i'm completely new to Arduino but it sounds great and i would really like to get a mega 2560 for a project i have been working on for quite some time now.
The thing is, there is a shop that sells older revisions (1 and 2) of the Mega 2560 board bundled with what sounds like very nice shields for a very good price.
The shields are from SainSmart, are they any good? I couldn't find any reviews about the different shield manufacturers out there, so im asking here.
Also, is the R3 version a lot better than the older revisions, if yes, in what way?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I have read that R3 uses the 16u2 instead of the 8u2 for usb interface, does that make any kind of difference?
As for the shields there is one with LCD-Keypad, breadboard some wires etc. This would be useful to me.
I am seeing a lot of those Sensor-Shields. I dont really get those imho. Do they just provide better connectors for the pins or is there something else going on?
Are there things you would recommend as a must have for a beginner, even if i might not need them in my project (i.e. for learning) ?
Sorry for the dumb questions but i am really new to this whole uC world.
EDIT: I just realised that SainSmart is a company that builds boards almost identical to the Arduino but its not the original. That would explain the much lower price. I want to support the original project and developers however so i guess i will go with the original albeit the higher price.