im new to vex, and i just got my robot a couple months ago, and now im wondering, for additions, should i get random parts, or should i get the booster kit? i can’t get sensors because i have a single splitter. just answer this
It depends what you are looking for. If you just want more metal and no more hardware then i would get the advanced metal kit, if you want metal and hardware but you don’t want to spend as much as the booster kit then get the hardware and metal kit, otherwise get the booster kit. i don’t recommend buying parts individually as this usually costs more than buying a kit.
Well, does the booster kit have more parts you think?
Yes, the booster kit has many more parts than the other kits.
A few recommendations based on my personal experience
booster kit for more general use parts
tank tread kit for more movement options
omni wheels for more movement options
power pack for convenience
more motors for everything
Vexplorer claw for grabbing objects
Choose based on what sounds the most fun to you.
Unless you plan on competing, I would pass on the power pack. Instead, I would find some rather cheap 7.2 or 8.4 volt batteries from a hobby store online. You can get them with much higher capacities. And jumping to an 8.4V battery will give you a little bit of extra juice (speed).
The transmitter batteries are standard 9.6V packs too, or you could just use standard rechargable AA batteries (that is all a 9.6V pack is, really).
At radio shack, you can usually get batteries like this, with a charger for half or even less than they sell it for. Pick up a couple so you always have one charged.
I’m a big fan of tank treads, but w/o something to add traction they are honestly a little lame. I got good traction by plasti-diping them, but there is an addon kit for the tank treads that has tracktion links.
Motors, ftw. I have a couple of servos, but never use them. Though for the claw, I might. Claw is awesome. I’m mixed on the omni wheels. They are neat, but since I love treads I hardly use them. I imagine the huge omni wheels might be awesome.
well i already have the power pack
They are !
I have both the small and large omni wheels and I highly recommend them. They make steering a lot easier than skid steering with the regular wheels, especially when you are building bigger robots with more than 4 wheels.
I like all the VEX wheels, but I hardly use anything except the omni wheels anymore.
I have 4 of the omni wheels, I’ll usually put them at the very ends of multiple wheels or on the heavy end in case of lopsided ones. This gives me a good mix of sideways traction and easy turning.
Do you use all omniwheels? Or most, with a few normals thrown in for lateral traction?
The power pack was the first additional thing I bought too.
I would strongly recomend getting a real microcontroller
More motors are a must. get at least one so you have four real motors (not servos)
Tank treads are good if you are into rougher terrain, but the reagular wheels are good for carpet, tiles, and hardwood floors.
It is rather stupid that they give you two medium wheels and two big ones. I would sugest two more big ones and two more medium ones.
More axles and gears are nice, but don’t matter too much
and the the chain kit and additional chain are really good
If you take my advice and get a real microcontroller:
get some simple sensors at the least
If you are into proramming I would recomend the ultrasonic sensor
and If you have lots of money to waste, get the pnematics set
Jimmy
I believe he has the protobot starter kit and not the old one.The protobot starter kit has four of each wheel and four motors.
I have used all omni wheels, but like you said there isn’t any lateral traction. For 4WD systems, I like to use 2 omni wheels and 2 regular that way you have better turning and some lateral traction. Someone could still push the end with the omni wheels though, but that just something you have to live with in order to get better turning. Unfortunitely, everything has its drawbacks.
On 6WD sytems, I use omni wheels on the ends and regular wheels in the middle. Although, you could use omni wheels on just one end and regular wheels for all the rest. It just depends on your design.
Well i do have the new starter kit with the signal splitter, tank tread kit, and the power pack, i also have the vexplorer light.
I would also do the booster kit as well. that is what we have for our robot. they kit will have most of the things ull need
What about the advanced metal and hardware kits? Are they good?
i think u will need tank tracks they help alot
When the advanced metal and hardware kits were released, we had already been working with Vex for over a year. The kits initially sounded like a good deal, but as we looked over what was in them, they contained some parts that we already had but never used. When we looked over our “wish list” of stuff we wanted to stock up on, the advanced kits had some of those things, but enough other stuff we don’t routinely use, which made it more economical to order our “wish list” parts separately.
Each team has its own “style” (i.e. favorite ways of building things and parts they like to use), and I’m sure that there are parts that other teams use regularly that we never touch. What you need will depend to some extent on your “style.”
My personal recommendation is the Vex Booster kit at $180. If you’re trying to spend less than that, I would recommend the Hardware and Metal kit at $80. If you buy one of those kits, I doubt that there will be much wastage from unused materials. But after you have built for a while, you will probably discover, “I really want some/more widgets” and end up ordering those separately in addition.
I ordered a tri-pack bundle for christmas, and it was GREAT! it was very supplemetary. but, as ManicMechanic said above, there are a few parts i don’t use very often, so you may want to order some things along with it.
should i get the pneumatic kits?
Pneumatics strikes me as over priced for what it enables, which is basically just linear motion. You can get a motor and the liniar slides for way, way less than the cost of the pneumatics.
That said, if someone were to give them to me, I’d thank them and add it to my collection of Vex parts 
If you are a school, or student… the educational value of them might out weigh the cost, if that makes any sense. Knowing how hydraulics systems work is pretty cool, especially since there are so many real world applications and it is different from electric motors (or combustion engines).