Arduino starter kit

[ehsmeng]

Hi,

To start playing with Arduino, I've noticed there's a disturbingly large selection to pick one from.

The purpose of it is to use with my kids and do some random fun projects. Is there any kit you'd be extra inclined to recommend?

Thanks,
Marcus

[22swg]

Are you introducing them to Electronics or programing code , or both .  why not try a breadboard Arduino  . 

[ju1ce]

How skilled are you? If you know your way around electronics, an eBay arduino + gazillion sensors ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNO-R3-Ultimate-Starter-Kit-LED-LCD-Breadboard-Shield-Relay-Sensor-for-Arduino-/271473461671?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f351449a7 ) is hard to beat. If not, some kits have nice documentation with pre-thought experiments you can try. I've seen the Sparkfun invertor's kit and it is quite nice.

[Stonent]

I learned most of the Arduino programming language from this video series.

It should cover most of the parts you'd get in a kit. I'd recommend the Arduino Uno because its the most recent one with a removable chip and that's important on case you fry the chip, they are cheap to replace.

Tutorial 01 for Arduino: Getting Acquainted with …:



Also for general parts, I'd recommend Tayda electronics.  Cheaper than Digikey and Mouser for small orders.

[abaxas]

I know this isn't the answer to your question... but...

How about starting with basic electronic first? IE doing things in hardware first, software second.

[dentaku]

I now this is an old post but I've ben searching around for a kit on ebay and so far I've been looking at
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/UNO-R3-Starter-Kit-1602-LCD-Servo-Motor-Dot-Matrix-Breadboard-LED-for-Arduino-/261427742760?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cde4ec828
and
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/UNO-R3-Starter-Kit-1602-LCD-Servo-Motor-Dot-Matrix-Breadboard-LED-for-Arduino-US-/231427415914?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35e2261f6a

Does anyone now of a similar kit that's even cheaper including shipping to North America (Canada in my case)?

[westfw]

I bought one of these kits via Aliexpress...
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/For-Arduino-RFID-learning-suite-is-entry-to-the-master-suite-upgrade/110055_1207142909.html
It's got an impressive amount of stuff, given that the price is the same as a "real arduino" board-only.
The arduino works; I can't comment on the rest of the stuff yet (Christmas present for the teenaged son...)
Note that this does NOT have an "Uno compatible", in the sense that it is a board with a CH340g USB/Uart chip, rather than the reprogrammable 16u2.  For most people, that will be fine (and it moves the board out of the "brainless near-counterfeit clone" category, too!)

[Stonent]

Get a bunch of parts of Tayda when you can, they are cheap for LEDs and other chips and things.

[dentaku]

I bought one of these kits via Aliexpress...
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/For-Arduino-RFID-learning-suite-is-entry-to-the-master-suite-upgrade/110055_1207142909.html
It's got an impressive amount of stuff, given that the price is the same as a "real arduino" board-only.
The arduino works; I can't comment on the rest of the stuff yet (Christmas present for the teenaged son...)
Note that this does NOT have an "Uno compatible", in the sense that it is a board with a CH340g USB/Uart chip, rather than the reprogrammable 16u2.  For most people, that will be fine (and it moves the board out of the "brainless near-counterfeit clone" category, too!)

That IS quite allot of stuff for such a low price.