25-Week Learn & Build Electronics Kit

So, first of all, this is kit no joke. This goes deep and there is also no way even my savvy 7 year old can do it by himself. Which is ok, I’m willing to learn… although I am not tech savvy and, honestly, not all too interested in this field… but, hey, it’s not for me after all but for my son, so I’m game to try. You get a a box with all these little cables and thingies that are probably tech savvy people’s heaven (I’m trying not to get overwhelmed there already). And then the real party starts: you get your account set up and you’ve got 25 weeks full of lessons and possible fun, in case you understand the instructions, or mega frustration, in case it’s not working. There are only 2 (helpful!) videos guiding you through it at the beginning, after that there are only rather lengthy and hieroglyphic explanations and 1 picture to go with it. Naw. The idea is great, the execution has nothing child-friendly (or no-tech savvy-adult-friendly) to it. Disappointing. A lot of money for a lot of frustration.

I purchased the kit for my 13 year old daughter. She was excited to learn and grew a little impatient as she waited 14 days for the kit to arrive. She blew through the first couple of "weekly" tutorials the day after the kit arrived. She completed the 25-Week kit in less than 3 weeks. She did run into some issues where there were errors in the code in the tutorials. Some she was able to find and correct, and if I wasn't home to help, she used Google's Gemini to troubleshoot and correct the errors. For the cost of the kit, I feel that the tutorials could have been better - more clear, included some instructive videos, etc. I also think it is a little misleading to think this kit would be completed over a 25 week span. I suppose if you only devote 15-20mins a week, that might be the case. I am glad she learned what she did from this kit, but there are competitors that offer kits with more components, better tutorials and arrive much quicker for a fraction of the cost.

My son at the beginning was a little confused about the videos but afterwards he did his research and now is very excited practicing. The videos could use a bit of work, but the overall starter kit is pretty complete.