SainSmart Mobile Car Kit with Sensor Shield V5 + 4WD Mobile Platform + Dual H Bridge Stepper Motor Driver + HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Distance Sensor + UNO/UNO R3/Mega2560/Mega R3(optional) for Arduino (UNO R3, Black)

This 4wd platform is pretty fun to play around with. The motors aren't that powerful and the documents that you can download aren't the easiest to understand. Which is why I docked it a few stars. It says to hook up the wires to the switch for a recharge circuit which is never explained, so I skipped that step all together. It also doesn't include the motor mounts (stand offs) or brackets to actually get the thing running, so be aware of that. When putting it together, I learned alot about how bad the instructions were so here are some tips.1. Get a standard servo (kit doesn't have one) to use for the UltraSonic before installing LED's as there isn't much room.2. Big battery packs take up a lot of room in this thing (there isn't much room under the hood), I've found the RC packs from Venom Racing to work the best, especially the flight packs.3. The sensor shield uses female ends, so get some female wire if you want to use it. It comes with ones for the sensor, but anything else you want to hook up (like the motor shield) you will need these for.4. Finding standoffs for this is a pain, The plastic ones at radio shack are too tall and cause the top of the motor shield to ground against the body, so don't use those unless you plan on hacksawing (like I did).After you get all that figured out, this thing is pretty fun on flat surfaces, I have my bot patrolling my deck.Overall, this is a pretty good deal, considering all the stuff you actually do get with the kit, I really like the motor shield because it only uses a few wires (I have the one from adafruit as well that pretty much takes over your board). The Mega is a nice touch and the Sensor shield is kind of meh, but ok I think. Tires and wheels are pretty sweet, and the motors are ok, kind of hard to solder and a little under powered, but they get the job done at the end of the day.

DO NOT BUY THIS! It is not the deal it seems to be! I have been working slowly on this kit. At first, I thought it was crap, but a good deal for the parts included. As I move forward, thanks to a network of disgruntled users who have struggled to figure this thing out, I realize it's not a good deal at all, and am tempted to mail the whole piece of dung back to amazon. The kit was missing parts, most importantly the STANDOFFS that allow you to mount the boards. The worst though was the little folded up piece of paper in the box that said that they were saving paper and money by encouraging people to download the docs from their Wiki. THERE IS NO WIKI, and the company will not respond to requests for the documentation. When I finally got the documentation from a blogger on their site, it was essentially useless beyond assembling the chassis. I have been an electronics hobbyist and professional for 26 years, and this kit is one of the worst documented I have ever received.Absolutely the WORST thing I have ever purchased from Amazon.

Some of the things with this kit were a little less impressive than others, but this gives a great way to get started with Arduino Robotics, or in my case, I'm using a Raspberry Pi.Folks will point out, rightly, that this doesn't come with instructions, but youtube has a series of tutorials on how to work with this kit.(Amazon deleted my links to youtube videos showing the car working at my place, and the links to the tutorial videos.)

You have to do some searching online for the instructions (at least the package I got had none). Easy to assemble, though. Need to be creative on how to mount Arduino as there are no specific holes. I put board on wax paper to template holes, then drilled my own on the top piece and used standoffs. Bit of work but fun and made the vehicle look great. Programming sketches can be easily found online.I gave it 5 stars because I had to do some leg work (not just put a toy together) and do some program modification. Made process more tailored for me versus generic.

From the advertisement, I was kind of expecting to be able to assemble something right out of the box. Unfortunately this isn't the case as there are a few problems with it.1. None of the holes in the metal chassis seem to match up with any of the electronics meaning you'll probably need to do some drilling to attach things.2. There aren't any plastic spacers to mount any of the electronics, so even if the holes did match, you can't mount anything without buying additional stuff.3. There are a lot of things to wire up, but there aren't any wires so you'll need to purchase those as well.A couple of other things I should note are that this kit requires soldering to attach the motors, switches etc. If you don't want to solder you may wish to look for something else.On a positive note, all of the components seem to be of good quality and they were packaged well for shipping.

There is no real documentation (just some poor pictures on the web site). There is not enough hardware to mount the boards and it has you use double sticky (if you can make out the information) tape to mount the battery tray. There are not holes drilled in the right places to mount the boards as shown in the pictures. There are four motors but the motor driver board has only outputs for 2 motors so you have to double up and there is no way to monitor the speed of the motors. The motors are very cheap plastic units and the wheels are just push on so they tend to come off easily. It is also very easy to strip out the screws that mate the metal panels together as the are just very thin sheet metal. There is wire to use on the motors but you have to solder them on. there is no wiring to connect any of the boards to each other and they are types that won't stack up either.Basically this is just a collection of some of the parts that can be used to make a robot car.

