As we asked PinIdea for a review unit of their larger DR-1 X11 miner, they contacted us to review the DU-1 USB miner instead, because lack of DR-1 stock. We were happy to comply though, especially since they agreed to send the DR-1 successor DR-2 in a few weeks/months. So, expect more and longer reviews if all works out. Besides PinIdea’s X11 miners, we’re on the reviewers list of several bitcoin and scrypt miners.

PinIdea sent us a nice kit consisting of 3 DU-1 x11 miners and 3x USB Y-cables (data and power). The miners themselves are very small (5cmx3cm), about ¼ the size of a GridSeed cube. The included fan is powerful and fairly silent. Because of the high speed data transfer and power, it needs an extra USB connector. So the DU-1 uses a Y splitter cable to connect power and data separately.

Still, it only uses between 7 and 9 watt, so you can still connect a large number of miners if you use a USB hub with enough ports. Remember, 1 miner takes up 2 ports..

Connecting the units is easy. Just plugin one end into the miner and then the 2 USB plugs to your computer or hub. Compared to GridSeed and some other firms it’s also easier as you don’t have to install any drivers. No manual installation needed, Windows recognizes the hardware automatically.

After this, just download the miner software to your pc, extract and follow the instructions to setup the miner and pools. In our case, we had to specify the virtual comports in our batch files:

cgminer.exe --x11 -o "POOL” -u “USER” -p “PASS” --dr1-clk 400 --dr1-fan LV3 -S //./COM3 --du1

(You can find the needed COM ports by selecting the ports in the Windows Hardware Manager)

Note: as standard it hashes at 200, you can set it to 400 for maximal performance.

At the moment there are a few X11 coins available, Dash, Smartcoin, Goldblocks, Influxcoin, etc.

We decided to focus on Dash, as that seemed most stable and consistent.

At the current rate, 1 DU-1 unit mines about 0.0186 DASH a day, about 16 cents US. With power deducted that leaves 14 cents. It’s peanuts, but with just a few units you can setup a nice “mining farm” that does not break the bank. Our 3 units earn us 47 cents a day (41 after power).

It’s also a good way to get started with mining, as you can gradually setup new miners or just learn from the experience and scale up to larger ASIC’s like the DR-1 (450MH/335W)

Also, as they run over USB not a separate (ATX) power supply, there is less maintenance and less risk in running a number of them 24/7. It’s only a few watts, it can’t draw more than the USB connector is designed for.

Larger miners connected to (ATX) power supplies usually are connected by PCI-E cables that tend to overheat when drawing too much power. Shorts and fires can be the result. But by using USB, it’s relatively save. (It can still short, but it’s only 5v.)

Pro’s

Sturdy and stable. High quality finish.

Easy to setup

Con’s

Low payout.

Not that many mineable coins

Conclusion

A good and easy way to get into mining, learn before buying a full fledged ASIC. Fun to setup.

If there is interest, we'll publish larger reviews in the future as well. We usually get loaner units, but do have to pay for shipping and customs. Any income or proceedings from reviews will be used to fund those.

Planned currently are: PinIdea DR-2, Innosilicon A4 Dominator 280MHs, Bitmain Antminer S9. These are currently confirmed to be sent to us soon.

Prices:

10.00 DASH

Website: https://www.pinidea.io