Iām a total beginner and would like to learn along with my grandkids. What kit would be the best to start with, Starter kit R4 or the Plug and Make kit? Looking for advice. Thanks!
In my opinion the R4 has been one of Arduino's problem childs, I'd stay away from that one.
If they've already got any kit or Arduino, it would be wise to have the same platform they do, at least while you all work through the initial phases, because many of the differences between kits are subtle, and not necessarily easy to overcome at the beginner level. For example, many of the simpler libraries for device support have restrictions as to which Arduinos they will work on.
Once you have a better understanding of what can be done, and what it takes to do it, then you'll find a wealth of advice here on your path forward.
The Uno R3 and the Arduino Sensor Kit. https://sensorkit.arduino.cc/
The Sensor Kit works New Out Of Box (NOOB). It is a single circuit board containing many sensors. Arduino Sensor Kit ā Base ā Learn Electronics with Pre-Wired Grove Modules ā Arduino Official Store
The Arduino Uno R3 is inserted into the Sensor Shield. All the wiring for the sensor modules is in the full circuit board that is the Semsor Kit.
You will load pre-written code into the Uno R3 from the Sensor Kit Library, and "plug and play" the Sensors with QIIC cables. https://docs.arduino.cc/libraries/arduino_sensorkit/
When you want to explore, the Sensor Kit can be "broken" apart to have independent sensors for use in other projects.
A quick look tells me the starter kit is breadboard-based and I did not see jumper wires as included (I could be wrong). Breadboard circuits need more care assembling. That could be a positive - or a negative if the goal is to see something happen.
The plug-and-make looks a lot easier to get experiments up and running (less wiring intensive) - but it includes only sensor (input) modules.
.02
I wanted to say the Elegoo kit but you are looking for an R4 based kit, I vote for Starter Kit R4.
Thanks Jim
Elegoo has alot of good kits.
They are included:
https://store.arduino.cc/products/starter-kit-r4#:~:text=Tech%20Specs-,Components,-1%20x%20Arduino
- 70 x Solid core jumper wires
- 2 x Stranded jumper wires
But it never hurts to have a good collection of each variant of jumper wires on hand.
@mappleorchard I see. I wasn't aware that Elegoo had R4 based starter kits too. I have just checked and found out. Thank you.