As a maker I love receiving new maker toys to play with. Soldering irons (I have so many now!), 3D printers, microcontroller, Single Board Computers (SBC) and add-ons are just the tip of the catalog available to makers. As we approach the holiday season, thoughts often turn to buying presents for our loved ones, but don’t we, the makers, deserve a little something?
Whether you need a small, yet powerful maker computer, a new soldering iron, electronics kit or a low-cost tiny microcontroller, I’ve got you covered with some great deals on the tech that I have personally used. These are products that I have tested, used and paid my own money for!
Becoming a maker doesn’t have to be expensive. Shop smartly and you can save some money and get the tools that you need. If you need a low power desktop for the makerspace then the Raspberry Pi 5 can handle all of your maker projects with plenty of power in a form factor which can be integrated into a project. Soldering irons are no longer big, clunky stations on your desk (I’ve got a soldering station in my workshop). We can use a smart soldering iron which gives us full temperature control in a much more wallet friendly and space saving way. I reach for my smart soldering iron (a Miniware TS101) on a daily basis.
I’ve collected a few essential maker based products which should feature on your shopping list this Cyber Monday.
Key Maker Products
- Single Board Computer: You don’t want your fancy gaming rig getting dirty in the makerspace / workshop so an SBC is a good standby. The added bonus is that it can also be embedded into a project.
- Learning Kits: Learning electronics and coding can be tough, but using a kit makes it much easier. Whether you are a new user, or helping someone take their first steps, a kit will make a world of difference.
- Soldering Irons: There is no piece of technology that has not felt the heat of a soldering iron. Soldering is the most basic maker skill and thanks to a plethora of soldering iron choices there are many to choose from.
- Microcontrollers: Sometimes you don’t need the full power of a Linux based SBC in your project and this is where a low power and low cost microcontroller comes in. They can communicate over Wi-Fi, use remote APIs and read sensor data just as well as an SBC, but with much lower power consumption.
- Raspberry Pi HATs: HATs fit on top of the Raspberry Pi GPIO and provide extra features such as motor control, sensor data and even RGB LED matrices. No soldering required, we just place them on the GPIO, run some code and we are done.
- 3D Printer: Even a decade ago, a decent 3D printer would set you back thousands of dollars, but now we get great quality for under $200. 3D printers come in many configurations, but the typical “bed slinger”, a term used to identify printer which move the print bed, is where nearly all of us start, and for good reason. They are cheap and easy to use.
- 3D Printer Consumables: Every 3D printer needs either filament or resin to produce a print. For your FDM printer you will need filament (PLA, TPU, PETG, ABS etc). For resin 3D printers you will need bottles of resin. You can pick these up from printer manufacturers such as Elegoo or Anycubic. More exotic filaments can be found at Matterhackers.
- Storage: Since the Raspberry Pi came out, I shudder to think as to how many SD and microSD cards I have used / lost / bought. We need a constant supply and so finding a cheap deal is essential.
Quick Links
- Raspberry Pi 5 starting from $60 for 4GB at Adafruit
- PicoBricks Raspberry Pi Pico W electronics learning kit, now $29 at Amazon (was $39)
- SunFounder Raspberry Pi Pico W Ultimate Starter Kit: now $55 at Amazon (was $69)
- Miniware TS101: $61 at Amazon (was $79)
- Raspberry Pi Pico WH: $11 at Amazon
- Raspberry Pi Build HAT: $29 at Amazon
- Amazon: ELEGOO Neptune 4 Pro: now $284 at Amazon (was $359)
- 3 x PNY 64GB Class 10 U3 V30 microSDXC Cards: now $14 at Amazon (was $19)
The Maker’s Standard: Raspberry Pi 5
In the past 11 years, I’ve tested and professionally used many different single board computers (SBC) and microcontrollers. Even after all this time, the Raspberry Pi wins. In the past there were many more powerful SBCs than the Raspberry Pi, but with the release of the Raspberry Pi 5 we have the fastest Raspberry Pi ever. The longevity and interest around the Raspberry Pi also means there is a rich library of support on offer.
