pre-loaded with CircuitPython. This is a wise choice &#8211; CP does give you a much easier way to develop &#8211; just drop the files on the &#8220;drive&#8221; that you get when the Pico is plugged in and away you go.<\/p>\n<h2>Initial impressions<\/h2>\n<p>What I liked about it most initially was that they have been very smart in deciding which pins to break out as Grove sockets. They have chosen lots of I2C but also chosen to break out two of the Pico&#8217;s analog pins as a Grove socket. Handy, because that means you can use Grove modules like a potentiometer. It&#8217;s an attractive board, too, in its purple colour and everything is well-labelled and well-engineered.<\/p>\n<h2>Experiments<\/h2>\n<p>Cytron were kind enough to send me a Grove OLED module and a Grove potentiometer module too, so I had a play with one of their demo scripts that shows the value of the pot on the OLED.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21150\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?resize=560%2C419&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?resize=1024%2C766&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?resize=768%2C575&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?resize=560%2C419&amp;ssl=1 560w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?resize=260%2C195&amp;ssl=1 260w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?resize=160%2C120&amp;ssl=1 160w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?w=1120&amp;ssl=1 1120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, the board also comes with a nifty pin reference card &#8211; very handy for looking up what pin does what quickly.<\/p>\n<p>I did try and get the SD card reading and writing, but for some reason it didn&#8217;t recognise my card. I suspect this is just something to do with the card I was using, so I&#8217;ll try a different one at a later date.<\/p>\n<p>The buzzer is certainly loud &#8211; the pre-loaded demo code plays the Mario theme immediately upon boot. Fortunately (and I can&#8217;t stress this enough), they&#8217;ve been good enough to provide a shut-off button for the buzzer! The audio jack is a nice touch for higher fidelity sound playing.<\/p>\n<p>The three user-defined buttons, which are linked to GPIO pins 20, 21 and 22, are satisfyingly clicky and the Neopixel-like RGB LED is appropriately blinky. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<h2>Experiments in Wi-Fi<\/h2>\n<p>Cytron also sent over a cheap ESP-01 module which allows you to connect the Maker Pi Pico to the Internet. There is a socket on-board (bottom-right) for the module. They were good enough to give me some support in getting it going and I was soon able to ping an IP address by providing wi-fi credentials in a supplied template &#8220;secrets&#8221; file.<\/p>\n<p>Quick instructions: <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/CytronTechnologies\/MAKER-PI-PICO\/tree\/main\/Example%20Code\/CircuitPython\/IoT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The demo scripts are on their GitHub here<\/a>. I renamed simpletest.py to code.py, uploaded that and the lib folder to the Pico then altered secrets.py to give it my own credentials.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21151\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Wifi.jpg?resize=560%2C419&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Wifi.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Wifi.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Wifi.jpg?resize=1024%2C766&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Wifi.jpg?resize=768%2C575&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Wifi.jpg?resize=560%2C419&amp;ssl=1 560w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Wifi.jpg?resize=260%2C195&amp;ssl=1 260w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Wifi.jpg?resize=160%2C120&amp;ssl=1 160w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_Wifi.jpg?w=1120&amp;ssl=1 1120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Overall<\/h2>\n<p>I had a very satisfying experience with this product, overall. The SD card issue I&#8217;m sure waseither down to the card, or the way it was formatted, so I will see about that later on. Price-wise, the board is very competitive. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cytron.io\/p-maker-pi-pico\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">On the Cytron site, it&#8217;s $9.90 including the Pico<\/a>. Elsewhere, it can be found on <a href=\"https:\/\/thepihut.com\/collections\/latest-raspberry-pi-products\/products\/maker-pi-pico-with-pre-soldered-pico\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Pi Hut&#8217;s site for \u00a311.50 with the Pico<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/thepihut.com\/products\/maker-pi-pico-base-without-pico\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a38 for the Base version<\/a>. It is also <a href=\"https:\/\/kitronik.co.uk\/products\/46172-maker-pi-pico-base-without-pico-simplifying-pi-pico-for-beginners?_pos=1&amp;_sid=d4ad45bcd&amp;_ss=r\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">available from Kitronik<\/a> (just the Base version) and you can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cytron.io\/p-maker-pi-pico\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">find other international resellers on the Cytron page, at the bottom<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It&#8217;s a great board at an attractive price and it gives you really great options for getting going with the Pico if you don&#8217;t want to use jumper cables on the Pico&#8217;s pins (although that option is still available to you!). Great features, great price, great idea. What&#8217;s not to like?!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Also in my review box from Cytron (along with yesterday&#8217;s Edu:Bit) was a Maker Pi Pico. This is a board that houses a Raspberry Pi Pico and measures approximately 95mm x 70mm. The version I&#8217;ve got is the ordinary Maker&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Review of the Maker Pi Pico from Cytron Technologies - a Raspberry Pi project board worth your time","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20,972,44,62],"tags":[1021,980],"class_list":["post-21148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gpio-boards","category-raspberry-pi-pico","category-reviews","category-sensors","tag-cytron","tag-pico"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review of the Maker Pi Pico from Cytron Technologies - a Raspberry Pi Pico project board worth your time - Raspberry Pi Pod<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Great add-on &#039;home&#039; for your Raspberry Pi Pico giving lots of options for adding inputs and outputs via the Grove system.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review of the Maker Pi Pico from Cytron Technologies - a Raspberry Pi Pico project board worth your time - Raspberry Pi Pod\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Great add-on &#039;home&#039; for your Raspberry Pi Pico giving lots of options for adding inputs and outputs via the Grove system.