InventrReviews of inventr.io

Ordering was easy, getting to the course is another thing... I ordered 2 kits, one for me and one for my brother. I guessed, that the course itself - which is for free - would be accessible for free as well. Turns out, my brother couldn't use my account to get to his course as well. I could order the same course twice, but there was no nice option to get him the second one. After a while, the second course seemed to be deleted from my account, I still don't know why, since I ordered two kits. So my brother might need his own account to be able to use his kit, which was a present. This is a bit annoying, considered that he will see price lists now. In the end, the confusing access to the course which is still in my account, lead to me laying aside my kit, waiting for an opportunity (time is limited) to see, if there are better opportunities to get access to the same course twice.

Great idea could be better implemented. Working through the lost in space curriculum there are numerous inconsistencies and quality control issues. Many of the code blocks were incorrect and there was not consistency between the video lessons and code blocks provided. A curriculum developer and educational advisor would be recommended to improve the course.

Thank you for requesting feedback. The actual kit is very impressive -- I'm impressed you were able to fit so much content into such a little box. The instructional videos that I've seen are not professionally produced and feel like an afterthought, but the kit itself is very well made. Thank you, and God bless you and yours.

Overall, I like the contents of the kits. There was one issue, is that the RGB LED was supposed to be a Common Cathode type, but a Common Anode type was sent instead. This not only confused many people, but the Common Anode type is harder to write code for. As for the lessons, I like the theme of rescuing yourself as a way to make the content more engaging. On the downside, all of the videos seemed to be done without any script, preparation, or practice. The audio volume had not been normalized, so one video would be loud and and other quiet. As for content, there are many cases where a description of some part of the system was completely wrong. As an example, when discussing the SDA/SLC, the component was wired to the analog lines. This works, but has nothing to do with the lines being analog, but it was explained that somehow analog lines were better at doing certain digital tasks than the digital lines themselves. It is actually because those same lines are doing double-duty as an I2C port. What would have been far better, is to wire those to pins from the device to the SDA/SCL lines on Hero board at the opposite corner. They are actually wired internally to the same place, but it is far, far less confusing to the viewer if the names of the pins match up.

It's a solid concept (worth 5 stars!), but I can only give it a 3 right now because we were frustrated very early on (the very first mission). We could not get my son's Mac to recognize the HeroBoard card that was attached. I did finally get it to connect to my PC, but by then we got busy and haven't advanced. I do hope to come back--at the very least--on my PC, but it makes it harder because he can't use his own laptop to do the missions if I'm using my PC. Oddly, my dad (who purchased one for my son and one for him so he could follow along) was unable to get his PC to recognize the Heroboard. So, it is not just a Mac issue. I love the concept and your company, but the early frustration stalled us so far. To be fair, we have yet to steel ourselves to reach out to customer service and troubleshoot it on the Mac.

Good: video lessons are good. They might be corny but they work in an adult education model to provide a high amount of retention of information Bad: support. I’ve emailed this company three times about a missing part. They said it was in the mail. It’s been 3 months and I haven’t received it. They finally quit communicating with me. I feel ignored I bought the part I needed to continue the lessons but it was a bitter pill to swallow. I will not do business with them ever again. They broke trust. update (01/31/21) - I received a replacement in the mail today. While the company did make good on fulfilling and provided an apology however, this does not excuse bad service. This company still broke trust. I still will not do business with them. Whether you think this reaction is too harsh or justified matters not. I present the truth of the situation so you can judge for yourself and make a value decision for yourself.