Just for the Type-C connector, I would prefer the clone board. I hate micro-USB plugs, they are just too flimsy and breaks way too soon.

Fantastic, love the USB-C connector. For my future projects, definitely going with something like this.

I’ve successfully use a couple of these with Pimoroni’s Pico RGB Keypad Base without any issues. You get extra memory, user button, a neopixel and much better usb C which is better for repeated connection/disconnection. I found they arrive a lot quicker (< 2 weeks) if you order multiple boards at a time. One thing to note is they are wider than a regular Pico and will overhang pins/connections on some prototype boards.

Gary, thank you for doing these videos and making your code available. Helps a beginner like me to learn without reinventing. I had to bridge R68 on my board to work the neopixel and noticed at 7:10 on the video that your board is already bridged. Also updated a couple of GPIO numbers in the code to match what you explained on the video.

I have 4 in house and 2 on order of the RPi-2-pico-W (Pico W). I just ordered 2 clones with RP2040 TYPE-C 16MB after watching this. Thanks Gary.

I have a few different Pi Pico's and then got this one as a result of your video. Have to say, for the price, I am impressed!!! It works the same and functions just like the real thing in Arduino IDE as well. It's good to have the reset pin and the RGB LED for testing as well. Now, knowing what I know about the clones, I would have gone for this one first. Now I can't wait for the Wi-Fi version to hit the market, as that is what I have the most of. Great video and well explained - thanks!!!

interesting video as always 👍 great walkthrou of the board. Thanks for sharing your expirences with All of us 👍😃

I have one and its got nicescreen printing on the top and bottomfor all the pints SUPER NICE.

I bought one, the only difference I noticed that may cause incompatibility is: The 3v3_EN pin was disconnected from GPIO 23 so you can no longer control the SMPS but the pin instead controls the NeoPixel.

I mean I’ve already bought some picos but I would definitely buy this as well I think the Neo pixel would be great status indicator for mobile base station

Just wanted to throw out a little tip to make life during a USB transition easier and that is: Adapters. I got these great USB-C to USB Micro and USB Mini adapters that use jewelry clasps to fasten to the cable and they are amazing. No more digging for older cables when I am working with a board like a Pico or an Arduino Nano. I wish they made a USB-B one. Stupid Uno and it's ancient connector.

Exists also a very similar board "WeAct RP2040", with 16 mb of flash, with one small difference - 3.3v output on 4-th pin fron right side, not on 5th... And no NeoPixel LED there)

To answer Gary's question: Since (all) the clones are based on original design/drawings from RPi Foundation, the RP2040 chip itself will be the original one (hard to clone this, right?) and other components that were present in the original design should be basically the same (BOM is included in public design files) => I wouldn't expect any issues related with the RP2040 itself (oscillator, power, USB compliance, ...). However, the more "changed" the clone is, the less trust I would have. No one wants his RPi Pico project to random reboot occasionally. For critical projects I would choose the original only.

one question gary, is uploading code go to the flash chip? and how to check the flash size of the chip. i am quite new to this

Thank you for showing us this. I’ve been thinking if getting one of these clones with the higher flash memory. I already have a clone that looks like the original with the original 2 megabyte flash, but i plan on upgrading to 16 megabytes. This version mentioned in this video also comes with 4 megabytes of flash. I would be careful which seller you buy these from, as some sellers flat out ignore messages without even trying to help, random cancellations of orders, and can be a total scam.

I can confirm that Version 2022-1.3 needs R68 bridged for the NeoPixel to work. I bought 2 boards recently and both needed the bridge.

Great video Garry

Is there an original firmware (current) changed to recognize the 16 MB, because it only detects 2MB with the original one. I had to use the Pomodori Lipo 16MB to see the other ones, but I would like to have the original firmware only updated for the 16MB. Do you have any hints for this?

Thanks! I just ordered 5 of these with 16MB flash, for a total of $16 US, from AliExpress.

if the original Pico had a reset button I would keep buying it. But I’m going to place an order for a handful of the ones you described. I don’t mind the USB micro connector too much but I mind it a lot when you have to plug and unplug every time you want to reset the board!

Is there a datasheet for this clone? How did you know where the peripherals (LED, buttons) are connected?

GPIO pinouts are printed on PCB. MUCH BETTER!

is it the power supply improved , because original has noise its interfering the analog pin.

I have two 16mb boards, running pico flash and picoboot. Perfect

VCC-GND Studio is the original designer and manufacturer of this RP2040 based Raspberry Pico clone black board. It uses an LDO regulator instead of a buck-boots converter; it is a very low dropout voltage regulator still good for a Li-Ion or LiPo battery (up to 3.4V). The advantage of the LDO is a massively reduction in power consumption in sleep and dormant states.

do you need to ground the user button for it to function? also it doesn't seem like there is a pin 24 on the board I'm a bit confused

How do you solder the R68 pad to enable Neopixel LED?

