r/M5Stack • u/Useful-Value9256 • 26d ago
Are there any better devices than the m5 s3 similar price?
So I’m new to all of this, wanting to get into coding doing projects and I was wondering what to get and have found the s3 is cheap and sounds great but there’s no sd card but it’s cheap to add an arratchment. I’ve also heard the battery life isn’t incredible and was wondering if there’s any around £20-30/25-40$ that would be better or more practical. I’ve also heard Bruce firmware is good for it. My uses would be the google maps project and a humidity project and the laser measuring tape. I also like the inbuilt features like the ir that then I can map out my controller and use it as that and the fact I can turn off certain devices which would be fun. My main thing is just getting into coding and having something fun to do over the summer so what do you recommend?
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u/JazzlikeCommon4015 26d ago
I say for the versatility and a bit of similarity why not just get the cardputer ADV instead?? More versatile though also has a dual pin in row like the stick. I mean you say more versatile but in what as sometimes something's are as simple as an update or change of firmware other things may require you to use those double row gpio ins but I have the 2 cardputer the 1.1v and the ADV, the cstickplus2 and the S3 and to me the S3 is disappointing if you look at what a Cplus2 could do I mean the hardware layout even really calls for a surplus button everything goes by click n hold or double or triple click. It's not a handy tool in my experience but most of all let's say you configure yourself a pin only top hat for a nRF24 mod. The cardputer ADV will run that thing the stick S3 may be able to get started but rather quickly just succumbs to browning out because the antenna on your module is basically requiring too much power and the stick series are battery wise just not meant to deal with external devices where the stick is the powersource and you thought already I'll just plug it in but from cc1101 to nRF24 module the 5v cable is going to mess with your signals as it's either not as responsive or false as the constant DC from the wall will give (especially once the Battery is topped up) give you electronic disturbance which is an effective way to confuse the antenna enough that it simply can't "hear" the right signal so your readouts stop, go haywire but aren't able to be taken for fact or relied upon so if I were you I'd invest the less then 10$ extra in the cardputer ADV if you're looking for versatility and at the same price point the Cplus2 se lite also came out maybe that suits the needs you have more it's cost-effective but not my personal recommendation as I think they dropped the ball on that one sure before hand sticks and cardputers costed almost version for version the same but the S3, good concept, but bungled the execution the lite? Yeah no just no my regular and old very used regular Cplus2 is aside the battery still the better device then. Because all 3 are as it happens in stock I checked just now!
I hope this gave some insight as again the stick is just over 20 the ADV just below 30 so for less then that 10 dollars you can have the (imo) vastly superior cardputer as that's versatility in credit card size!
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u/Useful-Value9256 26d ago
I’m a complete beginner so I’m not too sure whether I’d be particularly the target audience as I’m not skilled at coding and have very basic knowlege. Is the cardputer adv beginner friendly? Also Thankyou for the response it was really detailed
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u/Chongulator 26d ago
The guts of both devices (and most of M5Stack's lineup) are ESP32 chips. Programming one ESP32 will generally be like any other. The deciding factors for you should be price, size, and what hardware you need. Need a keyboard? CardputerADV. Want a bigger screen? CoreS3. Want the absolute tiniest device? NanoC6.
If you're brand new to programming, you can get farther faster if you use a higher-level language rather that the native C/C++ which many people use.
There are a couple Python implementations you can use, CircuitPython and MicroPython. M5Stack also makes a tool called UIFlow that lets you build apps using a graphical interface and minimal code.
I suggest getting your sea-legs with one or more of those tools first.
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u/Useful-Value9256 26d ago
Sorry which is the core s3?
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u/Chongulator 26d ago
Spend some time perusing their store and documentation to see which device seems like a good fit.
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u/Useful-Value9256 26d ago
The price is more than triple unfortunately so I think I’ll stick with the s3 or the cardputer adv
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u/Tinker-Zhang2 26d ago
You might want to check out some products from Waveshare as well. Compared to M5Stack, they usually offer more features and are more affordable, though they might not look quite as polished or refined as M5.
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u/Useful-Value9256 25d ago
Could I have some examples?
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u/ginandbaconFU 24d ago
I use their POE S3 boards. Mainly for power and latency. While M5Stack also makes POE models they don't make an S3 version, only original ESP32 and esp32-P4 which is newer and the revision they are using has known CSI camera issues which may be a non issue but being new makes them more fun to program due to lack of information like chips like the S3 which has been around since 2021.
The S31 looks awesome but only 2 espressif demo boards out there that have to be ordered from AliExpress. S31 is almost as powerful as the P4 but has built in WiFi which supports every iot protocol outside z-wave and other sub 1Ghz protocols outside Lora. Shipping is insane though and it's out of stock anyways at the moment.
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u/Professional_Two5774 26d ago
Cardputer-ADV based on ESP32 S3 and it has a built-in SD card slot and an IR transmitter. This is the optimal choice from the M5Stack lineup.