Arduino Uno or Mega for bluetooth project?

Projects General Guidance
1

Hey everyone,

I am currently using an Arduino uno and trying to use it to communicate with the WT32 bluegiga bluetooth breakout.

In the ideal case, I could be able to use software serial to communicate with the WT32 and then use the hardware UART serial for the serial monitor so that I can both read and write commands to the WT32 in realtime.

BUT the problem is that the software serial seems to read the WT32 with many errors since the default baud rate is 115200. I realized this after I connected the WT32 directly with the hardware UART (by only connecting the RX-arduino with TX-WT32, and leaving TX- arduino floating) and reading the start-up message correctly on the serial monitor.

Theoretically I could just use the hardware serial blindly, and do trail and error to program the WT32, but that could take a long time. I am thinking about getting the more expensive Arduino mega, which as 4 hardware UART.
It's a bit overkill since the Mega has WAY more pins and functionality than I really need. But if I get some standalone functionality on the Mega, the code should be able to be transferred easily to the UNO right?
Both are 16 MHz and have analogous pins (it's just the MEGA has more pins and I'll be able to monitor the serial communication with the WT32).

What do you guys think?

2

A cheaper alternative is the Leonardo. It has one hardware UART but has USB on-chip, so that the debugging serial connection to the PC is independent of the hardware serial (Serial1) on pin 0/1. It even cheaper than a standard UNO.

3

Even cheaper than the Leonardo is the Teensy (Teensy USB Development Board). I found it very handy to be able to use the USB and bluetooth connection at the same time.

4

Wow guys, thanks for the recommendations! Unfortunately it is a time sensitive project, so I just bought the Mega from a nearby radioshack :/.