Starting this topic so everyone can share their first impressions with the 123 system.
I’ll go first.
TLDR: I LOVE IT! MY SON (7 years old - 1st grade) LOVES IT! He showed me up by figuring out how to do a loop before I did!
It arrived and I ripped open the box and tried to sync it but couldn’t figure out how to do it right away… I know, I know, I should have gone to Get Started - VEX Robotics but I like to try things before reading the instructions lol.
I decided to charge it and then added batteries to the coder (had to find a screw driver to open the battery cover - nice feature to prevent kids from taking the batteries out). The little hockey puck robot started flashing green so I unplugged it and accidently dragged it across the table and it woke up! I was delighted. I pressed the buttons on it and the Coder as indicated by the picture on the Coder and it paired right away!
I slipped in a couple of the programming cards and pressed play and BOOM, I programmed a robot!
I grabbed my 7 year old son and sat him down and the kitchen table and just told him to make the robot move… I had the “when started” card already in the coder and he then put in a drive forward card without being prompted. He seemed to be confused by the lack of tactile feedback from the play button but figured it out pretty quick.
He was excited to see it move. I then put a masking tape square on the table and told him to get the robot to drive in a square. Not only was he able to figure out how to do a square but he figured out how to make it loop… I saw him put in the back to start card and was like “oh, buddy I don’t think it works like that” and he said “no, dad it will make it do it again!” and I said “Ok, let’s see what happens” — proud father moment right there when my boy schooled me on a new robot’s capabilities!
Thank you VEX for putting out a truly great product for the little ones!
