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!
