Customer Reviews

Snap Circuits PRO SC-500

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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

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.

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.

This is a great toy! It is very educational, the direction books are easy to follow (our kids needed a 30 minute lesson before we left them on their own to make their discoveries), the snaps are a super idea (some of the other electronic sets I looked at which required twisting wires together), and it is FUN!

We gave it to our 8 year old for his birthday and he has been playing it ever since. His 10 year old brother is very jealous and wakes up early in the morning so he can play with it before his brother wakes up, however the experiments can get a bit noisy so he ends up waking all of us up with them. They both love showing off what they have made to us and their friends and they are learning about how electricity works.

Due to the nature of the toy a few of the pieces (such as light bulbs) have potential to break if not cared for properly so be sure when kids are finished playing with the set they put them away properly so they don't get stepped on.

This is definitely a fun and creative toy, and by this virtue alone, it might be worth buying. That said, for a kit aimed at older children (8-10 years), it really disappoints when it comes to the educational value.

The included project booklets do virtually nothing to explain, in even the most rudimentary terms, the basics of electronics, and provide no narrative to explore with an adult. You are simply told to stack color-coded blocks in a particular order - the blocks are often not even called by their proper names, and their function in a circuit is not explained in most cases. Schematics are not included, so when you genuinely want to understand how things work with the help of external resources, you actually need to go through some extra hops.

Then, there is another problem: the choice of electronic components in the kit is odd, and clearly aimed at cheap thrills. For example, you get just one NPN transistor, one PNP, and maybe five resistors - which really is not much to experiment with; but no fewer than three different "mystery" IC modules that make funny sounds (!); one completely self-contained voice recorder module; and one self-contained FM radio, with integral "scan" and "reset" buttons. The internals of these units are not discussed, and they have *absolutely* no educational value. Connect batteries and watch the magic happen? Something perhaps acceptable in a toy for 2 years old kids, but that's about it: putting batteries in an MP3 player is about as much of a learning experience.

Because the number of general-purpose electronic components in the kit is fairly low - merely around 30 - you shouldn't expect to be able to build that much. Although the included booklet lists about 500 projects, most of them are just variations of a simple noise-making circuit ("space war sounds", "police car", "fire fan", "whiner", "lower pitch whiner", "hummer", "hissing foghorn", "siren", "steamship", "doorbell", etc). There is also an 8-segment LCD display in the kit, but all you can do with it is display a single pattern - there are no ICs to implement a counter or anything else of that sort.

Bottom line is: if you want your kid to just have some harmless fun with electronics for a week or so, this kit may be OK for you. If your kid is genuinely curious about electronics - well, a good book, a breadboard, and a handful of assorted components may be a better (and cheaper) option in this age range.

Think of this as the Legos approach to wiring. We've bought two smaller ones for two boys here (I'm trying to draw out the girl...) and are considering a trade-up for the boy who methodically did ALL of the experiments. I grew up with the little jumper wire and spring terminal kits which do not provide anywhere near as appealing and understandable a layout and were much harder to work with and troubleshoot. Contrariwise, is hard to improvise with the fixed shape of the components and connectors, but that's not really important for this age group. Pieces do of course get lost, but how much can you ask of the little darlings (don't flush them!!!).

One quibble, more a problem with the larger kits: I think they cheat claiming the kit supports XXX [30-750] different projects. Many projects are subtle enough variations on what came before that they don't count for much.

I'm really very pleased with these kits -- high praise from toy-jaded me -- they are a genuine improvement in learning and, more importantly, *playing* with electronics.

I should like to refer to the excellent review by Eric Verwillow. The toy is the work of genius, but the manuals could use a refresh, the web sites are the work of a pre-Internet generation (The company was founded 30 years ago by two electrical engineers), and marketing is not exactly a priority. Mr Verwillow's links to correction pages and the upgrade kits require a bit of sleuthing to find.

[...].

Elenco.com tries to cover their educational market, soldering kits, and non-toy devices.[...].

Other than the upgrades kit the key parts to consider are the combination of the Student Guide (experiments up to SC-300) and the Student Guide extension (covers the added experiments of the SC-750). Some Elenco documents mention a teacher's manual, but I get the sense that's obsolete.

I had to print out a paper form to order these, and even do my own arithmetic! First time I've done that in over 10 years. There is a (third) online site for ordering the manuals and other parts but it was so poorly done I preferred to trust the post office.

This toy really is a blast from the past, but it's wonderful.

I don't recommend the SC-750, I think if you're looking for more experiments beyond these 500 you can either order the upgrade kit from the 500 to 750 or look at other Elenco products.

Update 2/22/09: I have received the two student manuals I ordered -- the base manual for the SC-300 and the extension for the SC-500. They provide the educational background that's missing from the retail kit; they're very well done. I recommend ordering the student manuals, I think Elemco/SnapCircuits should include an order form with every kit.

This is a wonderful toy, solidly constructed and durable. I think the major barrier to an understanding of electronics is just the skill level required in assembly. This toy breaks down and eliminates that barrier. The experiment books are nice, but after assembling them and testing them one is left with the unanswered question: Why does it work? There are no explanations provided as to what is going on in the overall design of the circuit. Why is the circuit that way? Why does making the circuit that way make it do what it does? This is never explained and is a peculiar thing to be left out of an otherwise exceptional educational product for kids.

I bought this as an educational toy for my grandson. Working with it together
has been a lot of fun. There are enough bells and whistles (star war noises, etc)
to really draw in a kid's interest. The board and snap on pieces are very well
designed and easy to work with. My grandson has taken to it like a duck to water.
So why not ALL five stars? just a couple of points. I'd like more circuit understanding
information in the basic books. (The company tells me there is additional material
dealing with this area, I just haven't gotten it yet). The second point is based on
a problem with one project. We (probably me, not my grandson) assembled a circuit
wrong. When we turned it on, the Q1 component started smoking, it was kaput. I called
the company and they SENT A REPLACEMENT Q1 FREE OF CHARGE! That says a lot for the
company! I think that if a circuit breaker element were integrated into the battery power
supply modules a problem like that may be eliminated. I am really excited about the
Snap Circuit concept. They have done a truly great job. With the two tweaks I mentioned
I'd feel completely comfortable with all five star ratings. Heck I'd become an unpaid spokesman for the company. Kudos on a super idea, well executed. Yes, I'd recommend this to a friend.

This product is so phenomenal I don't know where to start! We are a homeschooling family with 3 boys, ages 7, 8 and 10. This kit keeps them engaged and interested in learning for hours. Unlike other sets of toys, that end up in pieces all over the house, the boys take care of this set because they know if they don't they will lose it. The set is durable and the pieces fit nicely back in their respective slots after play. There is a nice range of experiments from easy to more challenging and the boys enjoy learning and working together on various projects. We bought this kit after having a smaller version many years earlier. I would recommend this set over any smaller ones, as you have so many more choices and pieces to work with. Although kind of "pricey" for a kids toy, your child will really get plenty of use from this set. We found it to be well worth every penny.