Got the Waveshare RP2040 Plus from Amazon. . It looks like a great board but I haven't opened it yet as I might return it. The battery connector isn't a standard LiPo connector. I'm not sure if I want to put up with that annoyance if I can get one with the correct connector. Otherwise, the Pi accessories are compatible and the hardware is better. I bought too much at once - this, various esp32 boards and a couple other microcontrollers. It's Christmas in October....

I'm curious about the broken out GPIO23 which you didn't mention. On the regular Pico it's used to control the power supply. Is it fully usable here?

I'd definitely buy this instead but the 1 month wait is a bit of a letdown. Still, I just know that if I get the faster-delivered RPI foundation one it'll probably sit around for a few weeks before I start using it anyway so this is a good option. Love the videos always great.

Both! Good vid!

Maybe everyone should buy at least one of the original boards to help support and encourage R.Pi Foundation and then clones for the other features when those features are needed.

Hi Gary & everyone. i bought a clone one with type C connector and 16 MB. but the pinout on the board is different than the original. on one side, it goes from GP0 - GP17 with 2 GND in between. on the other side it goes from GP18 to GP29 along with VBUS, RUN, 3V3 etc. should i follow the GP written on the board? or match it pin to pin with the original?

I've always bought and preferred clone boards. Never had any issues with them and they tend to offer more features. If the original manufacturers want me to buy from them they should at least offer the same utility as the superior clone versions.

How can I design this board.. and how can I program /reflash this device.. Where would I get the firmware from.. the cloners did all of that? If so rather than buying the only the cloned board.. possible to buy the cloned board + Firmware + etc.. Any suggesstions or idea for same?

I would love to find any Pico W, original or clone.

I would consider buying one of these if they were considerably cheaper or RPF Picos were unavailable. I would describe this board as a "re-design". I'm obviously not in marketing. A marketing guy would call it a "re-imagining".😉 Thanks for the video!

I would buy both. A clone to try it and another Pico for my next EuroPi synth module.

Ha! I saw you flip that usb connector at 7:26. Old habits die hard huh.

i wonder how to attach them into the enclosure since the clone doesn't seem to have any screwhole

got to wait for the W-Clone now :)

I am struggling to make the WS2812 RGB led work on the YD-RP2040 board. Am I supposed to solder the two R68 resistor pads to connect them with the GPIO23? In my board, both pads are not connected but I have read, the Neopixels routine is working for them if these pads are soldered. Also the photos online seems to have a bumpy soldering. Just curious what the experience of other owners might be. Any help will be much appreciated.

Does it infringe any copyrights?

By a few originals and pack them away as collector items, then buy and use the clone. That way you support the real innovators, but still get to play with something a little more user friendly.

Does this board support c++ programming in arduino ide?

Hi Gary. Thanks a lot for the video, really helpful. I have been trying to make the RGB work on the C language side, but haven't achieved it yet. Does anyone knows how? There is no example written in C for it. Regards.

Well, we didn't see the back of the board. Is it empty so that the board can be soldered to a main-board? The clone Pico also lacks castellations In favour of pin-labels, so connecting to a main board would have to be by header or wires/pins. The mounting holes are absent, probably because of the wider USB-C , still a good trade-off in my opinion. What were the RPF thinking not implementing USB-C? The Debug connector also appears to have a dedicated Earth (0V) pin added, a good idea. So, not a replacement for all existing projects, but an overall improvement, though I would prefer castellations to labels, personally.

Are there clones with an esp32 for wifi and BT to compete with the Pico W? Problem is for support when using none esp32 modules.

Tried Type-C Version 2 board but it won't boot on SD mode. Is this an issue with my e-marked cable ?

Any idea why it would show me a cpu temperature of -1479.79 when I try to read the cpu temp with circuitpython?

I already bought some of those clones some month ago, because they were easier to get than the original Pi Pico.

The Pi Pico has one of its analogs connected to a local temperature sensor, which leaves it with only 3 analogs sensors. I would like to know if this board gives you access to all four analog sensors? OK, I have now found a spec sheet that states this board has 4 ADC however one of these is an analog ref. I'm not sure if this is there to set a range to the voltage input for the other 3 ADC pins, or to act as an ADC in its own right. Also if this is pin compatible to the pi, is the 'extra analog input making use of a redundant pi pin? I guess if this board can add extra features like the buttons and the rgb, then its capable of more inputs and outputs, than the pi-compatible pinouts. This would be perfect if it had 4 - 6 analog pins, maybe replacing those extra pins used for the ic2 debug.