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Raspberry Pi Pod\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/recantha\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-28T15:44:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-29T15:31:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"898\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Horne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@recantha\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@recantha\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Horne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Horne\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c27c4ef2ee1c18b130f1fcd5dcdbb263\"},\"headline\":\"Review of the Maker Pi Pico from Cytron Technologies &#8211; a Raspberry Pi Pico project board worth your time\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-28T15:44:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-29T15:31:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148\"},\"wordCount\":847,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"cytron\",\"pico\"],\"articleSection\":[\"GPIO boards\",\"Raspberry Pi Pico\",\"Reviews\",\"Sensors\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148\",\"name\":\"Review of the Maker Pi Pico from Cytron Technologies - a Raspberry Pi Pico project board worth your time - Raspberry Pi Pod\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-28T15:44:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-29T15:31:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"Great add-on 'home' for your Raspberry Pi Pico giving lots of options for adding inputs and outputs via the Grove system.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":898},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Review of the Maker Pi Pico from Cytron Technologies &#8211; a Raspberry Pi Pico project board worth your time\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Raspberry Pi Pod\",\"description\":\"Experiences with the Raspberry Pi micro computer and microcontroller\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Raspberry Pi Pod\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/cropped-PiPod-Logo-v3.png?fit=800%2C337&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/cropped-PiPod-Logo-v3.png?fit=800%2C337&ssl=1\",\"width\":800,\"height\":337,\"caption\":\"Raspberry Pi Pod\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/recantha\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/recantha\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/recantha\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCK4F9blabxzmk8Inzhs8tpg\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c27c4ef2ee1c18b130f1fcd5dcdbb263\",\"name\":\"Michael Horne\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/479778b0677caadde0ceb54c4129804ef674914607e3ed0998808148357d10d8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/479778b0677caadde0ceb54c4129804ef674914607e3ed0998808148357d10d8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Horne\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review of the Maker Pi Pico from Cytron Technologies - a Raspberry Pi Pico project board worth your time - Raspberry Pi Pod","description":"Great add-on 'home' for your Raspberry Pi Pico giving lots of options for adding inputs and outputs via the Grove system.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review of the Maker Pi Pico from Cytron Technologies - a Raspberry Pi Pico project board worth your time - Raspberry Pi Pod","og_description":"Great add-on 'home' for your Raspberry Pi Pico giving lots of options for adding inputs and outputs via the Grove system.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148","og_site_name":"Raspberry Pi Pod","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/recantha\/","article_published_time":"2021-07-28T15:44:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-29T15:31:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":898,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael Horne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@recantha","twitter_site":"@recantha","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Horne","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148"},"author":{"name":"Michael Horne","@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c27c4ef2ee1c18b130f1fcd5dcdbb263"},"headline":"Review of the Maker Pi Pico from Cytron Technologies &#8211; a Raspberry Pi Pico project board worth your time","datePublished":"2021-07-28T15:44:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-29T15:31:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148"},"wordCount":847,"commentCount":4,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1","keywords":["cytron","pico"],"articleSection":["GPIO boards","Raspberry Pi Pico","Reviews","Sensors"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148","url":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148","name":"Review of the Maker Pi Pico from Cytron Technologies - a Raspberry Pi Pico project board worth your time - Raspberry Pi Pod","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1","datePublished":"2021-07-28T15:44:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-29T15:31:16+00:00","description":"Great add-on 'home' for your Raspberry Pi Pico giving lots of options for adding inputs and outputs via the Grove system.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1","width":1200,"height":898},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21148#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Review of the Maker Pi Pico from Cytron Technologies &#8211; a Raspberry Pi Pico project board worth your time"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"Raspberry Pi Pod","description":"Experiences with the Raspberry Pi micro computer and microcontroller","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#organization","name":"Raspberry Pi Pod","url":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/cropped-PiPod-Logo-v3.png?fit=800%2C337&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/cropped-PiPod-Logo-v3.png?fit=800%2C337&ssl=1","width":800,"height":337,"caption":"Raspberry Pi Pod"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/recantha\/","https:\/\/x.com\/recantha","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/recantha\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCK4F9blabxzmk8Inzhs8tpg"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c27c4ef2ee1c18b130f1fcd5dcdbb263","name":"Michael Horne","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/479778b0677caadde0ceb54c4129804ef674914607e3ed0998808148357d10d8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/479778b0677caadde0ceb54c4129804ef674914607e3ed0998808148357d10d8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael Horne"},"url":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/MakerPiPico_potentiometer.jpg?fit=1200%2C898&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2RsaV-5v6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21011,"url":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21011","url_meta":{"origin":21148,"position":0},"title":"Taking