GeeekPi Ultimate Sensor Kit with Original UNO R4 Minima
GeeekPi Ultimate Sensor Kit with Original UNO R4 Minima, Smart IoT & Basic Sensor Projects with Tutorials, for Smart Farm, Beginners and Engineers, Includes Various Sensors and Accessories
This set is incredibly fun for someone into electronics and programming, it has EVERY thing you need for dozens of projects and just electronic based fun!
No need for a soldering iron so relatively kid safe (with supervision as it contains small and possibly sharp items)
Long Story Short
Embarking on a journey into the world of smart IoT and sensor projects can be daunting, but this ultimate sensor kit makes it an adventure worth taking. At the heart lies a robust board that serves as a reliable foundation for any project, whether you’re a seasoned engineer or taking your first steps into programming. The board’s enhanced processing power and expanded memory are a testament to its capabilities, ensuring that your creations run smoothly and efficiently.
The inclusion of a diverse array of sensors, actuators, and display modules opens up a world of possibilities, allowing you to dive into a variety of projects right out of the box. The step-by-step tutorials are a treasure trove of knowledge, meticulously guiding you through each project while encouraging you to add your personal touch and expand beyond the basics.
What truly sets this kit apart is its smart IoT connectivity. The ability to link your projects to an IoT platform and remotely manage data and actuators not only adds a layer of convenience but also propels your projects into the realm of practical applications.
In conclusion, this sensor kit is a comprehensive package that offers an exceptional learning experience, fosters creativity, and provides the tools needed to bring your smart farm applications to life. And when it comes to value for money, it’s a clear winner with a perfect score of 10 out of 10.
Well good set for reasonable price.
The GeeekPi Ultimate Sensor Kit with Original UNO R4 Minima is a comprehensive package designed for both beginners and experienced engineers interested in exploring the world of IoT and sensor-based projects. This kit includes a variety of sensors and accessories, along with detailed tutorials, making it a valuable resource for smart farm projects, educational purposes, and general experimentation.
Contents and Build Quality
The kit is well-packaged and includes an impressive array of sensors and components. It comes with the Original UNO R4 Minima board, which is a reliable and versatile microcontroller, perfect for a wide range of projects. The sensors included cover a broad spectrum of functionalities, such as temperature, humidity, light, gas, and motion detection. Each component feels solid and well-made, ensuring durability and reliability during usage.
Ease of Use and Tutorials
One of the standout features of this kit is the inclusion of comprehensive tutorials. These tutorials are well-structured and easy to follow, making them ideal for beginners. They provide step-by-step instructions for various projects, helping users understand the basics of sensor integration and IoT applications. For more advanced users, the tutorials serve as a solid foundation to build upon and expand their knowledge.
Versatility and Application
The GeeekPi Ultimate Sensor Kit is incredibly versatile, allowing users to create a wide range of projects. The inclusion of sensors for environmental monitoring makes it particularly suitable for smart farm applications, where tracking conditions like soil moisture, temperature, and humidity is crucial. Additionally, the kit can be used for home automation, security systems, and educational projects, making it a valuable tool for learning and innovation.
This sensor kit is an excellent resource for both new and experienced engineers interested in IoT projects. It comes with a variety of sensors and accessories, as well as comprehensive tutorials, making it ideal for smart farm projects and other innovative applications.
Wonderful full starter kit. I’m one of those kind of people that prefer to buy the kit (when it comes to this amount of pieces) instead of buying them individually and waiting for everything to arrive. This eliminates that totally. Perfect if you’re wanting to give something technical a try. Perfect if you know someone who loves to tinker. Perfect to really understand how smart gadgets work.
Lots included in this kit! Really pleased with it!
Excellent Starter/Intermediary kit for all ages. Build great products using clear and accurate instructions
The GeeekPi Sensor Kit is an excellent all rounder starter kit for designing and building your own interactive projects. The kit comes nicely presented within a clear plastic looking lunchbox style case with attractive card wrap around, which would be great for giving as a gift. The package includes an enormous array of different sensors such as Temperature & Humidity and Photo Sensors along with an assortment of modules for expanding the capabilities of your toolset such, WiFi, IR and Relays. Coupled to this then, there are many assorted electronic components such as an array of LEDs, resistors, buttons, buzzers and jumper cables for use with a breakout board. Core to all of this is the UNOR4 Minima, which is a small but powerful unit to run your developed software and interact with the sensors and electronics. The instructions for a multitude of projects can be found on a pen stick and you require installation of software on your own computer in order to use and run these projects. Most of these projects are well documented and explained, although you will need to be prepared to learn code should you wish to create your own projects which for those without any knowledge of programming might be a steep learning curve (but well worth it in my opinion!). More projects can be found in a repository called GitHub but might require some knowledge of coding to understand how to clone these and use them locally. There is a tech support email account which is useful should you need that with this product. Overall a great and varied set of projects geared around ‘farmer’ type capabilities but with massive potential for expansion and adaption.
This is a great set of sensors and actuators that create a practical working demo of the elements of smart farming. They can be easily applied to a home garden or greenhouse. Including the relay module allows control of a watering system, closing the loop with the moisture sensor and thus demonstrating the full life cycle of a process. With WiFi and CAN bus, and an IR remote the comms are covered.
D. Lambert’s review has lots of good points that I would repeat here. I have used many of these sensors in my past projects, they are at hobby level, but prove the code and work for demo and test use. I use Visual Studio Code a free version IDE from Microsoft rather than the Arduino cloud IDE.
A kit like this is robust and ideal for inspiring an interest in ‘how things work’ in those of all ages.
Let’s get the negative over with first – as with another reviewer, I found that the ‘Supplied’ documentation was lacking, and online searching was really a must.