I'll be swayed when I can get a Pico W clone ;) I'm happy to hear ESPHome will be adopting the Pico W.

Do i need a special version of micropython firmware to access the 16mb flash?

you have to solder the jumper on the board to enable the ws2812b

There also pico boards that are smaller like the tiny 2040 from Pimoroni.

I have ordered two of them, i still have to figure out how to use it as a midi device, the type c is what i wanted!

When buying Arduinos, I opt for clones because of the price. If there weren't these clones available for tenth of the price, I would have been more cautious when using them and many smaller projects could have been left undone. Raspberry Pi Pico is already so cheap, there is no huge reason for me to go with clones to save money. But if there are variations with USB-C, battery management etc, I can consider buying them instead.

That ball demo is so much faster than the esp32 graphics demos you see where alot of shapes are moving. Its comparing apples and oranges though i suppose. If espressif licensed out more fp blocks when they tape out a new revision i suspect it would make a big difference wouldnt it? Im not familiar with risc v architecture as much as i should be. I'm keen to see what tenstorrent do with it as far as developing more logic blocks. I get the feeling that generative ai servers with people like jim keller and his brilliant team and other companies will catch up and supass nvidia and make them remember who their main market used to be. Hopefully anyway. The barrier to entry for pc gaming is like it was in the 90s again where a mid tier gaming pc was 3400. I got an amd 350 i want to say it was the k62 which lacked intels mmx extensions introduced in the p2 but were being used with the pentium 3 out. I had a voodoo glide card which struggled to run halflife. It was the first new pc i could ever afford being poor and only getting to game at friends houses or booking time at the c64 lab at school in grade 5 many years earlier but my family were so poor student loan paid for my first pc which i sold to buy a new guitar and went a year in university without a pc. Im a professional guitar player now and a wanna computer / electronics engineer even though i graduated to of my class in the late 90s with a major in search algorithms. Then promptly got a job locally in policing and now im 44 retired trying to get back the years of experience i missed. I lean toward the ee side more. I have deep respect for you ever since you schooled me on the dreamcast processor. Imagivision or whoever they were call were just snatched up werent they? The uk birthed alot of geniuses, engineering is in your blood my friend.

do we use pico w or regular pico micropython fimware for these clones?

I bought the RP2040 chips and some memory and make my own board :p I have 10 Picos here to play around, but if I need more, I still would buy the original when it's the normal price of 5 bucks. But buttons are a cool thing, but the LED is not necessary. Will it get hot if you run it for a longer period? I remember RGB LED's that heated up an SSD to a point, the SSD shut down. But you already said it, the Pico is open hardware, we can buy the rp2040 and some SPI memory, most of the stuff is already build to death and at the end, we just put the parts together in our circuit, make the prototype with the Pico until the boards arrive and we have special boards for that. Some even solder the Pico and these Clones into their boards btw, and somebody posted a video, how to access the memory on such a board without the pico micro-usb. The USB-C is a great improvement, I love it too, that's a big plus IMHO.

Gary, it might be nice to provide a link to the board so we can find it. Or at least provide the search term so we can find the exact board you're talking about.

Where can you buy these? in the US?

Is it really a clone if it has the original chip? Anyone can buy the RP2040 and put it in a dev board; it doesn’t require any reverse engineering or IP license violations as far as I know. Does look like a nice board though. I know the pico went with micro USB for cost and available cables but it still feels backwards.

What Pico display is that? Can't find it on Amazon. Thanks!

If I do a "one off" design solely for my own use, a clone is fine. On the other hand, a project that I consider publishing and hope that other users may find useful I would build around the official Pico. Clones pop up and disappear a lot faster than the original products so to make sure my design doesn't rely on the properties of a specific clone it's better to stick with the original.

I'm a bit on the fence though - because I definitely miss (irritated for not having, to be more accurate) having a reboot/reset button on the Pico, but I would definitely don't want a WS2812b on it. PS: More memory is better, but I was under the impression that RP2040 could handle a max 8MB flash without impairing its operational speeds..

Anyone have the Python "main" file that comes installed on the AliX board? I lost mine and would like it back for testing.

Hi, can you show how burn bootloader in pi pico?

Hi gary good morning nice video i'm not seeing d links to buy d two items that u have from AliExpress

I like to support the Raspberry Pi Foundation, so, for onesie-twosie where I don't need extra memory and don't have a use for the Neo Pixel, I would buy the original. Obviously, if my app is bigger or the project is focused around small and the Neo Pixel or I really needed the USB-C,, then my choice is made. Also, if the price difference holds up at scale, even a modest production run may lead to the clone (also something being sold or given to others these days should probably go for USB-C.

