# Flipper Zero 52 Hacker News commenters recommended Flipper Zero and 24 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Pocket hardware for reading, cloning and replaying RF, RFID and IR signals, and for small projects. Common caveat: limited practical use beyond novelty. ## Why people recommend it - Clones and stores remotes and fobs (6 comments): "I've been happy with my Zero, cloned some friends apartment building door fobs, and using it for missing remotes for TV's and fans." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48214093)) "I use it to clone remotes of "dumb" devices and emulate them with ESPHome to make them "smart" fully offline under my control." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48799818)) "It’s been very useful to me in so many ways, from fob management, to one IR, to rf scanner and other stuff" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47847927)) - Versatile all-in-one tool (4 comments): "It’s been very useful to me in so many ways, from fob management, to one IR, to rf scanner and other stuff" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47847927)) "What a great tool and community they have built. I find my flipper0 is like a computer Swiss Army knife." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48797273)) "nothing else equivalent all in one package but i still feel like an idiot for spending on one" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46440132)) - Large community and firmware library (3 comments): "that build quality and the availability of firmwares to do what you are looking for with just a quick flash makes them handy AF" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46439924)) "What a great tool and community they have built. I find my flipper0 is like a computer Swiss Army knife." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48797273)) "one device = one large community = lots of firmware = lots of software" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48221196)) - Teaches radio and protocol hacking (4 comments): "Flipper Zero was great because it enabled access to protocols that are usually quite hard to mess with." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48228485)) "Flipper taught me about sdr, and I was able to reverse quite a lot from my garage door pilot." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48214190)) "I used a flipper zero to debug my fan, that's a good place to start your project." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960968)) ## What people warn about - Limited practical use beyond novelty (3 comments): "Some people get a lot of use out of it, but if you just saw that list of hardware and couldn't think of one area you'd apply it in, it's probably not going to be a useful device for you." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48799281)) "I still don't think I've seen an actually useful application for a Flipper Zero." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47846658)) "most people who bought a Flipper Zero didn't really have a use for that either" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48224958)) - Hacker hype in marketing (3 comments): "I'm sorry, but I'm so sick of seeing "omg hacker man" mystique surrounding flipper, which is exactly what they want because it drives sales." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47851660)) "I'm so sick of seeing omg hacker man mystique surrounding flipper, which is exactly what they want because it drives sales." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47853201)) "I guess all the clickb8 tiktok bs which casts the flipper as some sort of super hacking device worked." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46454280)) - Weak firmware and community support (3 comments): "They may have created good hardware, but their software and discord community just sucked." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48797827)) "It begs the question why have an official firmware if it's not at least slightly maintained." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48800767)) "left the flipper zero community in the lurch and basically abandoned it over the last year" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48225541)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [ESP32 Bit Pirate](https://hackerapproved.com/p/esp32-bit-pirate.md): 13 recommend - [Kode Dot](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kode-dot.md): 7 recommend - [Bus Pirate by Dangerous Prototypes](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bus-pirate.md): 6 recommend ## Where to get it - [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Flipper+Zero+by+Flipper+Devices&tag=YOURTAG-20) (affiliate link) - [Official site](https://flipper.net/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Flipper Zero", https://hackerapproved.com/p/flipper-zero/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).