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speed over polish
SparkX products are not nearly as shiny or polished as the regular SparkFun product; we can get to market faster. Are you ok with a board that hasn't been fully user tested? Can you read a manual? SparkX is for you.
unabashed failure
SparkX doesn't care if something isn't quite finished. Shoot, we're only pretty sure an idea will work. We'll let you know exactly what's known and what's tested, the rest is up to you. Are you ok with a green wire and no beginner's guide? SparkX is for you.
go go go!
SparkX chases the shiny. If there's a product or project that appeals to us we'll do it regardless of market considerations. Want to play with something that may never make it to market? SparkX is for you.
SparkX Products
Experimental Products: SparkX products are rapidly produced to bring you the most cutting edge technology as it becomes available. These products are tested but come with no guarantees. Live technical support is not available for SparkX products.
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The Moving Tinker Builds
A new version of our Tinker Kit is available, along with a new RF board from SparkX and a new LIDAR!
Hello everyone and welcome back to another Friday Product Post here at SparkFun Electronics! We start off with a new version of our popular Tinker Kit; it's an economical version of our SparkFun Inventor's Kit that adds Qwiic connectivity. Following that, we have a new IoT board from SparkX, a new LIDAR sensor from Cygbot, and an ESP32 module. Let's jump in and take a closer look at this week's new products!
Qwiic comes to the SparkFun Tinker Kit!
The SparkFun Tinker Kit (STK) is a great way to get started with programming and hardware interaction with the Arduino programming language. This latest version of the STK adds in the Qwiic functionality, blended with elements of our educator MESA kit. Each SparkFun Tinker Kit includes everything you need to complete 11 circuits that will teach you how to blink an LED, read sensors, drive servos, and more. You don't need any previous programming or electronics experience to use this kit.
The RFM97C Mini Shield is a great little module that incorporates the SX1276 LoRa transceiver from Semtech. LoRa is best for long range communication (hundreds of feet), low power, and low data rates (~500bps). This 'Mini Shield' is designed to be attached to the top or bottom of any of our Thing Plus boards. We include a PTH soldering point for a low cost wire antenna (~3" for 915MHz) along side a stress relief hole. For folks that need a bit more oomph, there is a U.FL connector available for larger, external RP-SMA LoRa antennas.
Cygbot's 2D/3D Dual Solid-State ToF LiDAR helps translate the 3D world into a 2D image and a 3D object using precisely measured depth data. This budget-friendly LiDAR unit operates without any moving parts making it much more durable in harsh operating environments. The CygLiDAR D1 is perfect when used in applications like security, industrial automation, drones, and more.
It's best to think of the ESP32-S2 WROOM Module as the next step in the ESP32 WROOM module line. It builds on the benefits of the original ESP32 WROOM Module with new and improved features such as security, display support, and increased environmental performance. Featuring transparent external flash and RAM encryption, secure boot features allowing only signed firmware, as well as included HMAC and Digital Signature modules that use software inaccessible keys to generate SHA-MAC and MAC signatures solving most of the security flaws of the previous generation.
That's it for this week! As always, we can't wait to see what you make! Shoot us a tweet @sparkfun, or let us know on Instagram or Facebook. We’d love to see what projects you’ve made! Please be safe out there, be kind to one another, and we'll see you next week with even more new products!
Never miss a new product!
We have a new Proximity Sensing Kit for you to check out, along with a few new digital multimeters and a new kit from SparkX!
We released two new STM32 boards yesterday, but we still have plenty more to talk about this week!