Be sure to read the assembly instructions (the purchase page provides a link)before you purchase this item. The quality seems quite acceptable, but theinstructions seem like they were written by someone who isn't a nativeEnglish speaker. I haven't assembled the device yet, but just perusingthe instructions, it looks like assembly will take a bit of interpolationas to the intent of the written instructions.

The contents received in this package are lacking. However with some meccano and some time it can work, knowledge of soldering is required and a hot glue gun is recommended. The 4WD Drive Mobile Robot Platform is low quality and 3 of the pre threaded holes on the one i received were improperly threaded.There are no board stand offs and the pre drilled holes dont line up with the arduino mega, this is where meccano fits in or drilling holes in the body is requiredIt would be better to buy the 4WD Drive Mobile Robot Platform and the Mega/Uno 2560 R3 Practice Starter Kit separately . A voltage regulator or second power 5v power supply is required to make it fully mobile to power the arduino.It would be more expensive however it should provide a complete kit allowing for complete set up with breadboards and jumper cablesThere is no instructions included, however they are easily found online , the wiring required more research.

Don't bother with this kit! The kit is over price for what's included.For starters there are no instructions. But after a while searching, I managed to find them. The chassis its self seems ok, but seems to be missing the support for the ultrasonic range finder. There are four very cheap motors provided, but don't have any wires on them , which you will need to solder on for your self., The motors do not have any encoders, so distance moved, cannot be read. There are no instructions as to how to wire it all together, so its a matter of trial and error.I've not got beyond this, as I don't have a soldering iron, and will have to borrow one before I can continue.If you have got one of these kits the instructions were found at the address below :https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/sain-amzn/20/20-011-C55/car-uno.rar

As per earlier reviews I have to say that this product is lacking in quality control. The instructions (you need to download them from the link on Amazon product page) seem to be a poor translation.After a visit to Maplins and the purchase of stand-offs (essential) and more screws the chassis is complete. I can't work out a way of securing the battery box - the screw holes don't seem to line up and the instructions suggest glueing it!On the up side, it's taught me a lot - such as don't buy anything from SainSmart!After some research I've found some specialist UK robotic kit suppliers with a lot of support material.

This kit arrived in record time from China, which is presumably to the credit of the carrier. It is best for buyers to know that the quality of the components in this kit was fairly low. The metal items had very poorly tapped holes and even the screws were substandard. The Arduino-type components were cheap copies. There were no mounting parts for some of the essentials, such as the distance sensor. The instructions were ridiculous and the English totally incomprehensible: they were a google-translation from some unknown language. We had to find and make a lot of bits to get the kit to work. At the programming level, the Arduino code was of a very low standard and extremely primitive. It wouldn't stop the kit from hitting the walls and furniture. Basically, you can put this kit together if you are already an expert at physical computing, and the only unique component it contains is the chassis. Better to buy separate quality components. The word "Arduino" should not be used when advertising this product because it is misleading.

The aluminum chassis had threaded screw holes which are stripped so the chassis won't stay together.Ultrasonic sensor has bent pins.Main UNO board has bent header input pins.One of the motor solder tabs is bent.

This is not a kit with precise instructions included. Research is needed to build it, but there is a lot of info on the internet.Not everything is included ( sensor bracket, spacers etc.)but this helps makes it a project and not a kit.

Took to long to get here it delivered passed dilevery date. They were tight with the screws and had to buy wires and things to use it. Its alot of money for what you get in my opinion. No instructions either. Very dissapointed.

Pieces were missing so I was unable to construct the product. Offered a very small amount of compensation. Not happy.

Wir haben den Baukasten für ein Schulprojekt gekauft.Der Kasten kam schnell an, und war auch soweit o.k.Was sofort auffiel, war, dass keinerlei Bauanleitung mit dabei war. Über eine Internetsuche beim Hersteller gab es 2 Anleitungen, die leider sehr unterschiedlich waren.Der mechanische Zusammenbau war ganz gut, aber es fehlten die Abstandshalter für die Platinen. In der PC-Teilekiste waren noch genug, also ging der Zusammenbau weiter.Dann fehlten Kabel und Stecker. Die Kabel wurden dann an die Motoren gelötet (Steckverbindungen wären einfacher) und mit der Motorplatine verschraubt.Der Ultraschallsensor hat Pfostenstecker, aber es fehlen die Steckverbinder dafür.Eine Verkabelungsanleitung wäre recht hilfreich gewesen.Die Programmierung des Arduino ist wie gewohnt, recht einfach.

