Disclosure up front: I work for PTC. The opinions below are my own, not PTC's.
You can download all the free PTC software and free training if you start at
http://www.ptc.com/go/first
PTC is a huge sponsor of FIRST (sponsoring dozens of teams, the annual Kick Off, many regionals, and FIRST at a corporate level). Hundreds of our employees volunteer with FIRST. I say that just to give credence to the fact that we're not just throwing some software out there and hoping people use it. The company is firmly behind FIRST's mission.
I believe PTC provides FIRST teams with the most comprehensive set of free design and data management software and training that you can get. That said, I hope every team looks at all the options out there and picks the best one for them. As you are doing so, I suggest you look not just at the software functionality, but also at the job postings in your area from product development engineering firms and consider the specific CAD skills that are in demand in your area.
PTC provides Creo, Mathcad, Windchill, and Internet of Things software platform access for free and has for many years (IoT is new this year). We also provide the field and KOP models each year for free (
http://www.ptc.com/go/firstkop).
Future teaser - I'd expect future games to start to include aspects that are specifically oriented around IoT. Maybe not next year, but I'll be very surprised if the game design committee isn't looking in that direction. I have no insider information, just my prediction.
Creo invented 3D parametric solid modeling, but besides everything you expect from solid modeling you also get mechanism design and analysis, automated drawing creation, automated BOM generation, photorendering, and quite a few other modules.
Mathcad allows engineering calculations to be performed, documented, and even linked to drive your CAD models.
Windchill is fully integrated with Creo (you run it in Creo, within the same interface, or can also run it in any browser). Windchill manages all the CAD content so you can avoid shuttling thumb drives around and having people lose files or step on each others changes. Generating CAD files is easy. Keeping them in synch manually is guaranteed to fall apart if you are reaching any reasonable degree of model complexity.
Windchill handles backup and is accessible anywhere there is an internet connection. People who don't have Creo but who want or need to see the model (and measure or otherwise interrogate it) can use Creo View as a very lightweight and easy to use interface to see the full 3d model and get information from it. You control access for your team, and can store and iterate whatever electronic file you wish in your project.
PTC provides FIRST teams access to all of its on line training for those software packages, hosts a multi-week webinar where PTC experts lead you though the "How to Model Almost Anything" training (Sept to Nov each year), and finally PTC also offers live and video conference training workshops scheduled with individual teams.
All of this software and training is exactly the same as PTC provides to its commercial clients, except where we added more that is unique to FIRST. Oh, and its all free for FIRST teams.
Our team has had tremendous success using Creo, Creo View, Windchill, and (admittedly to a lesser extent) Mathcad.
I am not seeking to start a posting war over which CAD is better. OK, I will say that if SolidWorks is actually charging FIRST teams for their licenses (I've read posts that say they do, and others that say they don't) then I don't understand why there isn't a mass revolt against them (we'll welcome you to Creo any time!). In any case, our team is very confident in our decision and the benefits we get from it every day. Your mileage may vary. I hope the information here helps, whether anyone chooses PTC / Creo or not.