SainSmart Basic Starter Kit for Arduino Review

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently received a SainSmart Basic Starter Kit for Arduino for a product review. Per the Amazon page, the following items are included:

1x SainSmart UNO R3
1x LM35 Temperature Sensor
1x Infrared Receiver
3x Photoresistor
1x Potentiometer
1x RGB
2x Buzzer
1x USB Cable
4x buttons
1x 74HC595
1x Infrared Remote
2x Tilt sensor
1x Flame Sensor
1x Cell Box
5x Red LEDs
5x Yellow LEDs
5x Green LEDs
2x 1-digital 8 segment
1x 4-digital 8 segment
1x Dot Matrix Display 8x8
8x 220ohm Resistors
5x 1K Resistors
5x 10K Resistors
Breadboard & Jumper wires

The package came in a nice little plastic box with a tray inside it.  I don’t remember seeing the box in the Amazon pictures, so it was a nice surprise.  I did an inventory, and from what I can tell everything listed was included.  No documentation comes with the kit, so you have to do a little research to figure out the items.  Everything looked to be in good condition, no bent pins or other issues.

I went to the SainSmart website ( http://www.sainsmart.com/ ) which is listed on the Arduino board.  After a little research, it seems to match this item:

http://www.sainsmart.com/starter-kits/uno-r3-smartkits/sainsmart-uno-r3-basic-starter-kit-for-arduino-uno-r3.html

There is a link to a tutorial on that page that is very useful.  The tutorial download includes a PDF manual, and sample code.  I skimmed the manual over and tried two sample projects which explain the code and hardware setup required.  The manual does a good job of explaining the hardware items, which was helpful - for example it explained the difference between the two types of buzzers.

Overall, the tutorial documentation and other documentation on the Aruduino website ( www.arduino.cc ) will help you get a good understanding of the code/software aspect of Arduino and this kit will give you a good range of hardware to learn how to interface and build simple projects.

Update: The Dot Matrix Display 8x8 covers the width of the breadboard when mounted, so it doesn't allow you to put any of the wires in.  Basically you can't use it as-is, you would need a wider breadboard or you would have to directly solder wires.  I let the company know, they are looking into it.  If that is a major issue, I would contact them to see if they can fix it or if they have updated the kit.

Here are the main points I noticed about this product:

Board included: This kit includes a SainSmart UNO R3 board, making it a great starter kit for someone that doesn’t have a board or wants more than one.

Tutorial: The tutorial available from the website is a great way to get familiar with the kit and the types of projects you can do.

Variety: This kit includes a nice range of items to allow for various simple projects to help a person learn about the capabilities of Arduino based systems and how it interfaces with various other electronics.

Bottom line: If you are looking for a basic starter kit that includes everything you need to start learning, this is a great option.

Amazon Product Page: http://amzn.com/B00UV7KAPM