Subject:
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Re: help me spend some money!
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Tue, 10 Aug 1999 21:14:18 GMT
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Viewed:
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619 times
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On Mon, 9 Aug 1999 16:56:42 GMT, "Karen Gold" <kjgpinelake@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> I have a grant of about US$1300.00 to spend on robolab for my high school
> classes. I teach physical science to 9th and 10th graders. I could use any
> advice on how to get the most for my $. I need to get about 5 RCX's, plenty of
> sensors, etc. In the US you can ONLY get lego DACTA stuff from Pitsco. Anybody
> familiar with their line have any advice on this? For example, their bargain
> kit comes with FOUR IR transmitters, which would be redundant used with the 1
> computer in my classroom.... Likewise a site license seems unneccessary.
> Karen
One thing--if you are going to be buying some of the RIS kits (the basic,
$200 retail, Mindstorms set)--buy from your local educational toy store.
Especially if they will give you a volume discount. Otherwise,
Learningsmith has been known to have 20% discount coupons, which could get
you at least one set cheaper.
Even if you don't need the extra software & transmitters, getting 5 copies
of the RIS set may be a better deal than buying ala carte. The value of
the RCX unit, the two motors, 2 touch sensors, the light sensor and the
wires is about 220USD (using recent S@H and www.legoworldshop.com prices).
So for $200, you can get the Mindstorm parts you need, and a bunch of
Technic pieces that effectively cost you nothing.
Other than the basic sets, I'd think about getting some of the rotation
sensors before the temperature sensor. And the Robolab software is
probably a close-to-no-brainer decision.[1]
For heaven's sake, get some power adaptors, so you don't wear out batteries
by the boatload! You can use the adaptors from the train sets (just don't
use the regulator/speed control). You can probably buy some from somebody
around here...
For extra pieces, look for one or more big Technic sets. The Space
Shuttle, if you can still find it (probably not). And S@H has some Technic
sets on sale, search lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade for more info. Look at
message <http://www.lugnet.com/market/buy-sell-trade/?n=1893>.
Steve
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1- For the standard mix of freshman and sophomores, I wouldn't worry about
NQC, LegOS, or any of the other Mindstorms software/firmware replacements.
Now, if someone wrote a LOGO interpreter...
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | help me spend some money!
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| I have a grant of about US$1300.00 to spend on robolab for my high school classes. I teach physical science to 9th and 10th graders. I could use any advice on how to get the most for my $. I need to get about 5 RCX's, plenty of sensors, etc. In the (...) (25 years ago, 9-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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