the Cytron Maker Pi Pico out for a spin with the Raspberry Pi Pico","author":"Michael Horne","date":"17 April 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Tony Goodhew has been in touch about some experiments he has run on the new, low-cost Maker Pi Pico from Cytron. TL;DR - here's the Instructable. In the UK, the Maker Pi Pico is available from The Pi Hut (also as a version without the Pico pre-soldered, but with header\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Geeky Techiness&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Geeky Techiness","link":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/FY1JLWQKNG1CJTD.jpg?fit=1024%2C456&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/FY1JLWQKNG1CJTD.jpg?fit=1024%2C456&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/FY1JLWQKNG1CJTD.jpg?fit=1024%2C456&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/FY1JLWQKNG1CJTD.jpg?fit=1024%2C456&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21015,"url":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=21015","url_meta":{"origin":21148,"position":1},"title":"Plant moisture detector uses a Raspberry Pi Pico for a low-cost, easy to implement project &#8211; the 3D-printed enclosure is an added bonus","author":"Michael Horne","date":"17 April 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Spencer Organ recently went to the virtual Preston Raspberry Jam which had a gardening theme to talk about his project - a Raspberry Pi Pico watering can. You can see the innards above. Costing under \u00a315, the project helps to monitor a single plant (in Spencer's case a Sweetpea plant)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;3D printing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"3D printing","link":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_20210224_174029-768x576-1.jpg?fit=768%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_20210224_174029-768x576-1.jpg?fit=768%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_20210224_174029-768x576-1.jpg?fit=768%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_20210224_174029-768x576-1.jpg?fit=768%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20868,"url":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=20868","url_meta":{"origin":21148,"position":2},"title":"Add LoRaWAN support to your Raspberry Pi Pico with this tutorial","author":"Michael Horne","date":"16 February 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Mauro Riva has written an excellent tutorial on adding LoRaWAN support to the Raspberry Pi Pico using a cheap Lora board and custom MicroPython firmware. He details how to connect the Lora board up to the Pico before going on to describing how to extend the normal MicroPython firmware to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Communications&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communications","link":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?cat=904"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pico_lora.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pico_lora.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pico_lora.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pico_lora.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20745,"url":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=20745","url_meta":{"origin":21148,"position":3},"title":"Raspberry Pi Pico &#8211; a surprise, yet very exciting, new product from Raspberry Pi","author":"Michael Horne","date":"21 January 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, Raspberry Pi has announced the launch of their new board - and what a surprise it is! It is their first\u00a0micro-controller and is called the Raspberry Pi Pico! Raspberry Pi Pico has been built around Raspberry Pi's own silicon, developed in-house by them over the last few years. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Announcements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?cat=952"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Pico-R3-Pinout-Small.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Pico-R3-Pinout-Small.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Pico-R3-Pinout-Small.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Pico-R3-Pinout-Small.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20780,"url":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=20780","url_meta":{"origin":21148,"position":4},"title":"Play Tetris on your Raspberry Pi Pico using this add-on board from Pimoroni","author":"Michael Horne","date":"30 January 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 A Reddit user called Jools64 has created a fully-playable demo of the game Tetris using a Raspberry Pi Pico, the newest board from Raspberry Pi. It uses a\u00a0Pico Display Pack from Pimoroni to show the game and the four included buttons carry out the usual actions of left, right,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Games&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Games","link":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/tetris-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C654&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/tetris-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C654&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/tetris-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C654&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/tetris-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C654&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/tetris-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C654&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20827,"url":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=20827","url_meta":{"origin":21148,"position":5},"title":"How to develop for the Raspberry Pi Pico on a Mac","author":"Michael Horne","date":"8 February 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Tony Smith, aka smittytone, has written two articles that are well worth a read if you're trying to develop for the new Raspberry Pi Pico with a Mac. The first is how to program a Pico in C and the second is to do with debugging the Pico with\u00a0another\u00a0Pico and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Programming&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Programming","link":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?cat=39"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pico-debug.jpg?fit=1024%2C469&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pico-debug.jpg?fit=1024%2C469&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pico-debug.jpg?fit=1024%2C469&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pico-debug.jpg?fit=1024%2C469&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21148"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21155,"href":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21148\/revisions\/21155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}