Maker Go's Arduino UNO R4 Minima Clone Cuts the Cost Considerably — and Is On Offer for Under $1
Using the same Renesas RA4M1 chip, with its 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4 core, this clone includes double-row headers and a 3.3V logic switch.
Chinese hobbyist electronics specialist Maker Go has launched its own take on the Arduino UNO R4 Minima, based around the same Renesas RA4M1 board but priced significantly lower — and currently available, for a limited time, for under a dollar.
"The RA4M1 core board uses the Renesas RA4M1 (Arm Cortex-M4) microcontroller with a speed of 48MHz, which is three times higher than the [Arduino UNO] R3," Maker Go writes of its design. "SRAM [Static RAM] is increased from 2kB in [UNO] R3 to 32kB, and flash is increased from 32kB to 256kB to adapt to more complex program applications. Compatible with the official [Arduino UNO R4] Minima development and learning board."
Arduino launched the UNO R4 Minima alongside the UNO R4 WiFi back in June last year, offering a major upgrade over the classic eight-bit AVR-based UNO R3 and earlier. Built around a single 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4 core running at up to 48MHz, the board retains the rough layout of its predecessor — including the uneven pin spacing — and retains a 5V logic level for backwards compatibility.
Maker Go's take on the design, brought to our attention by CNX Software, is functionally identical to the official board, though ships with its headers unpopulated — and, interestingly, the option to install both male and female headers simultaneously, with a physical switch to flip between 5V and 3.3V logic. Its main advantage: price, selling for a standard retail price of just $7.76 including delivery — undercutting the official Arduino board by some considerable margin.
The board is available to order on the Maker Go AliExpress store, and there's a time-limited launch offer: early adopters eligible for the "welcome deal" can receive the board for just $0.99, making it the cheapest way by far to experiment with Renesas' RA4M1.