00:00Alright, quick heads up, if you've been eyeing the M5 dial, pump the brakes for a sec.
00:05I went hunting for the best deals on ESP32S3 Matrix Driver vs M5 Dial, which wins, and
00:11I found 5 boards that genuinely made me stop and think.
00:14Some cost half as much and do things the M5 dial straight up can't.
00:19Let's break them down.
00:21First up, this little guy, the ESP32S3 Matrix Super Mini.
00:26The killer feature here is size, it's a full dev board with an 8x8 RGB LED matrix,
00:31Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, and a QMA8658C motion sensor, all crammed into something smaller than a matchbox.
00:38And it's $13.38.
00:42$13.
00:43With $4,700 plus sold and a 4.8 rating, people clearly love it.
00:49If you want the cheapest way into matrix projects, this is it, no contest.
00:54Next, the ESP32S3 RGB Matrix Driver Board with a dual microphone array.
01:00This is the feature the M5 dial doesn't have out-of-the-box onboard mics for voice interaction,
01:05plus 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.
01:09Think voice commands, assistance, sound reactive displays.
01:13It's $44.15, so the priciest here, but that mic hardware is genuinely hard to add yourself.
01:20If voice stuff is your goal, this one earns its price.
01:24Then there's the WaveShare version of that same idea, dual microphone array,
01:28Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, and here's the kicker, a perfect 5.0 rating.
01:33Not 4.9.
01:355.
01:36With over 4,500 sold, that's a lot of happy buyers.
01:41WaveShare also means solid docks and support, which saves you hours of forum digging.
01:46At $26.63, that's less than half the M5 dial for hardware it simply doesn't ship with.
01:53Number 4 is the ESP32S3 AI RGB Matrix Driver Board, also with dual microphones.
02:00The big draw is that it's built for AI work.
02:03ESP32S3 has vector instructions for on-device inference,
02:06so you can run wakewords and tiny models locally.
02:09It's $26.86 with a 4.8 rating and 4,300 plus sold.
02:15If you've been curious about AI gadgets but don't want cloud subscriptions, this is your playground.
02:21Last but not least, the K3 Hub 75 Driver Board.
02:26This one's different, instead of a fixed matrix, it drives external Hub 75 panels,
02:31so you can go way bigger than 8x8.
02:33Plus it's CircuitPython-powered, meaning beginners can write Python and skip the whole toolchain headache.
02:40Internet display, stock ticker, art piece, done.
02:44$28.41, 4.8 stars, 4,250 sold.
02:49Great pick if you want room to grow.
02:52So, M5 dial or one of these?
02:55Honestly, for the money, these boards punch way above their weight.
02:59All the links are in the description below, so go grab the one that fits your project.
03:05If this helped you decide, smash the like button and subscribe.
03:08I test this stuff so you don't waste your cash.
03:11See you in the next one.
