You can make a lot of cool things with an Arduino
but, should you buy the Official Arduino Starter Kit?
Or a cheaper kit with more sensors, like the Elegoo?
Is it a good gift for kids?
Which is the best starter kit for you?
Let’s find out now on Geed Detour.
Three year ago I wanted to build a “robotic finger”
to push the iPad’s button and take photos of the screen
and the Official Arduino kit came with pretty much everything I needed to make my robot.
At the time I didn’t know much about Arduinos, besides
“it is a small board with a tiny computer that you can program
and make cool machines with sensors and motors”
I had a lot to learn and the Official Kit came with a Book…
But let’s first open both kits
and then we can talk about the book and the CD.
The Official Arduino Starter Kit comes in a cardboard Box beautifully printed,
listing all the components and guided projects
and it is available in different language versions.
In Europe, it is quite easy to buy it in any of the languages
but in the US, I could only find it in English or Spanish, like mine
I’ll put links in the description.
The first thing you get in the box is the Book,
and it is a great book
very well explained, illustrated and easy to understand.
The small electronic pieces come in this box:
transistors, capacitors, a bunch of resistors, diodes,
connectors, a buzzer, MOSFETs, potentiometers, push buttons,
light sensors, a motion sensor, a bunch of LEDs and more.
Even if you don’t know anything about these things
the Book really takes you by the hand:
every project will introduce a couple of different components
you can read how they work
and see how they should be connected in that project.
As you go through every project of the book,
you will use all components that come in the kit.
The components are connected together in a small Breadboard,
you also get a bunch of jump wires already cut in different lengths.
The USB cable in this kit is about 5 feet, very nice cable.
One of my favorite parts is this blue LCD screen:
it looks super cool, retro, high-tech.
Also, a DC Motor, to spin things;
and a Servo motor, that you can control the angle.
And the most important part is an original Arduino Uno board
the heart and brain of every project.
Finally, it comes with a plastic base to keep things tight together
and several cardboard cut-out pieces
that should make the projects more fun and engaging
this is something I only saw in the official startup kit so far.
Now let’s open the Elegoo Super Starter Kit,
that comes in a sturdy plastic box / case
with real hinges and locks.
It doesn’t come with a book, it comes with a CD
don’t worry if your computer doesn’t have a CD reader
you can download everything from Elegoo’s website.
We will talk about what comes in the CD in a moment.
Here is a visual list all the components
and I’ll separate the extra parts that come in this kit,
but not in the official Arduino starter kit.
First, the “Elegoo Uno board”
this should be technically identical to an Arduino Uno board
but brings an extra feature:
the pins are identified everywhere:
in the board and also on the connectors, on both sides
this is cool!
This is a prototype expansion module
that you plug on top of an Arduino board, as a shield,
and you can either use this tiny solderless breadboard
or solder your components directly on the board
for more durable prototypes.
This is very nice for more advanced users
and it doesn’t come with the official Arduino starter kit.
A 9V battery… and I don’t remember if the official Arduino kit comes with one…
A bunch of LEDs
Oh, 2 buzzers: this one makes beeps on its own
and the other buzzer is like a speaker:
you must create a frequency,
like the one that comes in the official kit.
The H-Bridge is the same
and this is an 8-bit shift register
that is a very cool addition
The Ball-switch / motion sensor is the same.
The 2 transistors are...
lets test here...
normal NPN transistors…
Here this kit could be better:
the official Arduino kit brings 5 transistors and 2 MOSFETS
The DC Motor is very similar,
but the Fan with flexible blades is an extra,
ha ha, it is nice,
but it is a simplification.
In the official kit the motor is used to spin a cardboard Zoetrope,
which is a more interesting and interactive project than the fan blade.
A bunch of jumper wires, but these have plastic endings
a bit more fancy than the official kit.
The USB cable is quite short
The official kit has better cable than this one.
The LCD module is exactly the same: 2 lines of 16 characters
This infrared Remote Control is a cool extra
there should be a receiver somewhere in the box.
The Joystick is also a cool extra:
it has two potentiometers and 1 switch
very cool
And this is something super nice that should be mandatory in every arduino kit:
A stepper motor and its driver module
A shame the official kit doesn’t bring one.
This type of motor you can control exactly how much movement you want,
in tiny steps.
