FLIRC Raspberry Pi Case and USB Adapter Review

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Introduction

• Manufacturer: FLIRC
• Model: Raspberry Pi Case & USB adapter
• Price: $19.95 (Case) & $22.95 (remote) (At the time of review)

Welcome to another Lifestyle review! These reviews showcase some of the coolest gadgets, and everyday products that really help you out in your general day to day life. From bags to portable batteries, play3r’s got you covered. Today we take a look at the FLIRC Raspberry pi case and remote control combo for all those raspberry pi addicts out there looking for a new home media combo. I wanted to first make mention of something very interesting about this product, and one you might not actually realize at face value. The creator of the product actually after problems in his life, decided to donate considerable portions of the FLIRC profits to charity. You can find a little more about that fact here.

We got sent this awesome duo to test and give our thoughts on, and as an avid raspberry pi user I always enjoy testing out new accessories and add-ons to make the user experience easier. Firstly let’s take a look at the case:

I’ve reviewed a few pi cases and I was surprised to feel the weight and quality of this particular case over the normal plastic ones that overwhelm the market. At $19.95 its obviously an upmarket case, but the quality overall speaks volumes. Instead of the traditional clipping mechanism we might find on some of the cheaper Plastic cases you’ll have to screw the board into the case which was easy and I’ll simply show you the pictures to explain how gorgeous this case really is:

The central portion of the case is made from aluminium or a some form of metal which interestingly doubles up as a heatsink to effectively dissipate heat incase you fancy pumping up the mhz on the stock CPU clock.

Aesthetically the FLIRC pi case is simply stunning, and I personally think its worth every dollar. With all of the ports lined up nicely upon installation, to create a solid and awesome looking product.

Obviously the second part of this review will be talking about the FLIRC which is the main interest of this particular review. A device that enables you to use any remote with your Raspberry pi, pretty cool right? No longer will you stumble around looking for that remote that was lost under the sofa. In fact. with the FLIRC all of the information is stored on the device, if you lose the remote simply program another one in.

The interesting thing about the FLIRC is that it does not require additional software, simply install the base software on a PC. Code in your remote control and then all the settings are stored on the device, as oppose to the pi. Making it less prone to a software level error, pretty cool right? Once you load up the software you can reprogram the flirc with the remote you are using to emulate those same keys. Basically meaning you can use any remote with an IR emitter, you could probably even use a phone with a built in emitter.

During the testing I used a few remotes I had knocking around the house and all of them seemed to work without issue. However the really cool thing about the FLIRC is its unique way of mapping the device to a remote control, because it actually mimics a keyboard almost every media application will understand the device and pick it up without drivers. Oh and did I mention the FLIRC is cross platform?

I’ve got to give FLIRC credit for creating a product that simply works so well out of the box. I wanted to give this product a hands down 5/5 for performance simply because it worked flawlessly. For design, we awarded the product a 5/5 due to the simplicity of connecting new remotes, and just how awesome the product is! Regarding the price, its cheap. And once more this is a product that actually gets money donated to Cancer research, so if I was to choose between a well designed product and a cheap remote on amazon? Well I know personally the place I’d want my money to go. You can find out about the fundraising here.

Thanks Flirc for sending me these samples, and keep up the fantastic work! Oh and you won the Design award. I did want to give you a “Keep up the awesome work award” but sadly I couldn’t find one of those in our library. 

And if you have the money, please donate it to such an amazing cause: http://uscnorriscancer.usc.edu/support/. Or buy a FLIRC, either way you are helping out.