- [Instructor] Are you
trying to figure out
what Arduino you should buy?
There are tons of different Arduino boards
out there,
which one is best for you?
By the end of this lesson,
you'll be able to decide which Arduino
is right for you,
and you'll be able to buy with confidence.
You'll also learn about
the must-have accessories
if you're planning on
getting into Arduino.
Finally, you'll get an invitation
for a behind the scenes look
at the Programming Electronics Academy
membership training website.
Stay tuned.
(strange music)
If you go to the Arduino website
and look at the boards at the store,
they've got over 20
different boards listed.
If you check Wikipedia,
they list over 182 different
Arduino-compatible boards.
Amazon.com has over 1,000 listings
of the Arduino board,
not to mention 51 different brands
selling Arduino stuff.
What gives?
Which one are you supposed to get?
Why are the names all so funky,
and how do you know if the software
is gonna work for the one that you buy?
Well let me make this as clear
and simple as possible.
I'm gonna cut through all of that noise,
and I'm just gonna tell you
which Arduino you should by
for 99% of what you need to do.
You ready for it?
Buy an Arduino UNO Rev3.
Rev3 stands for revision three.
It's that easy.
And here's why I can say
that with confidence.
First off the Arduino is by far
the most popular Arduino board out there.
So if you're just getting started,
and you wanna look at some example code
that's out there,
you're gonna find tons of it available
for the Arduino UNO.
Reason number two.
Not only is there a ton of code available
for the Arduino UNO,
but most of the add-ons that you'll find
for Arduino called shields,
are built to work with the Arduino UNO.
Reason number three.
For 99% of your needs,
the Arduino UNO is going to do
exactly what you need.
The UNO has 20 separate
input output channels
called pins,
and all of those channels could be used
to read digital on-off type inputs.
Six of those inputs can be used
to read analog inputs,
like if you were turning a knob.
So for the lion's share of projects,
that is going to be plenty
of input output options.
So that's my recommendation.
I would get an Arduino UNO Rev3,
and I really think you'll be happy
that you did.
But come on,
we need some exceptions to a rule, right?
Okay, well let me cover two cases
where you might want a
different Arduino board.
Let's say that you've already got
this predefined project
that you have in mind,
and you already know that you need
tons of inputs or tons of outputs
to make it work.
If that's the case,
you may wanna check out
the Arduino MEGA 2560 Rev3.
Its got 54 input output pins,
that's almost three times that of the UNO.
Now the Arduino MEGA works almost exactly
like the Arduino UNO,
so I would still recommend it
if you're just getting started.
But only if you're positive you need more
input output channels,
than what already comes
with an Arduino UNO.
Now let's say you've got a project in mind
that connects wirelessly to the Internet.
If that's the case,
I would recommend getting a board
that uses the ESP8266.
Two great options would be
the Adafruit Feather HUZZAH with ESP8266,
or the SparkFun ESP8266
Thing Development Board.
These boards are not technically Arduinos,
but they can be programmed
with Arduino code
and in the Arduino IDE.
They come with good code libraries
for making connecting to the Internet
relatively simple,
and if you buy from an established seller
they'll have a good working examples
for you to start with.
Interestingly enough,
these WiFi-enabled
boards are less expensive
than an Arduino UNO.
However, I wouldn't necessarily
recommend these wireless boards
if you're just getting
started with Arduino.
There is this very small,
yet very real level of complexity
that makes these just ever slightly less
user-friendly,
than your stock Arduino UNO.
Now maybe you like the idea of the UNO,
but you're looking
for a slightly different form factor.
Maybe you need something
that's really small.
Well you could check out a company
called TinyCircuits,
they make super small Arduino boards.
But here's the good news,
whatever Arduino boards you buy
as long as it says
compatible with Arduino,
chances are that you're gonna be just fine
using it.
That's kind of what's great about Arduino.
The code you write on one board
can be transferred to
tons of different boards,
usually with no changes
or very minor changes
to the code.
So if you already have an Arduino board,
and you're wondering if
you got the right one
you're probably fine.
Now one confusing thing
about buying an Arduino UNO,
is that you'll find that
there's many companies
sell Arduino UNO clones.
So if you didn't know,
the company that came up with Arduino
made their hardware design open source
for people to use.
It's called open source hardware.
Kind of like open source software,
except they are sharing
the electrical design files
instead of the actual code.
So what this means is that there's tons
of other companies that have taken
the exact same design of the Arduino UNO
and simply cloned it.