The Raspberry Pi 5 retails from $60 for the 4GB model or you can double the RAM and pay only $80. I’d go for the 8GB model if this were my first Raspberry Pi, if not then the 4GB model has more than enough power for most maker projects.
No matter the RAM, your Raspberry Pi 5 is powered by a Broadcom BCM2712 SoC which has an Arm Cortex-A76 64-bit CPU running at 2.4 GHz and an 800 MHz VideoCore VII GPU. There are two micro HDMI ports for dual 4K output, USB 3, dual camera / screen connections and the all important GPIO.
The Raspberry Pi 5 has the power to be your desktop computer and maker toolkit. Add to this the upcoming addition of M.2 SSDs via a HAT and we have a powerful, yet tiny platform for many maker projects.
I love the Raspberry Pi 5, it is a solid base for projects and the price is only a little more than the Raspberry Pi 4 that it replaces. Pick up a board for yourself and take a look at our guides to overclock the Raspberry Pi 5, use the GPIO and how to emulate the Sony Playstation 2 with the Raspberry Pi 5.
The Best Kit for Learning: PicoBricks
Electronics is a fun hobby, heck I made a career out of it. But starting out can be tough. Don’t know your I2C from SPI? DS18B20 from your DHT22? And where does this wire go? What you need is an easy to use connection, no soldering, just plug and play. This is where the $30 PicoBricks Raspberry Pi Pico W starter kit comes i.
In our PicoBricks review we praised the well made kit which sees pre-wired modules connected to a central Raspberry Pi Pico. For kids, this means they can build complex projects without any wiring. Coding the projects is handled via a block based code editor, or for more advanced students we can use MicroPython / CircuitPython and C.
This kit is geared towards learners but you can make some seriously powerful projects. For example the onboard DHT11 temperature sensor and motor controller can be used to monitor the temperature and turn on a fan if it gets too warm. Add an API such as OpenWeatherMap and we can get live weather data, display it on the OLED screen, and use that to trigger the fan. All with little or no wiring (we need to wire the motor in, but that won't be too difficult).
A great introduction to coding and electronics, and now with a healthy discount.
An honorable mention goes to the SunFounder Raspberry Pi Pico W Ultimate Starter kit. For $55 this kit comes with sensors (temperature, movement, distance, water, Infrared) and outputs (motors, servos and and submersible water pump. It even provides a Raspberry Pi Pico W. If you are buying for an established maker who has yet to try out the Raspberry Pi Pico W, then this kit is a great gift and introduction.
The Best Soldering Iron: Miniware TS101
I’ve tested a slew of soldering irons for our best soldering iron and soldering stations page. The current trend is for “smart” soldering irons with an OS that controls every aspect of the iron. Leading this trend are Miniware and its TS101, the best soldering iron for your money.
The TS101 can be powered via USB C or a DC 9-24V supply and it heats up in 15 seconds. By heats up I mean it gets to a working temperature of 350 degrees Celsius in 15 seconds. It cools down relatively quickly, in just a few minutes it should be safe to touch the soldering iron tip. The included TS-B2 conical tip is a good all-rounder but a quick shopping trip on Aliexpress will reveal all the tips that you need. My preference is a conical chisel tip, precision and a large thermal mass in one package. The TS101 uses tips for the TS100 and Pinecil range of soldering irons so there are plenty to choose from.
Being a smart soldering iron means I can tweak the configuration of the iron to meet my needs. Plug in the TS101 to a computer and it appears as a USB flash drive. Open the config Tweaking a config file using any text editor
The elephant in the room is cost. The TS101 is much more expensive than the Pinceil. But I would gladly pay the extra to enjoy the level of comfort that the TS101 affords. Long soldering sessions will feel much better with a comfortable soldering iron.
Pinecil is a viable alternative, if you can find them in stock, but the smart money for the smart soldering iron goes to the TS101.
Grab an iron using this link, this pack contains a DC power supply.
