Raspberry Pi 3 B+ (B Plus) with Premium Clear Case and 2.5A Power Supply

The CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3B+ box contains everything you need to get up and running quickly. I used mine in a ham radio project as the foundation for a DMR Hotspot. It mated up perfectly with an inexpensive MMDVM_HS_HAT mounted on the GPIO connector. Running the latest WPSD image on my SD card the Pi 3B+ booted right up and was ready to get to work right away. The power supply runs very cool powering the Pi 3B+ without any drama. I ended up not using the plastic case as the MMDVM board was not compatible with the form factor but it would have been fine for any application of the Pi 3B+ that does not require a board mounted on the GPIO connector. This is a good deal, especially for anyone who has never played with any Raspberry Pi projects. The quality of the board is outstanding with solid components and clean solder connections top and bottom and front to back. Highly recommended!

In case you hadn't noticed, ALL Raspberry Pi processor boards cost the same. Why? Because the price is fixed and controlled by the Raspberry Pi organization. I'm not complaining about this, but it does beg the question as to why you would pick one supplier over another. The key differentiators are: 1. Power Supply - is there one and how good is it? The official power supply is designed to plug into virtually any outlet on the planet. Consequently it's huge. The one included in this kit will allow you to plug other things into a duplex or quadruple outlet (like I have in my shop). 2. Enclosure - is there one and how good is it? I like the 'official' enclosure slightly better than this one for one reason - it is a bit more modular, but this one is decent quality and may provide better ventilation than the original. Originally I thought that I couldn't install a GPIO cable and put the cover on this one, but happily discovered that there is a gap, large enough for the cable, between the top and the side of this enclosure. A RaspberryPi 'Hat' should fit ok, but I personally haven't tried that. 3. Price - as I mentioned, the Processor price is fixed, but the add-ons aren't. This kit is about the lowest price I've seen for what it includes. 4. Extras - this is where this kit really shines. It includes a short cable that you insert between the power supply and the Pi. The cable has a switch that toggles the power on and off and an LED to show you that the power is on - useful when starting up and you don't want to plug in a powered cable to your Pi. I haven't seen this in any other kit, certainly not at this price. If you've used other kits, powering off your Pi requires physically disconnecting the microUSB connector or unplugging the wall wart - either way, not as convenient as simply pressing the switch. Updated: to fix comment about ribbon cable.

I could not be happier with this excellent kit that will have your raspberry pi experience ready to go in minutes. No tools are required for board installation and the kit includes heatsinks for the CPU and Networking chip. The box runs warm but not hit under load. The included on/off switch is a plus which the power chord connects to directly. Mine has been powered on and running flawlessly since I bought it 2 weeks ago, no issues. Everything you need is included except the MicroSD card. However, Canakit also has a kit that includes MicroSd cards and recommend purchasing it together as it's only a few dollars more. Square Trade warranty was also only like 2 bucks for 4 years or so.

This is a dumb microcomputer, it needs you to install an operating system on a microSD card. Buy the fastest 16 or 32 GB Sandisk here on Amazon, then go to the LibreELEC website and download their free card writer software and it will write the LibreELEC O/S to your microSD card. If you have an older RP 3B you can just poke the microSD card you already use into this creature and you will find it is compatible. For 50 bucks you won't find a more useful KODI box. There are many operating systems that you can use with this microcomputer. Just Google Raspberry Pi 3B Plus. The case is wonderful and precision made, the power supply is well designed and more than adequate. Altogether this is a very fine piece of equipment. I've bought about 50 of the Cannakits to make KODI boxes for friends and EVERY ONE was outstanding. Never had a problem. BUY THIS if you are an experimenter or want to set up your own media center which scrapes the internet for free movies, TV shows and music.

