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SparkFun Gift GuideIf you are looking for a gift for yourself or for someone else, we'd love to help you pick out the right one! This list is some of the products that pass the "I'd buy that for my niece" test. If you have questions or would like further recommendations, check in with tech support : spark at sparkfun.com. Let us know your price range and type of person you're shopping for and we will help you find the perfect gift! Our Top Ten:
Arduino Starter Kit - $60 The Arduino Starter Kit is one of the most popular products we sell. This kit has all the parts to begin to learn about microcontrollers and embedded electronics. The Arduino Starter Kit comes in it's own packaged box, ready to wrap and throw under the great green fire hazard. Good for beginners who want to create a great blinky think but are not sure where to start. This kit is also good for advanced users - these parts are common to all sorts of projects and help replenish a geek's toolbox. Simon PTH Soldering Kit - $25  I'm a pretty big fan of the Simon PTH Kit. PTH means 'plated through hole' - a type of soldering. PTH soldering is the first type of soldering a student learns (followed some day by 'SMD' or surface mount device soldering). This kit that includes all the bits you need to build a functioning memory game. It blinks, it buzzes, it will drive you crazy! We pre-programmed the ATmega168 microcontroller so no programming is required (perfect for beginners). We're also pretty proud of our simple-to-follow assembly instructions (included). All you need is a soldering iron, solder, and wire cutters ($14 if you don't already have them). A total novice can put the kit together in 20 to 40 minutes. Once the game is assembled and the student is hooked, it can even be reprogrammed to do other, more annoying tricks! Parts Kits - $11 to $25  Are you buying for an fairly seasoned tinkerer? The Resistor Kit and the Beginner Parts Kit are a sound purchase. I bought one of each for myself just so I could refill my workbench. The resistor kit is a box full of many resistor values - handy when prototyping because you don't know what value you'll need. This kit takes the shot-gun approach and covers all the common values that a hacker may need. The Beginner Parts Kit was created along the same lines, but has the common parts that a general user eats like candy: diodes, trim-pots, 555 timers, LEDs, voltage regulators, connectors, you name it - it's got it. And the Beginner Parts Kit comes in a handy carrying case to boot! GPS Module - $60  Now we get a bit more technical. If you've got someone you're shopping for and they're pretty active with building, but have not played with GPS before, this can open up a great new door. GPS is very common these days and continues to drop in price. These are my two favorite GPS receivers. The EM406 on the left is more common and will work great with 5V devices like Arduino or the Parallax Stamp. The LS20031 GPS receiver on the right is a bit more powerful, but more advanced (works with 3.3V microcontrollers). Power them up and know where you are, anywhere in the world within 40 seconds. I still find the technology fascinating especially because the 24 GPS satellites are flying above our heads 12,552 miles above the earth! If you're still unsure about GPS, checkout this excellent GPS Geo-cache project and checkout our GPS buying guide. Serial LCD - $25 A serial LCD is a type of display that displays text. All you do is send serial signals out from a computer or a microcontroller, and the world can read your message. Once a project graduates from the work bench to the portable world, it becomes tricky to debug. This display can be added to help the experimenter know what's going on (or going wrong) in the system. Serial LCDs are really handy and open up many new and exciting projects. Our serial LCDs even have a backlight so you can read them at night! Wireless and XBee - $81  These little blue modules are XBee modules. They allow for easy wireless communication from a base (such as a computer) to a remote (such as a robot or weather station). Once a project graduates from the workbench, it's really hard to debug problems because the robot keeps driving away! A serial LCD (listed above) is a great start. But wireless allows you to not only receive debug data, but you can also send commands to the remote device (such as 'turn left' or 'unlock deadbolt'). The red boards that you see under the blue XBee modules are breakout boards that make using the XBee modules a breeze. The board pictured on the left (XBee Explorer USB) is a USB connection board to a computer. The board pictured on the right (XBee Explorer Regulated) is what connects to your cocktail robot, intrusion detection system, or anything else that has serial output. Here's is what I would buy my brother to get him up and running with a complete wireless setup:
Sensor Kit - $200 Two-hundo is a lot to spend on someone (I wish I had someone who liked me that much!) but the $200 Sensor Kit is crazy kit. We picked out all our favorite sensors and boxed them up. This kit includes a sensor for just about every job. With everything included in this kit, you'll be able to sense acceleration, distance, compass heading, vibration, humidity, movement, ambient light, temperature, and more! These are our favorite sensors from each category. If you've got someone that can't stop talking about their next big project, buying this kit for them will cause them to retire to the basement for the next three weeks - a good thing or bad thing depending on your situation. If they ever do emerge from the laboratory, you will be amazed at what they've built using this collection. Logomatic - $60 The Logomatic is a board dedicated to logging events. It's a data logger! We consider it fairly easy to use, and the applications are fairly limitless. We've used one to monitor our wine fermenter, but we've also seen them to log serial data, GPS logger, compost pile temperature logger, etc. If you're shopping for a scientist that loves experimentation, this board can open the ability to gather large data sets for real-world events. SparkFun Hoodie - $20 I'm always cold. If you're shopping for the quintessential American Nerd like me, a SparkFun hoodie does two great things: keeps you warm, and screams geek. These hoodies are turning into a secret nerd handshake. I can't tell you how many times I've been stopped in the grocery store with someone asking me 'You know about SparkFun?!'. Gift Cards - $10-100 If you're really unsure what to get for your little mad scientist, get them a shopping spree! $100 can setup a beginner quite well, and $100 will take an advanced user one step closer to the next-big-thing. |
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