Surfing the World Wide Web isn’t for everyone, and the Waveshare RP2040-BLE is perfect for those who have had enough of the Internet. Or at least for those who want a more energy-efficient and extremely affordable board. With the Waveshare RP2040-BLE, you’ll get the perfect compact system that features Bluetooth 5.1 dual mode function, just without the WiFi capabilities.
The Waveshare RP2040-BLE has plenty of great features to excite users, from its robust Bluetooth functions and more. It has a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller chip, and without the WiFi features, it is incredibly power efficient. Its onboard FPC 8PIN connector also allows USB Type-C usage via an adaptor port. The Waveshare RP2040-BLE is even smaller than most Raspberry Pi models, making it tiny but powerful.
The Waveshare RP2040-BLE is budget-friendly and powerful
Its compact size makes it easy to integrate into nearly any system and features drag-and-drop programming using mass storage over USB. Among its benefits is also its low-power and sleep modes, for times when you don’t want to shut it down but are looking to conserve power. It supports Pico C/C++, MicroPython, and Arduino IDE.
The best part of it is the price. You can get the Waveshare RP2040-BLE for just $10 on Amazon. If you’re looking for the USB adaptor along with it, you can buy the USB Type-C adaptor board, the development board itself, and the necessary FPC cable on Aliexpress for just $12.59. It’s hard to beat that price point when it comes to powerful development boards.
The Waveshare RP2040-BLE is missing the WiFi, though, which you can get if you pick up any of the other Raspberry Pi RP2040 models, like the Raspberry Pi Pico. These models can also be cheaper and still include Bluetooth functions. However, because they can support WiFi, you have to sacrifice performance, something you won’t experience with the Waveshare RP2040-BLE development board.