The Best Microcontroller: Raspberry Pi Pico W
$8 doesn’t buy you much in the world of tech. But for that $8 you can pick up a Raspberry Pi Pico W, a simple to use microcontroller with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. As you have already guessed, this is from the same team that brought us the Raspberry Pi.
The Raspberry Pi Pico W is a wondrous little board. I’ve worked with Arduino, ESP32 ATTiny85 etc but the Raspberry Pi Pico’s RP2040 is a powerful little chip. Based around a dual core Arm Cortex M0+ running at 133 MHz (it can be overclocked) and with 264KB of SRAM and 2MB of flash storage, this little board can power your robots, machine learning or data collection projects with ease.
Within five lines of MicroPython I can connect the Raspberry Pi Pico W to the Internet, and with a few more I can get data from remote APIs or send data to remote locations using protocols such as MQTT. If MicroPython isn’t your thing then we can use Lua, JavaScript, C/C++, even BASIC!
You’ll get a lot from this board, and all for just $8. Spend a little more, $14 in total, and you can get a Raspberry Pi Pico WH with pre-soldered GPIO pins. Or you can learn to solder them yourself as an excuse to buy the TS101 soldering iron.
The Best Raspberry Pi HAT: Raspberry Pi Build HAT
Makers of any age and ability love Lego, but what if our Lego collection could be controlled using a Raspberry Pi? This is where Build HAT comes in. Created as a collaboration between the Raspberry Pi and Lego teams, this HAT is all about using Lego Technic, Spike and Mindstorms components in your build.
Build HAT has bespoke connectors for the many Lego components, enabling a direct connection. A Python library abstracts the complexities, providing an easy to use interface to control components, and to read the values of components such as color and force sensors.
I had a great time building a color-sensing contraption which scanned an item and used the reflective color data to turn on a string of NeoPixels to match the color. Build HAT is a great product and a worthy addition to a maker's bits box. It is also ideal for new, perhaps younger makers, who are looking to move into the world of electronics and Raspberry Pi.
The Best 3D Printer: Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro
Elegoo's Neptune 4 Pro is a great 3D printer, our reviewer Andrew Sink had a great time with it and now I am thinking of upgrading my Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro. It prints fast, thanks to a Klipper based firmware and it has a direct drive extruder which means it can print TPU with ease. The hot end can reach 300 degrees Celsius, useful for specialist filaments which will clog in lesser temperatures.
Providing quality at speed is thanks to the Klipper firmware, which uses input shaping to counteract the acceleration forces of a moving print bed. A large part cooling fan, which has a "Violent" setting, is used to speedily cool your prints. Although it does get noisy. The Neptune 4 Pro also has linear rods for the X axis which will not wear down like normal rubber wheels. This ensure X axis movement is smooth.
There are manual bed leveling knobs and a bed leveling sequence which is used to level the print bed before a print. With a 121 points checked, we can be certain that our prints will come out perfect, and stick to the textured PEI build platform.
The Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro takes the already impressive Neptune 3 Pro and adds a part cooling fan, Klipper firmware, linear rods, and more features while keeping the price surprisingly low.
Storage for Your Projects: microSD Cards
As I look on my desk I can see 24+ microSD cards in a holder. In capacities from 2GB to 128GB. I've even got a 512GB card in my SteamDeck just because I am cheap and bought a 256GB model.
Since the Raspberry Pi was released in 2012, I must have bought over 500 SD and microSD cards, and yet I still buy more as I build new projects, lose the cards or damage them during testing.
Buying in bulk, and large capacities is the smart move, so these three 64GB microSD cards are perfect for Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 builds. These class 10, U3 V30 microSDXC cards offer up to 100MB/s transfer speeds and are A1 app performance rated for 1500 IOPS read and 500 IOPS write. 32GB is the smallest microSD capacity that we would consider, Raspberry Pi OS can weigh in at around 16GB and we'll need space for our apps and files. These 64GB cards are great news for those of us who build a lot of projects.
