SmartiPi Touch 2 - Case for The Official Raspberry Pi 7" Touchscreen Display - with Cooling Fan

I had just recently purchased my first Raspberry Pi and it seemed like the cases were piling up faster than anything. When I decided to purchase the official Pi 7” touchscreen display, also discovered smarticase.com. Since this I have only had to purchase one other case, a Smarti Pi Touch 2 Pro. It’s an unbelievably affordable solution. Completely functional out of box and lots of printable upgrade options as well. The build quality is amazing with the simplicity to customize easily if desired. I had an issue with some missing ribbons cables and the customer support was unbelievably quick to respond and solve the issue ASAP. The correspondence from Tom Murray in customer support emails and CAD downloads in menu at smarticase.com that this case would be my best choice.

What he asked for

Purchased this unit and the requisite parts. Very solid, great construction and well-thought on the design. I'm using the Pi camera with it, and that does require a longer ribbon cable. I am wanting to utilize the fan, and unfortunately the cables can't be adjusted to make the air flow better. You can't tuck them in the space adjacent to where the Pi is mounted, as they will get bent. They have to fully sit over the Pi, between the fan and board. Probably wouldn't be too much of a problem, but I'm wanting to put in a heat sink, and not quite comfortable with putting the sink on with the cable laying over it.All around - this product IS great. Minor adjustments on design would make me happier, but this will make one great little computer.

I really like this case. It's compact and feels like a quality product - it is solid and heavy, and has a great fit and finish.I used a Pi 3B+ and mounted it to the back side of the screen holder. Installation consisted of several steps: Removing the included display board standoffs (save them for future use on a Pi hat), inserting the display ribbon cable and routing the included camera cables (the camera is optional, I didn't use one), mounting the screen and camera with screws, connecting the Pi board to the cables and bending/routing them until the Pi sits flat on the mounting posts on the back of the screen holder, and inserting the retainer/vent piece into the retaining clips. I attached the bottom platform after that and attached the power splitter cable. The kit requires the appropriate Pi power supply but includes power splitter cables for both the Pi4 with a micro and a USB-C connector, and another one with two micro connectors for everything else. There are some optional parts as well for different configurations like a fan-holding retainer, surface mounts, and several bezels for the camera face covering. All hardware and cables are included, so this is really a convenient kit. Well done!

First let me say the product appeared well made. It included everything necessary. However I returned the item because I failed to read the description completely and it was not what I needed.

This is not for the Pi Touch Display 2. The screen borders protrude way further than the case. It looks like I might have gotten a case for a different model.

I have taken apart many of systems and put together many of systems with and with out instructions. I ordered this and took my devices with out instructions and put every thing together in 2 hours. I did have to reference some documentation on what board input did what which did slow me down, I would say for some one who knows every thing off the top of their head this could take as long as 30 minutes.The biggest problem I had is that the screws for the touchscreen board were to long and pressing on the LED panel from behind. Two things that can fix this is simply using the shorter screws provided or using the spare screw on nuts to act as risers. So just be aware.Biggest complaint is that the SD card is not extremely easy to access but that is not a real problem sense I do not have to deconstruct the entire thing to get to the PI board.As touchscreen is not provided I am not rating it here.

Used the original Smartipi case with a Pi 3B as a 24/7 security camera display kiosk screen. These are fantastic for such an operation because they don't have a battery that will eventually wear out and become a safety concern vs something like a tablet. One issue though is that the original one didn't have a fan or the ability to mount one without modifying the case, and having a desk fan blow on the back over time was the sort of jury rigging I didn't want to deal with anymore (especially as this had been running for years and don't see myself replacing this anytime soon).All in all it went together just as well as the original Smartipi case. After only a few weeks of running the fan in low mode (3.3V), it started to develop a constant noise. The fans are a 30x7mm with a hydraulic bearing (not ball bearings that are suited for perpetual operation in any orientation) that are very cheap to replace ($10/4 here on Amazon for example) but I didn't want to buy and replace them constantly. After searching for 30mm 5v fans with dual ball bearings but with low rpm (needed really modest airflow, not the 9000+ rpm versions out there that would be noisy even with dropping voltage), went with 3d printing a 30mm to 40mm adapter to mount a Noctua 5v 4-pin PWM fan that can spin as low as 1000 rpm and up to 5000 rpm. It is much quieter and only comes on when the pi reaches 60C (configurable natively in raspberry pi or raspi-config) for a minute or so - the pi stays cooler and no more temperature warnings on the display.Subtracting two stars because the original reason I bought it for - probably could've just sold me a separate clamp plate that allows mounting a fan (or I should've just milled out the original one), the fan quality itself wasn't good, and would've been better to offer a 40mm fan (or even the mounting holes for 30 and 40mm) as there are much better fans available in that space than 30mm.