Arduino Uno vs Nano: which board is better?
Like many beginners, my first Arduino board was Arduino Uno. And with the time I found Arduino Nano and then onwards I used it more often. So I thought of writing this article to share my experience with these two Arduino boards. Arduino Uno and Nano.
Arduino Uno vs Nano: which board is better? This question is somewhat tricky as each of the boards have their advantages about and disadvantages, which makes it hard to choose one of them. According to my experience, you have to consider about your project application when choosing one.
Below I’m going to discuss and compare some aspects of the two boards to make it easier to choose between two boards Uno and Nano.
What is Arduino Nano?
To compare two boards you must know about each board in detail. Let’s start with Arduino Nano. It’s a small and compact microcontroller board with many features. And it is one of the widely used Arduino board boards around the world, mainly because of its compact size which is half of the length of an Uno board. Because of that, it can be easily used with breadboards when prototyping your project.
when talking about functionalities it has digital and analog IO pins along with Power, GND, and Reset pins. Instead of a regular USB clock. It has a micro USB port to connect with a pc.
Arduino Uno vs Nano
To get a clear picture of both boards let’s compare two boards according to the following criteria.
Nano vs Uno: Pinout
Arduino Nano and Uno both have 14 digital I/O pins, while the number of analog I/O pins is different. Arduino Nano has 8 analog I/O pins and Uno has 6 analog I/O pins. Both boards have the same power pins: 5v, 3.3v, GND, and Vin.
When talking about pinouts, there are two significant differences between the two boards.
The first one is the barrel connector which comes in Arduino Uno, which is very convenient to power the board without a battery. However this feature is absent in Nano.
The second significant feature is the USB port. Arduino Nano comes with a micro USB port while Uno comes with an A/B USB connector.
Nano vs Uno: Power consumption
The current per I/O pin is 40mA in Nano while for the Uno board it is 20mA. Power consumption of the board mainly depends on the number of modules you attach to the Arduino because a higher amount of current drawn means that your project requires more power.
Nano vs Uno: Dimensions
Arduino Nano is 45mm x 18mm while Uno is 68.6mm x 53.4mm. Approximately the size of a Nano board is 1/3 of the Uno board which makes your project smaller significantly.
If you are concerned about the lightweight of your project, in that case also Nano wins. Nano is 7g while Uno is 25g.
Nano vs Uno: Processor
The ATMega328P powers the Arduino Uno, while ATMega328, which is slightly different powers the Arduino Nano.
when comparing about the EEPROM and SRAM of the two boards, you cannot identify a difference because both are exactly same.
So memory is not a factor that you have to care about when selecting one out of these two boards.
Arduino Uno vs Nano: Projects
The projects where size is a major concern, You can use Nano. Here are some examples.
- Mini Robot
- Digital Clock
- IR remote control
- Weather shield
- Wearable Items (Heart rate monitoring device)
- Security system
And you can do every other projects with Uno. Whether it is a simple project or a advanced IoT project. Here are some examples.
- Line following Robot
- Obstacle avoiding Robot
- Home Automation System
- Laser security system
- Fire fighting Robot
Summary
| Feature | Uno | Nano |
| Digital I/O pins | 14 | 14 |
| Analog I/O pins | 6 | 8 |
| DC barrel connector | yes | no |
| Communication port | A/B USB | micro USB |
| Power Consumption | 20mA | 40mA |
| Dimensions | 68.6mm x 53.4mm | 45mm x 18mm |
| Weight | 25g | 7g |
| Processor | ATMega 328P | ATMega 328 |
Conclusion
The question of which board is better cannot be answered without knowing what you are going to do with it. So I’m going to split this in to two.
which board is better for beginners?
For beginners, I highly recommend the Arduino Uno because of the following reasons.
- It is user friendly because it has a regular USB port and a DC barrel connector.
- As it has female headers for I/O pins it can be easily connected with your modules using jumper wires.
- And also female headers reduces the short circuiting as the conducting part is not exposed.
- And if you accidently burn the processor by a wrong wire connection, in Uno you can replace only the processor without replacing the whole board.
Which board is better if you have a specific project?
If you read the article carefully, now you are able to find the answer for this.
all you have to do is compare the features of the two boards with the requirements of your project.
Let me give an example.
If you want your project to be smaller in size and lightweight the definite option for you is Nano.