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I am always looking for cheap and small micro controllers. Since I moved from 8051 and HC11 based boards three or so years ago, I have been using the Atmel based Arduinos for the most part.
For the past two years, I have used mostly the Mini Pro's in most projects. I like them due to the small size and the fact they are less than $3 USD on eBay. I would love to use Nano more, but due to cost and issues I have not. Now, I have ordered a few (5 or 6) Nanos from eBay, and have had mixed results with them in the past.
The problems have been:
- No boot loader.
- Bad FTDI chip or 5v regulator
- Listed as an Atmel 328p and instead having a 168.
The no boot loader is not a big issue, as you can just use it with gcc and an ISP and no Arduino ide or write a new boot loader to the chip. With the bad chips it can be overcome with this same method, but without a boot loader and Ardie IDE.
The last problem is not a big issue, but it's just a pain in the rear. You think you are getting a 32k chip, when you are really getting a 16k one. This has been the biggest issue with the ones I have gotten before.
Several weeks ago, I was looking on eBay and saw a Nano for $3.92 USD. It had the Chinese CH340 usb to serial chip instead of the normal FTDI. I decided to give one a try and bought one. It came in this past week in the mail and I have some initial unboxing type opinons.
It arrived in a padded bag, and was undamaged. The inner antistatic bag was in good shape as was the contents:
The board looked well made:
The chip had a 328p and the blink program was pre-loaded:
The chip did have an Arduino boot loader and was seen by the IDE:
The driver came from the chip makers site: Windows, Mac & Linux
So far in my limited testing, the chip has performed well, and is what you would expect from a Nano. After I place it in a project, I may start using them in place of Mini Pro to get the added built-in USB port bonus. I will order a couple of more soon, as they have droped down to @ $3.80 USD.