YD-RP2040 by VCC-GND Studio

Advantages over the Raspberry Pi Pico:

• Inexpensive
• 16 MB variant available
• Added PWR power LED
• The USB interface was changed to type-C USB
• Added reset button to facilitate reset operation and firmware update operation
• Added the USRkey user button (GPIO24)
• Added RGB lights (GPIO23)
• Change PICO's W25Q16 to W25Q32 (4M) / W25Q64 (8M) / W25Q128 (16M)
• Easier to read silkscreen for the pins on both sides of the PCB

Disadvantages:

• Larger footprint of the PCB, no drop-in replacement
• VBUS not available, cannot power USB devices when acting as USB host? (there is always a diode in the way?)

Solution for USB host power is to solder a tiny piece of a resistor leg like shown here: https://github.com/No0ne/ps2x2pico?tab=readme-ov-file#troubleshooting

CircuitPython

There is a custom CircuitPython build for this board:

https://circuitpython.org/board/vcc_gnd_yd_rp2040/

It has built in board.NEOPIXEL and board.BUTTON pins.

NOTE: As described in adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_NeoPixel#167, turns out that the pads labeled "RGB" (hard to read, could also be "R58") need to be bridged (soldered) for it to work.