When comparing Tessel 2 vs Onion - Omega 2, the Slant community recommends Tessel 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best single-board computers?” Tessel 2 is ranked 36th while Onion - Omega 2 is ranked 44th. The most important reason people chose Tessel 2 is:
Out of the box it supports Node 4.x LTS and doesn't require any setup to use it.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro NodeJS support out of the box
Out of the box it supports Node 4.x LTS and doesn't require any setup to use it.
Pro Co-processor system
Runs Linux and user application code on a 580MHz Mediatek router-on-a-chip, with an asynchronous 48MHz SAMD21 coprocessor for GPIO, ADC, I2C, SPI, PWM and UART programming
Pro Programmable via USB or Wifi
The process for deploying software, whether it's JavaScript, Python or Rust, is exposed the same way for both USB and Wifi connections.
Pro Easy to get started with
The Tessel 2's "Getting Started" experience requires little more than installing Node.js and a single package (the CLI) via npm. Complete walkthroughs for Linux, Mac and Windows are available and up-to-date
Pro It's tiny
Pro It has lots of shields available, including Arduino shield
Cons
Con Very little memory
64 megabytes of RAM. This places it more in line with an Arduino style board than a SBC on the level of Raspberry Pi.
Con Not breadboard compatible
The board does not have the standard 2.54 mm pin spacing.
Con Support issues
There have been long-lasting periods were everything grew stale, even when it was about fixing security issues etc. have given up on checking since it was frustrating.
Con Expensive
It has less than 256MB of RAM.