Maker Advent Calendar (includes Raspberry Pi Pico H) Reviews

4.9 Rating 299 Reviews

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contact@thepihut.com

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Mann Enterprises LTDHomefield RoadHaverhill, SuffolkCB9 8QP
Cambridge
CB9 8QP

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“Nice concept of advent calendar. It would have been nice to allow alternative routes for people not interested in MicroPython. In my case I followed through the exercises but using Rust instead of MicroPython.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“the Pi Hut maker advent calendar is an interesting and fun kit to work with. The parts were all there and worked perfectly. being new to Raspberry Pi, I learned a lot. I will be ordering more from the Pi Hut in the future. Shipping here to the US was speedy and everything was well packed and free of any damage Thank you”

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Posted 1 year ago

“It was brilliant. I would like to have more tutorials and different projects in future editions of Advent calendar. Thanks”

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Posted 1 year ago

“Interesting and entertaining for both an 8 year old and an adult. The former is a keen "scratch" coder, who has forayed briefly into Python in the past, but previously found some aspects (case sensitivity and spacing in particular) made writing in Python frustrating. The contents were an interesting mix of input and output devices, and often thoughtfully contrived to provide different ways of working together with previous parts. The instructions provided interesting background on the components, clear connection instructions and easily copied and pasted sample code (big hit with child - avoiding any frustrations over mistyping etc.) I was pleasantly surprised that they were interesting to adult and child at the same time. The code functions used were explained clearly and simply, and I liked the use of "alternative ways" and "more efficient ways" of doing things that were introduced, giving a slightly broader understanding of using micropython rather than always solving each problem with one tool only. Overall very positive, however there are a couple of detractors worth pointing out: 1) It's a 12 day calendar. Obvious, keeps the price affordable, it says so on the tin etc., but as an advent calendar that's a bit of a drawback. We opened a door every 2nd day, and often build the circuit and did the first activity (normally a simple check that the new component works) one day, and did the other activities the next. This generally worked, but a few days were less well suited to it. 2) A couple of the days seemed to be substantially "shorter" activities than others - while some had very thoughtful extensions into integrating with various earlier components (e.g. using the part in different ways), a couple involved a rather simple use of the new component and then finished. Made the "spread over 2 days" approach less effective. 3) As an educational tool, which I appreciate isn't everyone's use of this, there were a couple of really good "can you think of a way to use what you learned on [day x] to..." comments - I would have liked to see these sorts of extension "challenges" every day, and actually structure them as an "activity" in the instruction layout (they tended to get slightly buried in the regular text.) While I applauded the copy-and-paste code above, being able to edit and amend it, always able to "go back" to the basic thing that works, is a really good way for people to learn more about the programming language. 4) Would have been nice to have pointers towards "further reading" for other ways of using, coding, integrating parts etc. Not expecting specific instructions, or anything bespoke created for this calendar, just general resources for "making" with sensors and outputs. Overall though, very positive experience, excellent response from Customer support for the one small issue we had, and good value for money.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“Bought as a gift to a programmer. I had a look at the items and instructions included and they all seem to be fun and interesting projects.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“The whole kit was really good. Nicely presented, and the online instructions were well laid out. The code patterns explained well and scope given to experiment and expand. Still need to have a proper play with it all.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“Great product. It's been a lot of fun, it's so very straightforward with bitesize projects every day. Had little to no experience but learnt loads on the way.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“Such incredible fun! The calendar contains a great set of components, with each day having well-written and easy-to-follow instructions that I feel are suitable for novices in both electronic components and programming. For those of us with some prior programming experience, there's enough scope to take your own direction, building upon the foundations each day. Thoroughly enjoyed every day, and has given me new skills I know I'll reuse.”

1 Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago