Recently, FriendlyElec released the NanoPi R5C, which I believe is currently the only soft router product that can replace the R2S.
Because it comes with a metal case and:
1GB LPDDR4X + 8GB eMMC priced at 349
4GB LPDDR4X + 32GB eMMC priced at 399
I looked at the R2S RK3328 with 1GB of memory, which has no eMMC, and is currently priced at 248, also with a metal case.
R5S RK3568 SoC
2GB memory 8GB eMMC, priced at 479
4GB memory 16GB eMMC, priced at 539
I couldn’t help but ask a question:
Is there still a purchasing value for the R5S?
Is there still a purchasing value for the R2S?
I want to see how much the R5C has been cut down.
The result was a bit disappointing, and I will discuss the differences with the R5S below.
First and foremost, it is obvious that it lacks an unimportant Gigabit port
I think the Gigabit port on the R5S is really not significant; it can only be said that it is slightly better to have it than not. Clearly, this is the thought of many people.
Additionally, the size has also been noticeably reduced.
The PCB board size has been reduced from R5S’s 62mm x 90mm to 58mm x 58mm, which is slightly larger than the R2S. The case dimensions are 62.5mm x 62.5mm x 29mm
A lot of interfaces have been simplified
First, all the IO interfaces originally provided by the R5S have been cut off. Yes, this is a pure soft router with almost no IO interfaces. The fan interface has also been removed due to space constraints on the case.
The R5S supports NVME solid-state drives, which have been removed on the R5C and replaced with M.2 Key E, which can basically only accommodate wireless network cards. To support wireless network cards, the R5C has directly cut two holes in the case for antennas.
However, seeing the wireless speed is just barely usable, it is very disappointing.
I personally think this design is tasteless, but regrettably, it doesn’t seem to have much meaning. Instead, I think we should explore how to utilize this interface.
By the way, I also want to mention that the USB Type-C power interface this time only supports 5V voltage and does not support PD protocol, while the R5S does support it.
They officially tested it, and the result is that the R5C runs a bit hotter, but both can run stably, so there is no need to worry too much about stability.
In summary, it can be said that FriendlyElec is very good at listening to user needs and has created something that seems to cater to user demands. Although there are some minor regrets, overall it is very good. Whether in terms of price or configuration. If you just want a soft router device without considering anything else, I think this is the most suitable soft router device to buy right now.
Compared to the R2S, you can get the RK3568 for just +100, and it upgrades to 2.5Gbps ports, plus an HDMI interface, so you can use it as a set-top box if you don’t want to play with soft routing. That extra 100 is worth it. If you want strong performance, just add 50, and you can max out the configuration. You should know that the set-top box with RK3568 SoC also costs around three to four hundred. This cost-performance ratio can even slightly exceed the R2S.
However, it seems that FriendlyElec has learned a bad lesson. While I was writing this article, I checked the configuration prices of the R2S and R5S, and found that they no longer sell bare boards; all versions come with cases. I also looked at my previous purchase record for the R2S, which was 185 with a metal case. This price increase really caught me off guard. It seems they are clearly pushing the R5C.
Lastly, I want to complain about FriendlyElec’s website.
It feels like a style from 20 years ago; it should be updated. The forum still has posts from 2008.
NanoPi R5C
https://m.tb.cn/h.UidYzGr?tk=Avdddd4gFpC
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