InventrReviews of inventr.io

This review is for the Inventr.io “Adventure Kit: 30 Days Lost In Space”. I had been meaning to teach myself more about microprocessor programming, but found it hard to get motivated. This kit seemed to be the ideal solution – all of the materials provided, including the microprocessor and a nice assortment of accessories, like a keypad, seven-segment LEDs, rotary encoder and even a tiny OLED display board. I was excited by the theme – I’m stranded on a strange planet and will have to code my way out of trouble. The 30-day timeline was also inspired, a finite goal with daily tasks. Sure, at $75 it was a bit pricey, but I was hooked by the story and anxious to start. For the first couple of days, I was suitably impressed. Simple lessons and concepts and clear wiring diagrams ensured quick success. My problem was with our instructor, Alex. I have to say that I am sure Alex is a smart guy and really knows what he is doing, but unfortunately, he is not a good teacher. His rambling explanations were seldom helpful and sometimes actually misleading. As a programmer myself, I was able to figure out what was going on, but I could not help but feel sorry for anyone who was new to programming or electronics and was trying to understand new concepts based on his roundabout explanations. I believe that Alex was trying to keep from going into too much detail and instead wound up providing too little. Some examples: His description of the HEX numbering system, his description of libraries and their embedded routines that are called in the code – the very least we need to know is what each parameter is that we are passing, but that was just glossed over, even the very simple concepts of pull-up resistors and current limiting resistors were skipped. He even seemed to have trouble keeping to the Lost In Space theme. Seems like the concept of Objects in programming deserved some explanation, but we got nothing. To be fair, I am only 18 days into this at this time and maybe it will get better, but I seriously doubt it. I guess I am so disappointed because I really wanted this kit to succeed at its promise. I won’t say that I haven’t learned anything from this adventure, because I absolutely have. I just feel like it has been harder to learn those things that it had to be. And I’m sure others would like to learn more of the stuff that we are not being told, like where can one get more information on what else is in the libraries, and is that source code available somewhere? Finally, I’ll also add that the components in the kit are of good quality and that there are a lot of useful items provided and used in practical ways. If you already have some programming knowledge and apply yourself, you will come away with some useful information and sample code that might help with your future projects. My fear is that you might not fully understand why all of that code is there and how to modify it to your requirements and that, sadly, is the real failure of this course.

Good product, good ideas but needs some cleanup & refinement. First, the drivers link is broken on the downloads page. Not a good look on day 1 when trying to get things working. Second, the videos would benefit greatly from scripts and being broken up because they are rambling and the kids lose interest. The "lost in space" story should be very scripted and stand alone. 1 min story intro, *do the build*, 30sec story outro. No conversational, off the cuff, video blog rambling. My kids want to hear the story, immediately try the build on their own, then come back to a walkthrough video only when stuck or if they don't understand something.

This is not a kit for a beginner, or at least not a not-tech-savvy-want-to-learn-with-my-teen adult. I felt that the online videos often went too fast, and assumed a basic knowledge of Arduino projects and programs. We started out being frustrated, because we were using a Windows computer, and therefore skipped the Mac instructions. The Windows instructions seemed hastily done, almost as an afterthought, especially after I watched the Mac video. Giving more background information, including on installing drivers, would have made this easier, built my confidence, and helped me avoid much frustration.

I really have not had a chance to get into the kit and try it out. I signed up to get more information. I will need to leave a better review later. I am curious how this kit will work with a group of people or does everyone need their own kit? Thank you.

This kit is a great concept and I love the idea behind it, but the actual products in the kit do not match the price tag. The plastic case that it comes in is too small to hold all the pieces correctly, the arduino uno clone board is very low quality and not built very well. The breadboard that's included isn't built well and doesn't have good connectivity work the includes parts. Over all I spent about $80 on a kit that should have been priced at about half of that.

My review is mixed. I love the idea and the product. The kit is amazing, containing all the parts needed to build the lessons laid out for the hobbyist. The lesson plan is good too, taking things slowly, one step at a time. Proceeding in this fashion, I find myself learning new capabilities steadily and capably. So why not a five star review? At this time, I believe more work is needed to get to a level where the product is truly great. It does not appear that the development, marketing, and management team have ever taken the course. If they had, they would catch all the little things that weaken its effectiveness. Mistakes in the presentation, objects discussed that are not in the camera field of view, mismatches between the video and the displayed code and breadboard, and Alex's numerous errors in his presentation. Alex is very knowledgeable, but he needs coaching to help make the video more effective. I don't know if we are watching the first take, an edited first take, or a second take, but if any of these, there should be another take to present the video in a clear, compelling manner without missing parts, backtracking, and corrections. Again, good job to the team for the concept and the product. Keep honing your product to make for a pleasurable, instructive experience. BTW, I am up to Day 11 of the course, so this is an interim review.

I’m having a very hard time finding a driver to install on my Mac mini which will work with the kit board. Shipping for me took about a month so thank you for the apology.

Ordered two kits. Received one