NodeMcu or Wemos D1 Mini?

Hey guys, Im using Nodemcu, but what about Wemos? I read specs and they seem similar, but I want to hear your opinions from people who use them.

Thanks in advance.

It depends on what you’re doing with them.
Some of the NodeMCU boards are a bit wider than the Wemos D1 Mini, which makes them harder to use on breadboards. The ModeMCUs are also longer, as the have more pins, which can be handy if you need those pins; but that means they take up more space.

The thing I like about the D1 Mini is the add-on boards that are available. The double and triple bases are very handy and you can get relay boards, boards with switches, temperature sensors, OLED displays etc. You can stack these on top of each other if you wish, or use the bases.

Most NodeMCUs come with the 0.1” pitch header pins soldered in place, but the Wemos don’t. They generally come with pin, socket and long leg socket headers and you can chose which ones you want depending on your physical requirements. This can be a pain if you don’t like soldering, but can be handy if you need to fit the board into a particular space. Sometimes I don’t use the headers at all, soldering wires and components directly into the boards to reduce the number of connections and reduce the bulk.

They’re pretty cheap (around 3 euros) if you buy on AliExpress, but delivery time is fairly slow, so order half a dozen, plus some bases, relays etc to make it worth your while.

Pete.

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I think it’s just a matter of “what you have at hand”. NodeMCU is certainly larger, have soldered header pins as pointed by @PeteKnight, which may, or MAY NOT be desired. One real difference is with D1 mini pro, which has socket for external antenna.

the bare boards are what i work with.

i am happy to solder mine everytime i built a new project.

breadboarding is not something i do… just hardwire it up and GO!

Only V3 NodeMCU is wider than Mini D1. I’m using both NodeMCU V2 (one with narrow pin base and CP2012) and Wemos Mini D1. Wemos is practical because of it’s compact dimensions and low power consumption, but that’s all it has to offer compered to NodeMCU. On the other hand, NodeMCU is probably the best ESP platform available, looking from a hardware perspective, it’s much better built than basic D1 Mini.

Unless you want to use the Wemos dual or triple bases, or make use of the stackability of the Wemos ‘shields’.

I’ve not found any build issues with the D1 Minis that I’ve bought from AliExpress for around €3 each. These are almost certainly clones rather than genuine Wemos parts, but they’ve always worked fine straight out of the packet. I’ve never had one fail, except when I’ve done something stupid like allowing a breadboard to slide off the desk and short-out the connections on the board.

Either way, they’re both good boards and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I was forced to use the NodeMCU over the Wemos.
It would be nice if they stopped labelling the pins in that crazy way, and a few extra ground pins on the Wemos would make hard-wiring projects a bit easier, but other than that I love them.

Pete.

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OK, ONE strong (?) point for NodeMCU: More capable 3.3V voltage regulator :slight_smile:

AND ONE for D1 mini PRO: external antenna. :crazy_face:

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@Costas just bought shares in Wemos, we have to use them :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Pete.

@PeteKnight actually I decided against the old fashioned shares but I did create 1 billion ESPproMon crypto tokens yesterday on the blockchain.
One billion ESPproMon crypto tokens

And what is one ESPproMon crypto token currently trading for?

Pete.

0.001 BTC or oddly about 0.2 WAVES
Latest Wave price for ESPproMon tokens

Size comparison between a 2014 NodeMCU 0.9v and a 2017 Wemos D1 Pro.

So that means your 1 Billion ESPproMon thingys are worth around 7 Billion quid. How does that work then? If you push the button again do you double your net worth or halve it?
Didn’t Greece try to do the same thing recently to dig themselves out of their economic mess? Maybe we should pay our Brexit divorce settlement in crypto tokens!

Pete

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@PeteKnight our crypto portfolio is not worth anywhere close to £7bn today, it’s around $1.5bn based on recent trades for our coins.

What’s a few billion $$$ between super-rich friends?

Pete.

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So, can i use the same script on both?

Yes.
The Wemos D1 Mini doesn’t have some of the pins that the NodeMCU has - to save space, otherwise it wouldn’t be ‘mini’.
So, if your NodeMCUcode uses GPIO 9 or 10 then you’ll find that those pins don’t exist on the Wemos. But, if you read this then you’ll see that you shouldn’t be using those pins anyway:

I did a bit of a comparison between various devices in this topic:

Pete.