Then they add a fancy name
often with the suffix duino,
and they say something like hey
it's Arduino compatible.
And in fact in most cases,
these clones are fully Arduino compatible.
So they've got these reputable companies
that do this,
they sell clones of Arduino UNO.
Now the boards have
different logos on them,
and sometimes they'll have
slightly different features,
but for all intents and purposes
they work great with the Arduino software
and other Arduino shields.
So should you buy an Arduino
from the Arduino company,
or should you buy a clone?
Does it matter?
Well the Arduino you buy from Arduino.cc
usually cost a little bit more,
and the selling point of the clones
is that they kind of cost less.
Now I'm not a sentimental guy
by any stretch,
but for your first Arduino board
I'd actually recommend buying your board
from Arduino.cc,
or a certified distributor of Arduino.
I say this because I
think the Arduino company
does good stuff,
like support the Arduino IDE.
So in my opinion it's
supporting a good cause.
But hey, it's your call.
So let's switch gears now,
and talk about the must-have accessories
if you're getting into Arduino.
Now before we jump into this,
I don't recommend going out and buying
everything you think you need
to set up an electronics shop,
if you're just getting started
into Arduino and electronics.
It makes more sense to kind of gradually
get stuff built up.
But if all you bought was an Arduino board
and no sensors or output
devices to play with,
it can be not quite as exciting.
Okay,
so the first think you're gonna need
is a USB cable
to connect your Arduino to your computer.
Assuming you take my advice
and you get an Arduino UNO,
you'll need an AB-type USB cable.
This is the kind of cable that you use
to hook a printer up to your computer.
And since it's needed I guess it's not
really an accessory,
but hey it made the list.
Now if you bought a different style
of Arduino board,
you may wanna make sure you have
a micro USB cable hanging around,
as that's a common type of connector
for other boards.
The next must-have
accessory is an Arduino kit.
And the reason I say this
is because the prices have gotten
so affordable on these kits,
that it really just doesn't hurt
to have one laying around.
Oftentimes the buying
of the individual
components cost more anyway,
so it can save you some time
and a little bit of cash.
Now there's a ton of
different kits out there.
One way to pick a kit is to ask yourself,
what kind of project do you have in mind?
Maybe you can find a kit that already has
some of the items that you need
in the project anyway.
I know trying to find specific components
that you know will work with Arduino,
can sometimes be just a
little bit intimidating.
Especially if you're just getting started.
But if you buy those pieces
as part of an Arduino kit,
you can be pretty sure
they're gonna work just fine with Arduino.
Now you'll wanna make sure
the kit comes with a
solderless breadboard.
You use a solderless breadboard
to make temporary electrical connections
with different components.
You'll also wanna make sure
that it comes with jumper wires,
which are wires for making
these temporary electrical connections.
You'll wanna ensure it comes
with a handful of resistors,
and some LEDs.
And these are mostly for
building simple circuits
to kind of play around with.
Chances are all those
things I just mentioned
are gonna be part of a good Arduino kit.
Now an alternative to buying a kit
with a bunch of different components,
is to buy and Arduino shield
that has a bunch of
components built into it.
This is probably the best option
for people who are maybe
already into electronics,
kind of familiar with simple circuits,
and would rather focus on learning
how to program the Arduino.
Now this is a bit of a shameless plug,
because our company happens
to sell such a shield
called a Kit-on-a-Shield for Arduino.
It has 15 pre-built circuits on it,
so it kind of gives you this playground
to mess around with
when you're learning to program Arduino.
Now there's other companies
that make similar kind of shields.
You can check out DrDuino,
they make a really cool shield also.
Well I hope you're excited
to get started with Arduino.
It can really be a ton of fun,
and extremely satisfying
to have programmed and
built something yourself.
If you wanna jumpstart
your Arduino programming skills,
then you should check out our membership
at Programming Electronics Academy.
We offer many step by
step training courses
to get you started programming Arduino.
If this sounds cool to you,
then check out
programmingelectronics.com/tour
for a behind the scenes look
at exactly what it's like to be a member.
That's programmingelectronics.com/tour
for a behind the scenes look
at our training program.
If you enjoyed this video,
click the red button to subscribe
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Well hey,
it's back over to you now.
What's your favorite Arduino board?
I'd love to hear what your thoughts are
in the comments.
Have a great day,
and I'll see you in the next lesson.
Bye.
