How would you rate the overall quality of the product?
Very Low
Okay
Very Good
How would you rate the value of the product for the money?
Very Low
Okay
Very Good
How difficult or easy is the product to assemble, use, or operate?
Very Difficult
Average
Very Easy
How well does the product perform / function?
Very Weak
Okay
Very Good
“I bought this for my 12 year grandson as a gift. He spent 3 hour straight the first time he opened the kits. We purchase the 750 experiment kit to challenge him over a long time instead of buying a less challenging one that he may outgrow quickly. The circuit snap kits have been around for years and are tested and have excellent ratings.”
“This is an amazing item. We gave it to our 6 year-old grandson for a Christmas gift. When we first opened it, it was somewhat intimating (to me and I work with rather sophisticated devices). We watched 1 YouTube video and then dug into it. I oriented him to the first project and then he was off and running, eventually spending several hours alone wiring up alarms, music, sound activated switches, etc. The packaging targets 8-80 and I think that is accurate. I am 80 and I found it really fun and engaging. I should qualify our satisfaction (and my grandsons) by saying that our grandkid has been putting together Legos for 15+ for the past year and a half so he has some aptitude and interest in connections and engineering. Nevertheless, this is such a stimulating game that I think it could awaken a dormant interest in any child.”
“I bought this kit for my 9 year old grandson. He thoroughly enjoys building the circuits with it. I feel he is also learning a little about electricity making the circuits in the projects.”
“When I was a kid I had the Radio Shack 200-in-1 electronic project kit, which I'm pretty sure Elenco bought the rights to as they produced it for a while. I also have a degree in electrical engineering, so I have a fairly good understanding of the technical aspects of the circuits as they lay them out.I will agree that the geometry / puzzle aspect of the snap circuits design is a bit daunting compared to the old wire and spring setup. It does take a bit more mental power to wire something so you haven't shorted across a component you didn't want to (at least if you are free building). This means real schematics are a bit more difficult to interpret into the snap circuits world. Where as the old project kits started with a real circuit schematic, the snap circuits only keep it at the snap circuit level. This isn't going to help you really learn how what you build translates into something you'll see later on.Taking that one step further....the old spring and wire sets were just components, real components. You connect 9V across and LED and you'd blow it out. I know, I killed a lot of mine in the first few months of having it because I didn't really understand what I was doing. So looking at these sets from the electrical engineer side you really have pieces that are black boxes. The basic components are simple, a resistor is a resistor, a lamp is a lamp, motor is a motor. But I question if the LEDs are protected and any of the ICs are far more complex than even Snap Circuits lets on. The old spring and wire sets had logic chips - just a real chip (which you could destroy if you connected the wrong voltage to it). In one aspect I appreciate that Elenco is providing the ability to do more easily with the set, but it doesn't translate into anything real. It would be nice if they provided, at least on their website, more detailed technical information about the parts. What is input voltage range of the siren IC? What kind of inputs does it expect? Things of that nature for the parents or teachers who are helping their kids learn real world skills.(As a side note, I'm not a fan of the recent STEM craze. I loved STEM things as a kid, but it really wasn't my parents thing, so I spent a lot of time reading and trying to learn it on my own. If you know the adult world version of a STEM path, like electrical or programming, then you can help bridge your kids to the next steps to get them to a more adult oriented path. However, if you don't, I have concerns that these easy to use STEM products do not really expose kids to the correct ideas or fundamentals at a level that is needed for college or the job market.)Even with the 750 set I feel like the over all learning from the Snap Circuits world is limited to about that of a two transistor oscillator. Nothing wrong with that, but I feel like Elenco missed the ability to link the Snap Circuits world into the real world. It's a good set to gauge how interested your kids may be into electronics, but you'll have to move on to something else if they really show interest. I was torn between giving this a 3 or 4 star. I think it deserves more than a 3 for it's ease of use and simplistic nature, but question a 4 for it's lack of real world inclusion.”
“We got introduced to this product on a much smaller scale and have since grown to love it's ability teach in a hands on approach basic circuitry and circuit board design along with electrical operation.”
“I bought this for my grandchildren to play with / learn basic electronics. I'm learning at the same time and find it very interesting. This kit has enough variety and projects that they will outgrow it before completing them all. The instructions are easy to follow and include short descriptions of how each project works. The parts are very sturdy and snap together easily. I'm guessing it will be a great first kit before turning them loose with an Arduino kit.”