Insgesamt bin ich zufrieden mit diesem Produkt.Der Versand dauerte nur ein paar Tage und das Paket kam unbeschadet hier an (was will man mehr).Beim Auspacken und Zusammenbauen fiel mir die billige Verarbeitung des Chassis auf. Das Material gefällt mir sehr, aber die einzelnen Bauteile lassen sich schlecht/teils garnicht festschrauben - die vorgebohrten Löcher sind etwas verschoben und minimal zu groß für die Schrauben geraten ( * Abzug).Die Motoren machen, was sie sollen. Das Fahrzeug fährt auf ebenem Grund mit ca. Schrittgeschwindigkeit. Teppichfahrten waren wie vorhergesehen (fast) nicht möglich aufgrund der zu geringen Leistung der einzelnen Motoren.Ansonsten fährt das Gerät super - auch in Sachen Drehung.Ich würde noch einen Stern für den fehlerhaften Ultraschallsensor abziehen... Da ich aber nicht weiß, ob das selbstverschuldet ist durch mein vermehrtes Löten am Bauteil, lasse ich es einfach mal so stehen. ^^Ich persönlich steuere meinen "Rover" per Raspberry Pi über WLan, habe zusätzlich ein Akkupack mit reingelegt und eine Kamera oben auf dem Gerät installiert. Funktioniert einwandfrei!Meine Empfehlung: Kaufen lohnt sich alleine aufgrund der einzelnen Bauteile, die in diesem Paket enthalten sind.Wichtig! Alle Teile einmal auf Funktionalität testen, bevor man anfängt, daran rumzubasteln (möge mir vergeben werden).Wer außerhalb von Parkett/Fliesen/Korkboden etc. mobil bleiben will, ist mit etwas stärkeren Motoren gut bedient.

Lo compre para construirlo junto con mi hijo en las vacaciones de verano, que esta haciendo ya sus primeros cursos de robótica en el colegio. La experiencia esta siendo mala: la caja viene sin instrucciones de montaje y en la web de Sainsmart no aparece exactamente este modelo, así que pido el código de programación y las instrucciones de montaje al fabricante. A las pocas horas me responden que les proporcione número de pedido de Amazon, que dan la incidencia por cerrada y que si quiero más información que responda al correo. Menuda manera de resolverlo, les doy el numero de pedido, pero ya no hay mas noticias. Acudo a la web para intentar montarlo igual que alguno de los modelos parecidos, pero las instrucciones son solo en ingles y bastante pobres, dos hojas que incluyen el código y las instrucciones de montaje, del estilo "ensamble todas las piezas". Respecto a la calidad mecánica, normalita, pero no he podido terminar de montarlo porque faltan tuercas, así que hay que ir a la ferretería a comprarlas. Después de terminar la parte mecánica razonablemente, aunque sin haber disfrutado de la experiencia, nos ponemos a programarlo. Después de cargar un par de veces el código, porque a la primera no hace lo que se esperaba, el ordenador se cuelga. Reiniciamos y el arduino, que por cierto no es original, ya no lo detecta el ordenador. Tengo varias placas y las detecta bien, pero esta ya no. Buscando por la web veo que se ha podido corromper el firmware y que toca actualizarlo, soldador en mano. Bueno, gastándonos un dinerillo mas, y no demasiado, podríamos haber comprado algo mejor. Este desde luego no es nada recomendable, al menos según mi experiencia.

Ottimo prodotto per la prima realizzazione di un robot che utilizzi la scheda Arduino. E' dotato di tutti gli accessori per poter essere montato.Per un utilizzo più complesso mancano una serie di altri sensori, uno per tutti il line follower. Suggerisco a coloro che vogliono iniziare con la realizzazione di semplici robot.

Il kit manca di istruzioni di montaggio e di collegamento soprattutto.Ci sono le viti di fissaggio che non corrispondono ai fori, nel senso che i fori dove devono essere fissate le viti sono troppo larghi e non riescono a filettare, per ovviare al problema ho dovuto mettere dei controdadi da M3 non compresi nel pacchetto.Mancano i supporti per fissare le schede elettroniche al veicolo ed anche il connettore di alimentazione da saldare al pacco batterie per poter alimentare tutto il circuito.Mancano le batterieLa scheda per il controllo dei motori ne può comandare solamente 2 mentre il veicolo ne ha 4 di conseguenza credo vadano collegati a coppie in parallelo.

Great package for the price but no insctructions and the included screws do not work well in chassis. Be prepared to improvise when assembling this product. Best for more experienced robot builders.

Leider ist das Mega 2680 Defekt läst sich nicht pogramieren. Leider gibt es keine Garantie . JETZT MUSS ICH MIR EINS KAUFEN Schade