Hello my son has a ton of vex iq parts that he got for his birthday. He did not get the brain, controller and motors. He is looking to get these and he has used he gen one stuff at school. He is not doing any of the programing and is just building simple bots using the brain. I am wondering what would be best for him when looking to by the parts needed. Should get go with gen 2 kit at 350 or should we just look to get used or older gen 1 equipment.
Any advice would be great
Gen 1 is fine, but it will not be forward compatible with future sensors, which is fine for simple bots.
If your son is serious about competing, first buy him some gen 1 parts, then if he decides he wants to move further with his VEX Career so to speak, then you could upgrade his kit. Ask him to a bunch of his friends together if he is interested in competing, and you all can pitch in for parts, as they may get expensive and most competitions require 2 drivers per bot.
Thats nice!
Generation 1 equipment is definitely cheaper, and is perfect if your son continues to make simple robots.
Generation 2 equipment is a better suit if he wants to compete, as it is better. Some things may not be supported by generation 1 as it is technically discontinued.
Are there any places you can recommend where we can get good gen 1 equipment as it looks like alot is discontinued on vex site and not much on ebay. Again thank you for all your information
You could ask on the VEX IQ World Wide Coaches Association (VEX IQ World wide Coaches Association | Facebook)
You can try the regular places, Ebay, craigslist, Nextdoor, etc. I will tell you there are not any in the Philly Area, I gathered about 2 dozen sets of brains / controllers / battery packs. Not sure where you are located.
TBH, finding used Gen 1 will be fine. It supports 99% of what the new brain does. I don’t see any really “must have” sensors on the VEX IQ road map (*) so I don’t see using Gen 1 has having a down side.
I will also suggest looking for the Hexbug robotics kits in your area. I got ~15 kits at $5-7 each to strip for parts. It’s a quick way to get unique parts to add to your collection.
(*) maybe the new sensor is a water depth gauge?