Originally $19.95, Seeed Studio's Arduino-compatible Seeeduino V4.2 is now available for $6.90, possibly allowing users to buy a new unit for each of their DIY projects. Rather than deconstructing projects when a new one begins, Seeed is hoping to enable those projects to stay around to help inspire both the creator and others who can see and interact with said project. A noble gesture to say the least.
The price drop is roughly 65%. Seeed achieved this by improving our supply chain management techniques and capability, improving our agile manufacturing techniques, and making more efficient use of our factory machinery. The improvement however is not done – the company will be continuing to improve their efficiency so that all future product costs can be lowered.
- Seeeduino V4.2 is based the ATmega328P and is compatible with the Arduino UNO bootloader. The board comes with an additional set of through-hole pads for all pins. These pins are aligned to the standard 0.1" grid. This makes it easy to solder additional pin-headers to plug into breadboard or create your own attachment/shield with 0.1" dot-matrix general purpose PCBs.
- Users can program and power the board via a micro-USB cable. Alternatively, one can power the board via a DC Jack input (7 to 15V DC). There is a switch to choose the system's supply voltage either 3.3V or 5V, which is very useful if users want to set the system to 3.3V to interact with low voltage sensors.
- Finally, the three on-board Grove sensors allow a user to plug in Grove sensors with no additional hardware – making prototyping a breeze. With SeeduinoV4.2 and some Grove sensors, hundreds of projects can be done.
The $6.90 Seeeduino V4.2 is now available on the Seeed Bazaar. Find out more at the company’s Arduino webpage.