Texas Instruments MSP430
Shares rank 24 of 28 microcontrollers by recommenders
Low-power microcontroller people use for battery-powered projects, praised for efficiency and performance. Critics note TI discontinues specific models, and some find them pricey.
Low-power microcontroller people use for battery-powered projects, praised for efficiency and performance. Critics note TI discontinues specific models, and some find them pricey.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 71%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Very low power draw
“An MSP430 of any vintage could run for years on a battery bank.”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “Permacomputing” “Good chip, good times. Insanely low power draw!”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Converting a $3.88 analog clock from Walmart into a ESP8266-based Wi-Fi clock”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Wish it were cheaper
“I just wish they were cheaper”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Why xor eax, eax?”
Other microcontrollers people recommend
The four most recommended other microcontrollers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESP32 | 190 | 35 | 84% | 12 | 5 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Arduino boards | 81 | 73 | 53% | 12 | 16 yrs7 owners | — |
| Raspberry Pi Pico | 72 | 16 | 82% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Raspberry Pi RP2350 | 47 | 13 | 78% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Texas Instruments MSP430This page | 5 | 2 | 71% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“They did a die-change of a MSP430 and it stopped working in their product.”
“a msp430 will leave it in the dust by a large factor”
“An MSP430 of any vintage could run for years on a battery bank.”
“Good chip, good times. Insanely low power draw!”
“Yah, I've used MSP430 in space.”
“I just wish they were cheaper”
“every time I buy an MSP430, TI EoLs the specific model I bought”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.