A note regarding the project guides
FYI to anyone who buys this: It doesn't come with any printed materials or references to where you would find the "guided walk-throughs on how to complete each project" promised in the product description. However, I found the guides on the manufacturer's website.
To download the guide materials, first go to this link: https://www.sainsmart.com/products/uno-learning-kit-compatible-with-arduino-ultimate-edition-bai
Then click "LEARN" (next to "MORE INFO" and "REVIEWS"). Then there should be a link that says "Manual", which allows you to download a zip file.
Most projects come with an image of how your assembled breadboard should look, a photograph of the same, and a file containing the code needed to make the project work. Projects also include libraries when necessary, which you should use as specified in the readme.txt files. They seem to assume you will figure out how to set up the software necessary to use the included code examples, which seems a little presumptuous for a "learning kit".
This kit is good if you have at least some basic knowledge about general electronics and programming, but it's not suitable for a complete beginner.
MountainPassI finally got around to playing with this.
And MountainPass is correct. Clearly the audience is people trying to learn (or to teach) about Arduino but it is not suitable for a beginner. The aforementioned downloadable materials don't include accompanying text and are often filled with mistakes which include:
Diagram not matching the Arduino IDE code.
Diagram simply being wrong such as wiring being connected to the wrong circuit point or the wrong resistor values being used (at least I would not choose a 220 Ohm resistor as a pulldown resistor as they do —the Arduino website recommends 10KOhm).
Frequent mistakes like this would tend to confuse a beginner. This is still a great kit as long as one is aware of this and prepared to deal with this (but, again, this might tend to exclude many beginners).
- Diagram not matching the Arduino IDE code.
- Diagram simply being wrong such as wiring being connected to the wrong circuit point or the wrong resistor values being used (at least I would not choose a 220 Ohm resistor as a pulldown resistor as they do —the Arduino website recommends 10KOhm).
Frequent mistakes like this would tend to confuse a beginner. This is still a great kit as long as one is aware of this and prepared to deal with this (but, again, this might tend to exclude many beginners).