“Additionally, nLab significantly lowers the barrier to entry of learning electronics. Learn at universities? $100k. Classes online? Still thousands of dollars. Learn on your own? $1,000+ of equipment and parts.”
I hate this kind of marketing, none of these things are true. You can take a community college course on electronics at a pretty reasonable price. There are plenty of online resources that are credible and free. An at home lab can be relatively cost effective with second hand equipment and electronic parts from adafruit/amazon/alibaba.
The spec page says 100 kHz BW on the oscilloscope, the FAQ says 400 kHz. In either case calling it an "oscilloscope" is a stretch, its the ADC channels on an MCU.
I find it curious that all their promo shots seem to only show the back of the board. I couldnt find any of the component side, or any information about what components are used. My guess would be:
- a very small dual rail supply
- AVR or STM MCU
- Signal generator is PWM through an RC low pass filter
- Oscilloscope is potentially just the input through a resistor network to shift +/- 5V to 0-5V, maybe a buffer to keep input impedance high.
I just don't see $170-200 of value here, or anything close to that.
The specs are underwhelming, but I could see the value to a beginner being in the software that accompanies it tightly integrated with parts kits and instructions. I'd honestly prefer to see a logic analyzer instead of a mediocre oscilloscope; I feel like the projects that most people learning want to do these days are digital, and simple logic analyzers are more amenable to being cheap while still being useful.
This seems really cool with very underwhelming specs. They maybe enough for people just getting started, especially at that price point. I think if there are lots of ready to go projects and easily purchasable kits for parts this could be a really great intro for cheap
I see a lot of comments critical of the product. I don't know much about the field but I have a teen and I would like to give her product of this sort and see how far she takes it. I would appreciate suggestions and links.
8 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 20.4 ms ] threadI hate this kind of marketing, none of these things are true. You can take a community college course on electronics at a pretty reasonable price. There are plenty of online resources that are credible and free. An at home lab can be relatively cost effective with second hand equipment and electronic parts from adafruit/amazon/alibaba.
This is hardly an “electronics lab”.
I find it curious that all their promo shots seem to only show the back of the board. I couldnt find any of the component side, or any information about what components are used. My guess would be:
- a very small dual rail supply
- AVR or STM MCU
- Signal generator is PWM through an RC low pass filter
- Oscilloscope is potentially just the input through a resistor network to shift +/- 5V to 0-5V, maybe a buffer to keep input impedance high.
I just don't see $170-200 of value here, or anything close to that.