Elecrow Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit Review by The MagPi
Hey all friends! How's going 👋 We're back today with some exciting news to share! 🥳
Highly anticipated Elecrow BackToSchool Sale is here, taking place from August 15th to September 22nd. 🎉
From STEAM educational kits to Raspberry Pi/Arduino learning tools and ESP8266 IOT kits, we have everything students, parents, educators, and technology enthusiasts need to enhance their educational journey. 😻
Don't let this golden opportunity slip away. Seize the chance to offer your kids or students valuable educational resources at unbeatable prices. 🚀
Recently, the official Raspberry Pi magazine conducted a review of the Elecrow Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit. We are thrilled to receive such high recognition from the Raspberry Pi official team. Here is the original article for your reference. 👏🏻
Elecrow Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit Review
We've looked at and reviewed many an electronic starter kit in the past, but we have never come across something as comprehensive and, frankly, stuffed full of fun components as this Advanced Kit (£29/$38). We're not joking about having to fight off colleagues either; Raspberry Pi resident maker Toby Roberts' eyes lit up when we received it in the office and we did promise he could have it after our review.
Unfortunately, we may have to break that promise (sorry Toby) as, frankly, you could not ask for a better box stuffed with little electronics to satiate just about any Pico project idea you could have. The box says it has 32 different kinds of components which encompasses a wide range of sensors, inputs, outputs, and even a robot kit. We suggest you take a look at the website for the full list as it is astonishing – especially at the price.
This kit also has 32 guides from Elecrow with things you can make with the components using the more standard MicroPython language on Pico – and credit to the team, there's not a huge amount of overlap with the types of projects as well.
Advanced learning
Despite being called an Advanced Kit, it does let you start from the very basics – getting your Pico to blink its own LED. Then other LEDs. Then switches. Before you know it, you're measuring distances with ultrasonic sensors, creating Catherine Zeta Jones-style laser traps, and even building a robot arm. The difficulty curve for the projects is fairly good, and tutorials will concisely explain how different components work to better your understanding.
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At the end of the book, you'll build a robot and program it, but it really doesn't stop there. With all the different things you've made, it's very easy to get ideas to create new projects or combine other ones to extend their functionality.
Much like this magazine, the guides list the code example and allow you to download it separately in case you need to check it (or just don't feel like typing it up from scratch).
With the price and number of components, this really is one of the best ways to help a curious maker learn a ton about electronics, Pico, and coding. You could even upgrade a lot of the projects with a full Raspberry Pi. It's something we're definitely keeping close to us for future projects, although we may need to make a Toby Sensor using parts from the box to keep it safe.
Verdict
10/10 💯💯💯
Packed full of projects at a very reasonable price, this starter kit will follow even an experienced maker around.
Specs
Microcontroller: Raspberry Pi Pico or Pico W
Components: Sensors, jumper cables, robot kit, breadboards, LEDs, inputs, hand tools
Language: MicroPython
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About Elecrow
📒 Since 2014, Elecrow, an open-source hardware company headquartered in Shenzhen, China, has keenly persisted in the principle of "Make your making easier" with the purpose of "Bring your DIY Electronics Ideas To Life". Concentrating on providing the one-stop OEM/ODM solution for makers, Elecrow offers services including PCB manufacturing, PCB assembly, electronic component supply, and component sourcing and can be the crucial trading platform for makers to sell their products.🤓
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That's all for today, thank you all for reading through our newsletter in your spare time 😊 If you wanna share what projects you're working on, shoot us a tweet @Elecrow, let us know on LinkedIn, or publish your project on our Project Hub on Hackster. We shall be looking forward to your inspiration and open-source projects! Thank You!👏🏻