EV3 vs Vex IQ For Middle School

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by AlexanderTheOK

Just one thing. If teleoperation really matters, the vexIQ joystick is REALLY great, but if that is the only thing leaning you towards vexIQ, nxt 2.0 kits can be controlled via NXT remote control and EV3 kits can be controlled via EV3 Commander.

Now, granted, this requires that you have an android device, most of which aren't cheap, except for this one, currently on sale for 38 bucks. (courtesy of a friend of mine with no CD account.).

While it is definitely a subpar option compared to the fantastic game controller provided with the VEXIQ kits, it is still something to consider.


On another note, does anyone have any of the newer VEXIQ kits with the less stiff pins? If so, are they significantly better, or at least close to the ease of lego connectors?This is legitimately the only thing keeping me from buying a set for myself right now.

Our FLL teams have played with Commander on my iPhone. Ignoring the cost of an iOS device (and/or my nerves about letting even our FLL kids play with my daily-driver iPhone), we've found it to be frustratingly limited in capabilities, laggy, hard to get a feel for, and lacking basic remote operation concepts like "when I let go of the joystick, you stop the motors". That combination of cost, risk to personal equipment, and inferior capability is a demo-wrecker.

I can't compare old and new pins because we only have new ones (we bought our kits around the first of June). Since I have the kits here for charging, I went over and popped a pin in for testing. The connection is stronger than LEGO, and I could not remove the pin by pulling on the free end of the pin the way you can with LEGO. However, a little pressure from the other side of the beam on the face of the pin popped it so it would slide out very easily. Different, but not a challenge once you've learned how it works. Hope that answers your question!