While you could always just solder Pico’s castellations directly onto metal contact pads on the surface of another PCB, ClipZin has the advantage of being able to clip the board in and out at any point – ideal for when you’re prototyping a design or want to later replace a standard Pico board with a Pico W.

Clip in, clip out

In practice, we found it extremely easy to clip a Pico onto a sample PCB fitted with a pair of surface mounted, 20-way ClipZin connectors. Just push Pico down and it clicks securely into place, held by individual springy pins that maintain a good connection with each castellation. Small plastic retention clips on either end also help to keep it in place.

Removing Pico from the ClipZin connectors is as simple as gently pulling one of the retention clips and lifting the board out.

While a little more expensive than the alternative of using FlexyPins, ClipZin connectors benefit from being all-in-one (coming in 6-, 8-, 17-, and 20-way versions), making them far less fiddly to solder onto a PCB.

Verdict

8/10

Should prove handy for Pico-based PCB prototyping and could also be used in final products.

Specs

Features: Gold flash-plated contacts, surface-mount connectors, board retention clips

Dimensions: 57 × 26 × 6 mm