The connector clip for the 9 volt battery
An ultrasonic sensor - also an extra feature, a nice extra
5 push-buttons, 2 photo resistors and a thermistor
A bunch of Resistors...
...and I have a complaint about the Elegoo resistors:
they have a blue body...
and I simply cannot identify the colors of the rings…
not only in this kit:
I also have an Elegoo Resistors kit,
which is an amazing value,
but it has the same problem:
once I take a resistor out of its bag and mix them,
it is game over…
you need to measure them!
Please, Elegoo:
this is how resistors should be, always!
Alright…
A tiny Servo motor, just like the ones for RC models
but these are so small, only 9 grams!
Comes with a few horns / arms too,
pretty much like the official kit.
A Temperature AND Humidity sensor
lots of real-life projects use this one, and it is an extra…
…just like this Relay:
super useful too to control a lot of things.
But, there are more practical relay modules out there,
like the one I used in my ‘finger bot’ to control my Canon.
Found it: the IfraRed receiver
A Four-Digit 7-Segment Display
and a single-digit 7-Segment Display,
both cool extras,
Potentiometer
Dupont Wires, this is super cool,
I wish it came with more of them
The Breadboard is the big one, twice the size of the official kit.
And finally a Power Supply Module to plug on the Breadboard,
and you can chose between 5V or 3V for each rail independently.
You should power it from THIS connector
the USB is output only,
you should not try power it from the USB.
And I discovered that…
reading the Datasheet!
Of course!
So, Let’s talk about it:
The Elegoo kit doesn’t bring a book, it brings a CD.
A lot of new computers now don’t have CD-drives
but even if you have one,
you should go to the Elegoo website and download the new material from there:
the tutorials on my CD look a bit amateur
but the new tutorials look more polished,
pretty much like a book.
Another important thing that is on the CD and in the download,
is a folder called “Datasheet”:
with datasheet documents for every component of the kit.
If you are a beginner, it might look overwhelming…
but if you are a more advanced user making your own projects,
this is super handy!
Lets see the Ultrasonic Sensor’s datasheet:
you can learn a lot about how it works,
for example, the minimum distance it can detect is 2 cm,
and even though you won’t be able to hear it working,
your cat or dog probably will.
Datasheets are awesome and Elegoo made it really easy for us!
You can also have the datasheets for the official Arduino Kit, on their website:
let’s imagine you just made the thermometer experiment
and you want to know more about the sensor:
here you have it: minimum and maximum temperatures and so much more!…
Anyway, the biggest advantage of the Official Arduino kit is the Book
and I am not just talking about it being an actual, physical, paper book,
Which I love,
but the text, the text is really well written…
the graphics are very clear
and it makes much easier to look side-by-side and avoid mistakes.
Also, the programming is super well explained
I mean it: the entire code is covered in details.
So, here is the deal:
I really like the Elegoo products
and their kits are loaded with cool components and modules.
If you already have some electronics and programming knowledge,
these kits are great kits!
Maybe you already have a project in mind
and this kit brings most, if not everything,
of what you need to jump right on it,
with a great price!
The Official Arduino Kit is pricy, I know
it is a much smaller kit
But, if you look at it as an educational product,
it is very well made
the book is great and the whole thing feels premium
not just a box with… stuff,
it makes a great present!
Now, if you are a parent like me, you might be thinking:
is Arduino something my kid will enjoy?
It is not targeted for kids younger than 8…
I know a few parents who got disappointed,
you know?
“My kid loves the computer, but barely touched the kit!”
It is hard to predict…
Kids can be quite impatient and might rush things
and connect something incorrectly…
and if it doesn’t work, they simply abandon it.
When I was a kid,
I would have loved a kit like this:
I was really into Chemistry sets,
Physics sets…
I loved Science books,
and I followed the instructions of experiments...
I was a nerdy kid!
The difference is that, now, being geeky is cool!
I just remembered: Elegoo has a Robot Car Kit,
with sensors to follow a line in the floor,
or to avoid obstacles,
Infrared remote control
or being controlled with an app on the phone.
This kit is more in the “science toy” category
rather than a set of experiments.
I think kids can have lots of fun with it
at least once it is assembled.
There are links for the kits in the description
and if you have any question, please leave a comment!
I read everything!
I am finishing a kind of ‘big’ Arduino project,
eventually, so,
Subscribe!
And thanks for watching!