Everything went well overall, I used a build that will drive a SDRPlay RSP2 Pro software defined radio. The Raspberry Pi thre, even with heat sinks will require an active cooling solution without getting throttled. Under high demand applicationsI also had problems getting the top lid on the case and so I am going to have to retrofit the whole thing in a new metal case with a large heat spreader and micro fan that will tie in to the GPIO header to get 5v DC power. Running a software defined radio and driving a waterfall display that does Fast Fourier Transform graphics is very demanding on that little ARM Cortex processor. I had to cryocool the chip using an upside down can of “air duster” to provide liquid refridgerant on the heat sync to maintain smooth consistant performance. Passive cooling with the tiny heat sync will work for most purpouses but not this one. The Pi 3 B+ become a very capable computer that needs to be built like an industrial SBC if you want it to perform like one. Decent kit otherwise and it will get you started. But if you want a better case you may as well get a nice metal one with active cooling, the Pi Single Board Computer, and then buy a power supply. You will pay about the same, and get a better quality build. Bottom line I started with just the SDR, a mini keyboard, a 23 Amp Hour USB battery bank that can pump out 3 amps, and a Micro SD card. With the addition of the kit, and a free version of Linux ended up with a USB battery bank powered computer and 5 inch monitor with a SDR radio that rivals other my ham radios in frequency range as well as global HF reception in less than an hour. It was more of a challenge getting the operating system binary properly written to the MicroSD card.

This is my first Raspberry Pi and I wonder how I got along without one. It's so tiny and yet so powerful and handy. I use mine with my 3D printer. What makes the Raspberry Pi so darn cool is that it can be changed from one function to another by simply changing out one tiny SD card. I later added the Raspberry Pi camera so now I also have video available while I my printer is running. This is super convenient if I need to step out for a while. I can check in with my phone to make sure everything is going well, and if not, I can shut things down. I am not sure how I ever managed with out one. All I needed to do to get started was pickup a USB mouse and keyboard and plug in a monitor. Power it up and it's ready to go. Setting up the SD card was also very easy. There are a lot of videos on Youtube that show just how it's done. What could be better? What really makes it shine is the versatility and low cost. For me, it's a 3D printer controller, for someone else it's a retro game machine, and for another it's a file server. The versatility is amazing. If it breaks, just plug the SD into a new one are you are up and running again. What's not to love? It wasn't so many years ago that my entire desktop computer system had less power than this little Raspberry Pi does. That's really cool too.

I have been using a Pi -B and Zero until now. Didn't realize just how much more powerful the 3+ is. Almost could be used as a person's daily desktop if it had a bit more onboard ram. But, it is a great little device for programmers and experimenters. Wifi just pops up ready to use without having to hack through the old method of driver finding and loading. (Although if your network is secured, which it should be, there is a little work to get the password into wpa_supplicant, but vastly easier than the old method of using wrappers.). If you are used to standard Debian, there are some gotchas in the Raspian desktop that will cause puzzlement for a bit, but you won't get stuck. The Raspian desktop is too Windowish - tries to tell you what you ought to do. Apt-get XFCE if you want a familiar Debian GUI. But for a command line junky, it is great. Hack all day and if you bomb it, just flash the microsd again and boot up. With the Etcher flash utility, it takes about two minutes to get your little machine back online. This high quality CanaKit gives you all you need to get started, except for the SSD. Be sure and purchase a wear-leveling chip, as a Pi with this power will probably burn out an older microsd card in less than a year. Sandisk Extreme is one brand. Recommended.

Package of course arrived fast (Amazon Prime Da-Best) As far as product itself goes, it was packaged well and secure. Instructions on assembly were super easy and actually helpful, unlike other suppliers that seems to send instructions with just a single sentence for each step that was extremely vague, the instruction BOOKLET that came with it was well designed. Gave links and info on software and storage needs depending on what you wanted to use it for. Personally purchased it to build an Arcade Cabinet and load every video game that has come out from the first Atari all the to the Nintendo 64, including Arcade only titles...this thing handles it flawlessly and never gets warm. Was fun teaching my son , whom is 9, the basics of computers/programming and a little wood work. “Helped” me build it (Helped just means he didn’t have a choice in the matter lol). Incredible is just one of the many things you can call it, just make sure to research first what you want to do and make sure to leave a little bit of wiggle room when selecting the memory card you need, USB works great too. Thinking of getting one or two more of these to build another Arcade Cabinet for a gift to a family member, and the other to create my own automated software for either a CNC or 3D Printer, who knows, the possibilities are endless.