The Pi Zero is an awesome little Pi. It uses a smaller camera connector than the other Pis, so you need the Zero camera cable. Frustratingly, this costs more than the Pi itself. The plastic connector that locks the cable to the Zero is much more delicate than the CSI connector on the other Pis, and can snap off if you don’t handle it with care. I’m not sure how to fix this yet, but for now, I’ve been securing the cable to the Pi with scotch tape.
The Pi Zero doesn’t come with any of the GPIO pins. If you need pins, you have to buy them and solder them on yourself. While not particularly difficult, this extra step is a bit delicate and tedious. The first few pins I attempted to solder got hot enough to melt the plastic before the solder melted, causing them to slide a bit. As a result, not all of the pins are perfectly straight, but they all function fine.
Unlike the Pi 3, the Pi Zero does not have any built-in Wifi capabilities. Fortunately, there is a Wifi/Bluetooth HAT made by RedBear that adds this functionality. It slides right on to the GPIO pins on top of the Zero. It is also compatible with the other Pi models.
