Freenove 4WD Smart Car Kit for Raspberry Pi 4 B 3 B+ B A+, Face Tracking, Line Tracking, Light Tracing, Obstacle Avoidance, Colorful Light, Ultrasonic Camera Servo Wireless RC
The well designed parts and 128 page instruction manual including the computer code make this car easy to assemble and operate. The ability to handle the testing of each module on a PC via RealVNC facilitates testing, and the phone app provides steering and speed control as well as control of the LED lights, camera and switching to other modes of operation. Tech support provides 24 hour responses via email and was very helpful for straightforward problems. All in all this kit offers a lot for the money and earns a five star rating.
However, I encountered a couple problems that should have been handled better and distracted from my overall enjoyment of the project. Next to control from a phone the most useful function is the obstacle avoidance using the ultrasonic sensor for control. The ultrasonic sensor that came with the car kit was defective and was replaced after three weeks for overseas shipping. However, the replacement sensor was also defective, and in spite of my detailed documentation of the problem Freenove refused to replace it. I had an ultrasonic sensor from another project which I was able to use but it had intermittent errors that severely compromised this important function. The other problem was less serious but annoying and time consuming. The code downloaded to control the car had an error which applied less than a third the required power to the wheels for forward motion. Therefore, the car refused to move resulting in several days of emails blaming the problem on the batteries before I finally traced it to the code error. It has been three weeks since this problem was reported to Freenove and a download of the code today showed the error had not been corrected.
The well designed parts and 128 page instruction manual including the computer code make this car easy to assemble and operate. The ability to handle the testing of each module on a PC via RealVNC facilitates testing, and the phone app provides steering and speed control as well as control of the LED lights, camera and switching to other modes of operation. Tech support provides 24 hour responses via email and was very helpful for straightforward problems. All in all this kit offers a lot for the money and earns a five star rating.
However, I encountered a couple problems that should have been handled better and distracted from my overall enjoyment of the project. Next to control from a phone the most useful function is the obstacle avoidance using the ultrasonic sensor for control. The ultrasonic sensor that came with the car kit was defective and was replaced after three weeks for overseas shipping. However, the replacement sensor was also defective, and in spite of my detailed documentation of the problem Freenove refused to replace it. I had an ultrasonic sensor from another project which I was able to use but it had intermittent errors that severely compromised this important function. The other problem was less serious but annoying and time consuming. The code downloaded to control the car had an error which applied less than a third the required power to the wheels for forward motion. Therefore, the car refused to move resulting in several days of emails blaming the problem on the batteries before I finally traced it to the code error. It has been three weeks since this problem was reported to Freenove and a download of the code today showed the error had not been corrected.