Having said that – which would normally have made me deduct a Star – the kit is such fun and so comprehensive (and good value) that I’ll be generous and leave it at 5*.
The UNO R4 comes via Renesas, so good quality and the array of accessories is dazzling – RGB display + Relay module + IR Remote receiver + Card Reader + Wifi modulr… for a start.
Plus sensors – Temperature and humidity + Rain drop + Soil moisture
Plus all the fiddly bits – IR Remote, Buzzer, Push buttons, Speaker and USB-C socket and leads
LEDs, cables etc. are neatly packed and included too.
Personally this is the kind of toy/kit that is far more likely to bring joy to kids than some predictable software game IMHO – though be prepared to give them a helping hand at first as you suss out the documentation. See previous reviewer’s helpful notes on this, I won’t repeat.
This is a nicely presented kit of parts that I wish I’d had for my first foray into the world of Arduinos!
I’ve been impressed at the quality of the kit, and the Arduino UNO R4 is the real deal. If it is a clone then I take my hat off to the forgers! The quality of it is so good that I can’t tell if it is. (I really don’t think it’s a clone by the way).
The UNO even comes on its own clear plastic mount should one wish to use it instead of the project tray supplied in the kit – I’d suggest that you keep it for later, for when you buy another UNO for that fusion reactor project you’ve been mulling over
I’ve mounted my UNO on the tray (screws, little screwdriver, and rubber feet for the bottom of the tray supplied) because it means I can easily put projects away in between experimenting. The tray even has a recess that can take a Raspberry Pi. Nice.
The included breadboard feels like a good quality one (they can be bought on Amazon if you need more), and to put it in the tray, just take the backing paper off and stick it in there. It’ll be attached for the rest of its life! It’s really sticky so position it where you want it carefully first before attaching it.
So nice to see a USB C socket on the Arduino now! (They used to be USB B, like on printers). One quick tip unplug the Arduino from the Arduino end, not the computer end. You’ll be surprised at just how many times you connect and disconnect it. It’s better to wear the socket out on the Arduino than on the computer!
In summary, the hardware is really very good. One has everything needed to get going hardware-wise.
Now for the contents of the USB key in the kit Oh dear, and it was all going so well
Before I launch into this side of things I want to say something to creators of kits like this. The people that buy them often don’t know anything at-all about Arduino, and so they need proper help to get started. Shame on you for not being a lot more careful about providing the documentation and programming examples! Consider yourself reprimanded.
This kit’s creators have only just avoided getting a really poor review rating because they have included a Github URL that points to where all the missing stuff from the USB key can be found! Just in case you weren’t aware, Github is a repository used by a great many software developers where they can share their creations and their hard work. You will find an absolute treasure-trove of software that runs on the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment – i.e. the program that you’ll use to talk to the Arduino UNO and program it) programs and libraries there – Arduino call programs “sketches” by the way – and if you are ever stuck working out how to drive some sensor or display etc, the answers will inevitably be there too. Because of review restrictions I am pretty sure that I can’t put the URL here. So I’ll tell you where the URL is in the manual
+++ You can find the github URL which takes you to the documentation for this kit and program examples at the bottom of PAGE 11 of the paper manual. +++
(The URL is case sensitive, so type it exactly as it is in the manual)
Back to the USB key for a moment. There’s very little of any use on it! The Democodes [sic] and Documentations [sic] folders are completely empty, and the datasheet is only half translated from Chinese! The ONLY useful thing that I could see in the Resources folder was a pinout diagram for the Arduino UNO, but to be honest, one can find better just by searching for Arduino UNO images via a search engine. I will be formatting the USB key and reusing it for the documentation and sketches (programs) that I download. We should NEVER EVER run an exe file from an unvalidated source, no matter how trustworthy one thinks they are, so this next paragraph is important
IMPORTANT: ALWAYS go to the Arduino website, or to the Microsoft Store, to get the Arduino IDE. It’s free to download and use. You’ll get the latest version of the IDE on the Arduino website, and if you get it from the Microsoft Store (just search for Arduino to find the Arduino IDE) and install it from there then you’ll get automatic updates whenever there are any.
As an aside, and in case you aren’t aware, there are also an enormous number of projects and snippets accessible from the Arduino IDE menus to help to get you started, and some cover advanced topics too when you get that far. The Arduino community is extensive. There are always tips and tricks from those who have gone before… Plus, you can find many bits of hardware (sensors, displays etc) that are compatible with the Arduino on Amazon.
I am in danger of writing a book, so I’ll end the review here and give my summary.
SUMMARY
Hardware-wise, this is a superb kit. It has everything in it that one needs to build lots of very practical things, using different sensors and displays. I’d say that it is worth the cost just for the hardware, and there’s everything one needs physically to get one started in the world of electronics and programming.
Software-wise, I was horrified to find that the included USB key didn’t have the vital information on it, and that it requires one to go onto Github to find it. But at least the information exists. It really would have been better to not include the USB key at-all, and to have directed everyone to Github to get the information on page 1 of the manual. Also look at the book section on Amazon as there are so many getting started type books there!
Finally, this kit includes some sensors and displays that will get you familiar with how to connect and drive them over the SPI bus (don’t worry, you’ll know what that is when you have started playing with the kit). It’s a brilliant way of connecting and communicating with peripherals.
In many ways, this is more advanced than other hardware kits because it also includes items that cover some more advanced aspects. That is a really good thing! When starting out, having a kit with more complex devices in and to hand is quite marvellous.
The IoT (Internet of Things) is an extremely close cousin of what you’ll learn from this kit! This is the first step. Happy exploring!