Subject:
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Re: LEGO robotics on a budget?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Fri, 6 Jun 2003 16:04:57 GMT
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Viewed:
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1556 times
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In lugnet.robotics, Mark Tarrabain wrote:
> Here's a question I thought might be interesting to discuss. What, in
> people's opinions, are good ways of getting immersed into the building
> of interesting programmable contraptions for relative newcomers to LEGO
> who may not have heaping amounts of cash?
Buy the RIS (probably 2.0) and play around with it for a while. Get used
to what you can do with the parts provided before you assume you'll need a
gigantic pile of parts available just to get started. If you're working on a
budget, the best thing you can do is only buy something when you know you
absolutely need it. Obviously you'll need the RIS if you want to actually be
working with the Mindstorms system (I believe that's the only set currently
offered at retail that includes any of the three different computer bricks, not
counting the Spybotics module), so that's the only immediately obvious "must
buy" set.
After you've played around with it for a while, you've got four choices.
You can abandon the idea altogether (which means you've wasted $200), you can
continue to work with just the RIS parts (which means you'll be fairly limited
in what you can build), you can buy whole sets at retail (the most efficient way
to bulk up your piece assortment), or you can buy individual pieces through
Bricklink (generally the most cost-effective way to go after specific key
pieces, but not very cost effective for general purchasing). I would suggest a
combo of the latter two, by mostly buying whole sets with a good variety of
pieces (you can usually check www.peeron.com to see exactly what pieces you'd be
getting, which can help you decide if it's worth the purchase), and filling in
the gaps via Bricklink.
The biggest money saving technique is to recycle your pieces. Most of the
money I've spent on MOCs goes into replacing pieces I've used on other MOCs,
because I don't like to take them apart after I've built them. Getting attached
to your MOCs can get very expensive very quickly, as you'll often feel like you
have to start from scratch when collecting the pieces for any new MOC.
The second biggest money saving technique you can practice is not being
overly concerned over color scheme. Some of my most expensive MOCs are
expensive solely for the fact that I use exotic color schemes (I once built a
MOC that used a number of the red pieces from a Technic Destroyer Droid). Most
of the basic core Technic pieces can be found in sets that cost $20 or less, but
a lot of them get produced in colors that can only be found in some of the most
expensive sets, typically ranging from $80 and up. Going after the more
colorful pieces will either kill your pocket at retail, or chew up a large chunk
of your budget for a handful of pieces on Bricklink.
> Since a person on a budget cannot realistically go out and buy "one of
> everything", they may end up feeling constrained.
I've got news for you. Even if you aren't on a tight budget, you'll feel
constrained. I've probably dropped over $4000 on Technic sets in the last two
years (mostly Bionicle), and I've still around two dozen half-finished MOCs that
are waiting for pieces I don't have yet. Even the official Master Builders feel
constrained, when they can't get certain pieces in certain colors (I remember
hearing that some of them are particularly fond of Maersk Blue, which is no
longer being produced).
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | LEGO robotics on a budget?
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| Here's a question I thought might be interesting to discuss. What, in people's opinions, are good ways of getting immersed into the building of interesting programmable contraptions for relative newcomers to LEGO who may not have heaping amounts of (...) (21 years ago, 6-Jun-03, to lugnet.robotics)
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