Switch to other ESP what do you Prefer?

[Obstsalat]

Hello,
i work most of the time with the normal ESP32 1 gen.
Now i want to switch to another Series.
What Version is actual good or what are you Prefer?

[Ath]

As usual in IT, "It depends"

- ESP8266: Skip that, as it's (IMHO) outdated, and really limited, in both RAM and max. bin size (The amount of work to make ESPEasy fit is increasing with every useful feature we try to add)
- ESP32 (Classic): Fine for most tasks, great if you need Ethernet networking (but that's also fine with other ESP32 models, now that SPI Ethernet is supported), reliable workhorse
- ESP32-S2: First attempt to replace the ESP32 (Classic) with a couple of half-baked technical implementations. Better not use it for new projects, superseded by the S3
- ESP32-S3: Really good successor to the ESP32 (Classic), with many improvements, no need for an external serial chip, and a lot of available GPIOs
- ESP32-C2: Low cost intended replacement for ESP8266, the few cents it's cheaper than an ESP32-C3 makes it a somewhat poor choice, available in very compact boards, the C3 is the better choice
- ESP32-C3: Low cost replacement for ESP8266, with a few more GPIOs than the ESP8266, more RAM, available in very compact boards, no need for an external serial chip
- ESP32-C6: Somewhat strange model, that supports Threads/Zigbee (no support in ESPEasy, yet) nicely fast running, not really widely supported yet

[TD-er]

Don't use the C2 unless it is built in somewhere.
Even Arduino doesn't officially support it.
I have submitted several bug-reports of incorrect register addresses to Espressif and I am sure I haven't checked them all.
So it is more like a surprise to see it is actually running quite OK.
Like we say in Dutch: "More luck than wisdom".
It also lacks quite some features all other ESP32's have.

I do like the S3 the most as it is by far the most powerful and versatile one that's currently available.
Also there are quite a few nice boards out there using the S3.
However, it is a bit tricky regarding the use of PSRAM.
When picking the wrong build, the ESP32-S3 will just bootloop.

Another nice one is the C3.
It doesn't have a lot of pins, but it is available in quite small form factors (and cheap too)

Not sure what to think of the C6.
One really nice feature of the C6 is that it supports WiFi-6.
A really nice feature of WiFi-6 is that you can negotiate some sleep period with the access point, meaning after this sleep period you are still connected. (needs implementation in ESPEasy, but I know it will work, I only need to properly add it to ESPEasy)

The S2 is OK-ish, but not really special now we have the S3.

Edit:
Forgot to add...
Do NOT use the ESP8266 for new designs!
It is really hard and time-consuming to make the builds fit on ESP8266.

[Obstsalat]

Thank you for your answeres. I will try the S-Series.

[Obstsalat]

Hello again,

today i got 5 freshly new ESP32 S2 mini with 2 MB PSRAM. Holy cow is this thing fast..............
And the best is Deepsleep is working absolutely great!
I found only 1 Failure in the actual Firmware but i dont know if this is for every S2 version.
In the "Hardware" section of the ESPEasy FW the LED is not GPIO-4 (D4) it is GPIO-15 (D?).

Thank you so much for your infos, have a nice weekend

Greetings the Fruity-Salad

[Ath]

I found only 1 Failure in the actual Firmware but i dont know if this is for every S2 version.
In the "Hardware" section of the ESPEasy FW the LED is not GPIO-4 (D4) it is GPIO-15 (D?).

A couple of issues here: The manufacturer can decide to provide a LED on any GPIO they desire. The GPIO-2 LED is available on Wemos D1 mini boards, AFAIK, and probably also on NodeMCU (both ESP8266), where someone decided to introduce the confusing Dn pin naming (also available in Arduino ), that luckily wasn't extended to ESP32, so we actually and correctly mention GPIO pins by their real number, instead of some fake, and totally irregular, numbering scheme. (causing all kinds of typos just like you made and maybe even more wrong wiring connections )
The note on that page has a static text that does mention GPIO-2 (D4) indeed, but as said, no guarantees if it works, a lot of boards don't even have a separate LED that can be controlled like this, some have a NeoPixel installed (24 bit color capable) on various GPIO pins, and some use 3 GPIO pins to control a 3-color LED (using PWM you can create a lot of different colors).

For history sake I think we should leave this text as is.

[TD-er]

On ESP32-xx builds, the suggested text might be reviewed.
I think the LED is even on ESP32-classic on a lot of boards connected to GPIO-2

Problem with some purple ESP32-S2 boards is that those can be a hit-or-miss regarding stability.
But when it works, it is quite responsive indeed.

[Dorfrog]

Most of the time I use the WROOM 32, but now that the feature set of the S3 has been detailed above, I'll make sure I add one to my next order.
(As well, I just ordered some of the WiFi6 ESP32-C6 to play around with some Zigbee features.)

[TD-er]

Please note that Zigbee/Thread is not yet supported in ESPEasy.

WiFi 6 is supported in ESPEasy, but not yet the "let the AP know I will be away for N minutes/hours and still remain connected" feature.