Snap Circuits PRO SC-500

by Elenco

Product Features

• AWARDS: The National Parenting Center-Seal of Approval, Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products, Dr Toy Best Educational Products
• Contains over 75 Snap-Together parts. Build over 500 exciting projects.
• Clear and concise Illustrated Manual Included and Available Online.
• Build 500 experiments.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2.3 x 15.6 x 20.2 inches ; 4.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 10 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00008W73Z
• Item model number: SC-500
• Our recommended age: 8 - 13 years
• Manufacturer recommended age: 8 - 10 years
• Batteries: 4 AA batteries required.
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,466 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
  • #10 in Toys & Games > Learning & Education > Science > Physics
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Hands-On Review

Give your child an exciting, hands-on introduction to electronics with Elenco Electronics Snap Circuits PRO SC-500. This innovative kit contains over 70 color-coded, real circuit components that snap together to create working electronic circuits and devices. Recommended for children 8 and older, this set offers 511 do-it-yourself projects that will give your child an entertaining, concrete education on how electronics work.

Snap Circuits Pro SC-500 At a Glance: Age: 8 years and up Requirements: 4 AA batteries (not included) Warranty: Warranted against manufacturer's defects Available Upgrade Kit: UC-80: Upgrades to SC-750 UC-100: Upgrades to SCM-400 AC-SNAP: Battery replacement kit

Build 511 different electronic projects. View larger.

Playback & Record View larger.

Create Working Electronic Circuits
Snap Circuits comes with over 70 pieces to create 511 different electronic projects. The pieces, which include snap wires, slide switches, resistors, an FM radio module, and a 7-segment LED display, snap together easily on the included plastic grid--no soldering required. Each piece is numbered and color-coded to make identifying them easy. These components combine to create working circuit boards just like the ones found inside televisions, radios, and other electronic devices.

Simple, Fun Projects Let Kids Learn While They Play
With its easy-to-follow instructions, Snap Circuits gives your child a hands-on education in how electrical circuits run the everyday devices that they're familiar with. They'll also gain valuable lessons in building and in following instructions. The project manuals include large color illustrations and simple directions for each project.

The project list includes all of the projects from the 100-in-1 and 300-in-1 kits and 206 additional projects, including a music meter, an FM radio, and a digital voice recorder. With these projects, children will learn about electric switches, integrated circuits, digital circuits, fuses, and more.

Grow as You Go
Because the projects are arranged in order of complexity, kids can build on their skills as they progress through the manual. The lessons start out with a simple electric light and switch project that demonstrates how electricity is turned on and off with a switch. Further along, kids can put together a music alarm, different visual displays, an adjustable light control, and more.

Design Your Own Circuits and Upgrade Your Kit
Once children have mastered several of the techniques introduced in this kit, they can use the components to experiment and create their own customized circuits and electronic devices. The Snap Circuits PRO SC-500 can also be upgraded to the Snap Circuits Extreme (SC-750) or the Snap-Micro I Standard (SCM-400) with the purchase of a UC-80 or UC-100 upgrade kit, respectively. Kids will enjoy additional parts, manuals, and projects that'll take their kit--and their fun--to the next level.

Snap Circuits PRO SC-500 requires four AA batteries, which are not included.

What's in the Box
Plastic snap-grid, 76 electrical components, and 3 project manuals.

Snap Circuits Jr. SC-100	Snap Circuits SC-300	Snap Circuits Pro SC-500	Snap Circuits Extreme SC-750
Build over 100 projects Contains over 30 parts	Build over 300 projects Contains over 60 parts	Build over 500 projects Contains over 75 parts	Build over 750 projects Contains over 80 parts

Product Description

With Snap Circuit PRO, kids learn about 7-segment displays, meters, relays, transformers and how diodes work. It even includes a recording IC. Build over 500 projects, including: FM radio, adjustable light control, digital voice recorder and AC Generator. Contains over 75 parts. Requires 4 "AA" batteries. Measures 20" x 15.5" x 2.25".

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

183 of 196 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You can read the manuals before buying!, November 4, 2005

By 

David (PALO ALTO, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Snap Circuits PRO SC-500 (Toy)

Very much to the manufacturer's credit, the manuals that come with most Snapz products are online as pdf files. See www.elenco.com and click "User Manuals."

If you examine the manuals for this "Snapz Pro" product -- which is apparently called the SC-500 on the manufacturer site -- you will find that the entertainment value should be fairly high, there are a lot of whizzy gimmicks you can build. However the educational value -- in terms of learning anything whatever about electronics -- is about zero. All you do is match the color and shape of the components to a picture and snap them together. There is no attempt to differentiate the components other than by color and shape -- the relative meanings and functions of, for example, a "resistor" versus a "capacitor" versus an "FM radio chip" are simply not explained. It's just so many brightly colored units that are to be connected in a directed pattern.

The projects are not graded from simple to complex, the first ones in the manual are quite elaborate but simpler ones appear later on.

The same company also offers electronic training courses using the same components but with teaching manuals that are graded from simple to complex and do teach the meanings of the components, but this is not one of those.

106 of 112 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More information available on the web, February 27, 2006

By 

Eric Verwillow (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Snap Circuits PRO SC-500 (Toy)

I just played with this (Snap Circuits Junior) for the first time and came looking to buy one for my kids.

In response to the person who said the manuals have errors, see the web site http://www.snapcircuits.net/ (and also http://www.elenco.com/ as mentioned below.) In particular there is a page that gives corrections to all the manuals: http://www.snapcircuits.net/updates.doc .

Another concern I had is which kit to buy: Junior, Pro, etc.? On the snapcircuits web site they have a price list for replacement parts and upgrade kits. For the difference in price between the kits you can upgrade from one to the next so this takes some of the worry about of the purchase (for me at least). http://www.snapcircuits.net/scparts.pdf

141 of 151 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Somebody at home better be a trained electrical engineer., October 20, 2004

By 

Paul Weaver "mad scientist" (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Snap Circuits PRO SC-500 (Toy)

My eight year old son loves this toy, BUT...

The book is full of errors. I'm afraid that a child would quickly become frustrated without someone around to troubleshoot the mistakes. I estimate that about 50% of the projects contain some sort of error. They're all minor problems, but the projects won't work until they are corrected.

It's really amazing how many different kinds of problems seem to crop up. Examples are: Missing parts from diagram, wrong parts specified, circuits that no longer "fit" together because mechanical design was changed, some component values seem to have been changed causing some circuits to need adjustment, some illustrations make it impossible to tell which component they are using, etc. The manufacturer just needs to sit down and build each circuit and update the book.

I should stress, once again, that my son and I love this toy. If you have the necessary skills, you should definitely get it. It's just not something you can give a kid and walk away from.