*GARY!!!* Good evening Professor! Good evening fellow classmates! Stay safe out there everyone!

The flash looks serial, is it slow compared to the processor?

Hello Gary Interesting video, however I am not totally convinced you are correct on the size of flash memory on that board. Its not clear from AliExpress site but I suspect its just 16M bits (standard 2Megabytes) I cant make out the flash chip number from your video, can you reply with the chip number to answer that question and maybe the AliExpress link you used would be useful too please.

but next year pico w2 with bluetooth or wifi. i losted what W was but some way other next year same price. bcoz they seems not want make bluetooh and wifi same time its same chip

The LED demo looks suspiciously like the RGB wave cycling you'd find on most gaming keyboards. No surprise that they have onboard microcontrollers to control those features.

Which IDE do you use?

the clones are about 1-2 euro cheaper in the EU. during sales, the discounts increase astronomically last weeks sale allows you to get 10 clones for the price of 28 euro. for the same price you can get only 5 PI pico's [if you include shipping cost]

What about a wireless version of this one ? WiFi is essential for some applications, right ?

Hi Gary can I ask for the code? I'm having a rough time configuring my LED and Neopixel on my Pi Pico 16mb with type c. Thanks man appreciate any help.

I'm having a problem programing a .py can someone confirm the interpreter settings for micropython? Please and thank you.

What is the mame of pcb

Hello Where is link to code of examples?

I also have some of these boards. It seems the ADC isn't working as expected though. The original pi always hfs a bit of noise and therefore never reads 0, this board does, but when applying _any_ voltage it doesn't read anything. Connecting ADC_VREF with the ADC pin results in an obvious 100% reading, but even when releasing the voltage the reading stays at 100%. This absolutely isn't how it behaves on a original Pico. Maybe I'm doing it wrong though 😅

hi Gary ! nice video but you miss one big point here: any thought about the 3.3V regulator fitted on these clones ? the genuine PICO is driven by a RT6150B-33 buck boost which cost more than de RP2040 itself (~1$/500pc vs ~0.8$/500pc). the advantage of using such a buck/boost chip is that you can run the genuine PICO directly on a 3,7V Li-ion battery (3V - 4.2V), which is not possible for example with ESP32 boards and their AMS1117 regulators that requires about 4 volts to run (so much drop down voltage!) . i do not know what kind of regulator is used on these pico clone but i doubt that they could run on Li ion pack the same way as the true PICO do ! if i had to run on battery i would better buy a genuine 5$ PICO... feel free to give us some detail about this point :) best regards

I'd give it a try

I would always start with the original manufacturer's board, once up to speed and happy with the programming and concepts then look to who else makes similar products. So the original manufacturer is charging slightly more, he has done the leg work and made the market for others, it's called business, and I suggest people should try it rather than complain. Running your own business can be fulfilling and enjoyable, but be prepared for hard work.

But neopixel is taking one GPIO pin and you cannot use that pin for anything else, do i get that right? Why do you need that?

Is there support for this board in the Arduino IDE?

Well, there is a fairly simple solution. Just donate to the foundations if you use clones. As you can see with the price difference the margins are razor thin anyways. So small donations pay for lots of boards.

A huge downside of the clone is, in my opinion, that it only has through holes for pin headers. I don't know how it is called, but I really like the possibility of the original Pico to directly solder it on another PCB.

With the higher flash ROM, I still find it challenging to use even relatively large (~500) python codes due to lack of RAM. Does anyone know how to solve this issue? Large flash is great. But what exactly does it do to help us? It doesn't really help us run larger python codes. Right?

expanded memory could store a picture as a background for ...

I'm using this board, but I'm programming it using the Arduino IDE. If anyone knows how to control the WS2812 via the Arduino IDE, I'd appreciate some hints.

Link to board?

I bought like 20 clone board, because of the TypeC and also because it alot cheaper than the original one

nothing wrong with buying cloned boards -never had any trouble using them and they thend to be cheaper

I will go for whichever has pre-soldered pins, I have no loyalty to whose the make of which board. But I am rubbish in soldering, especially with the condition I have, I can barely solder 4 I2C pins but I shorted few MCU boards trying to solder. This is why I swore with ESP32, most are soldered, here's a thought, do one short episode on Pico W and who sells clones of W and with header pins soldered.

Interesting.

I'll buy whichever is cheaper. I do however want wifi, so that kind of puts me back to the original. For applications that don't require wifi the cones are the way to of. having the onboard addressable led means you can periodically flash the led as an indication the device isn't locked up but still executing its program.