0 - Introduction
Elecrow is back on Kickstarter with the CrowPi3, their latest all in one dev station built around the Raspberry Pi 5. If you like experimenting with electronics, coding or messing with AI tools, this kit is made to keep things simple and portable.
1 - What's inside?
It looks like a small laptop, but inside is a full Raspberry Pi lab. In it, you get a 4.3” touchscreen, an area to plug in a MCU dev kit, like a Raspberry Pi Pico, Arduino Nano or even a BBC micro bit, built-in camera, battery, keyboard, and trackpad and an HDMI port to plug your Crow Pi to a bigger monitor, if you want to.
2 - What's new?
Compared to the Crow Pi 2, the Crow Pi 3 is more compact. The big 11.6” screen is replaced with a smaller 4.3” touchscreen, making the device lighter. It’s built specifically for the Raspberry Pi 5, so you can’t use older Pi’s with it. The keyboard and trackpad are now separate from the main case, but wireless. The thermals were largely improved to support the new and more power hungry Pi 5. Overall, it is trying less to be a laptop replacement and trying more to be a portable dev station for Raspberry Pi projects.
3 - Built in courses
The Crow Pi 3 comes with all the courses that came with the Crow Pi 2 and some more. These include lessons on Python programming, electronic basics, sensor controls and even game development with Scratch. On top of that, the new kit introduces courses focused on AI and machine learning. Whether you are a beginner or already have some experience, the included tutorials make it easy to learn by doing some project by yourself while being guided step by step.
4 - Early bird options
Right now on kickstarter, you can get the early bird deals, making this kit go from a good value to a great value product. If you want to get one, while they are cheaper, you have some options.
- The basic kit comes with only the kit itself, not even a Raspberry Pi is included, meaning that you will have to get your own.
- The advanced kit, adds some accessories like a pre-installed Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB), built-in battery, wireless keyboard and mouse and a 32 GB card with a pre-configured OS.
- The deluxe kit offer a much more complete experience, providing you with a Crow View Note (a monitor, keyboard, and mouse that look like a laptop).
- Finally, the education kit, that comes with 3 Crow Pi’s but with not pre-installed Raspberry Pi, making it a good deal for Schools and workshops, letting you save about $80 per kit.
Which one should you get? That depends on what you will want to do with it, I personally, would choose the advanced kit as it is not overpriced and comes ready to use.
5 - Conclusion
The Crow Pi is a solid kit for anyone who want a compact, all in one Raspberry Pi setup for learning and tinkering. It keeps things practical, whether be it in programming, electronics or AI. With multiple kit choices at a discounted price on Kickstarter, it is 100% worth checking out the options by yourself. Personally, I am very excited to have this kit in my own hands.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more tech insights and tutorials. Until next time, and keep exploring the world of tech!