BC Robotics Gift Guide 2016 – Gifts Under $100

Part two of our 2016 Holiday Gift Guide is here! These gifts are all under $100.00 and feature a wide variety of things that may peak the interest or inspire someone on your list. As always, if you have any questions about the products below (or anything else on our site) please let us know!







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SparkFun Blynk Board – ESP8266

Have you ever wanted to control electronics with your phone? What if it was simple to beam data from sensors directly to your Android or iOS device? Blynk is an easy to use app builder that allows users to add a variety of buttons, sliders, graphical displays and even RGB controllers to their phone. The SparkFun Blynk Board is specially designed to work with the ‘widgets’ within the Blynk mobile app to create your next Internet of Things project. Monitor local weather conditions, control LEDs from your phone, even send a tweet when it’s time to water your plants – these become substantially easier using the Blynk platform. Every Blynk Board comes fully programmed and also includes a Blynk subscription code card (15k Energy at a $10 USD value), which will be needed to connect the Blynk Board to your Blynk account.

Crimping Pliers – 28-20 AWG

A good set of crimpers is often the one tool always missing from a workbench. True, you can sometimes get around this problem with a good set of pliers, but nothing beats using the correct tool for the job! These crimping pliers allow you to easily make your own wiring harnesses using crimp pins and cable housings. These pliers are capable of crimping very small 0.25 – 1.5mm crimp pins and 28-20 AWG wires together and are specifically designed to work with JST PH, SH, SHL, and ZH series pins.

Adafruit Gemma Starter Pack

Wearables are an emerging form of electronics crossed with traditional sewing and textile work. Conductive thread, wearable microcontrollers, sew-able sensors, and LEDs make for great Costumes, Cosplay, and forward fashion. The Adafruit GEMMA starter pack is an excellent place to start! The kit includes everything needed to build a bright, colorful, LED based, wearable project!

Makey Makey Classic

The Makey Makey kit is an invention kit for anyone – Kids, Artists, Educators, Engineers, Designers, Makers – Everyone! Turn everyday items into touchpads and combine them to create an awesome controller for your computer without having to be an Engineer or PHD in computer science. Have you ever wanted a banana keyboard? How about a room full of sound effects? The possibilities are endless with this awesome kit and anyone can do it!

The Basic Toolkit

Start your adventure into electronics with a great selection of tools. This electronics kit has everything you need for basic wiring, kit assembly, and general prototyping as well as all of the essentials for basic soldering work. Each kit includes: an Adjustable Soldering Iron, a Soldering Iron Stand, 60/40 Leaded Solder, Flush Diagonal Cutters, Wire Strippers, and a Solder Sucker (de-soldering tool).

Experiment Kit

Our electronics experiment kit contains a sampling of all sorts of different electronic components including LEDs, basic sensors, capacitors, resistors, transistors, and even a servo motor. This kit is ideal for someone who already has a microcontroller (like the Arduino) or single board computer (like the Raspberry Pi) and is looking to start making it interact with the physical world.

Weller WLC100 Soldering Station

The Weller WLC100 is a versatile 120 volt electronic soldering station designed to give quality performance for do-it-yourself, hobbies, and electronic projects. The adjustment knob allows the operator to perform soldering functions with control from 5 watts to 40 watts. The WLC100 comes with a quality, lightweight, 40 watt pencil iron and ST3 interchangeable tip.

USB Digital Multimeter – Auto-Ranging

A good multimeter is a must for anyone working with electronics. We have tried this one out and it will definitely fit the bill if you want something that is good quality and going to last. The meter features a large, easily readable display for use in the field as well as the ability to connect to your computer for data logging, processing and analysis. It has all of the basic functions that you expect from a good digital multimeter including continuity check (with buzzer), diode test, and data hold.

Raspberry Pi 3 Media Center Kit

Since its introduction, the Raspberry Pi has made a great media center platform. As the Pi has become more and more powerful over the years, the user experience has only improved. The current Raspberry Pi 3 is more than capable – with added processing power, and a more powerful graphics processing unit, the Raspberry Pi 3 provides a superior viewing experience and cut load times to almost nothing. Connectivity is a breeze – the Pi 3 features built in Ethernet, USB, Bluetooth, and Wifi! Watch movies or listen to music stored on a USB Flash Drive / Hard drive, on a local network, or stream directly from the internet.

Raspberry Pi 3 Starter Kit

The Raspberry Pi was first introduced in early 2012 as a simple, low cost, computer fit onto a circuit board roughly the size of a credit card. The idea was to use this low cost computer to promote teaching of computer science in schools but it has grown to be so much more! Since its release, 11 million of these little computers have been sold. This starter kit includes a Raspberry Pi 3 with built in Bluetooth and WiFi as well as all of the essentials needed to get started with this small Linux based computer. Simply plug in a spare USB keyboard, mouse, and monitor and you are ready to go!

Raspberry Pi 7″ Touchscreen Display

Looking for the perfect gift for the Raspberry Pi enthusiast on your list? This 7″ touchscreen produced by the Raspberry Pi Foundation is one of the nicest accessories available for the Raspberry Pi. The 7″ screen features high quality capacitive touch and is plug and play with all of the most popular Raspberry Pi operating systems. All hardware and cables required are included.

USB Microscope – 5 MegaPixel

For the curious mind on your list we have this great little computer accessory: This is a Microscope that plugs right into your computer! It connects using a single USB port and is compatible with Windows and Mac OSX. The included software allows you to take snapshots with the press of a key. The camera is rated at 5 Megapixels and features 220x magnification as well as bright illumination LEDs.

Weather Meters

Do you have an aspiring meteorologist on your list? These weather gauges are the perfect starting point for building your very own weather station. While they cannot record data on their own, when coupled with a microcontroller (like the Arduino) or a single board computer (like the Raspberry Pi) they can be turned into powerful weather monitoring and data logging tools. The set measures wind speed, wind direction, and rainfall and features fully weatherproof sensors as well as a mounting post and brackets.

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Holiday Shipping Guidelines

If an order is being shipped as a gift, please leave a note in the customer comments section of the checkout. Have a question or a special request? Feel free to contact us!

Canada-Post-Logo

Canada Post – Within Canada

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Light Packet – December 12 (No Tracking, No Insurance, No guarantee on delivery date before December 24th)
Standard – December 12 (Tracking and Insurance, No guarantee on delivery date before December 24th)
Express (XpressPost) – December 21 (Tracking and Insurance, No guarantee on delivery date before December 24th)

Canada-Post-Logo

Canada Post – To the United States

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Light Packet: December 12 (No Tracking, No Insurance, No guarantee on delivery date before December 24th)
Standard: December 12 (No Tracking, No Insurance, No guarantee on delivery date before December 24th)
Express: December 16 (Tracking, Insurance, No guarantee on delivery date before December 24th)

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UPS – Within Canada

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Standard: December 12 (Tracking, Insurance, No guarantee on delivery date before December 24th)
Express: December 21 (Tracking, Insurance, No guarantee on delivery date before December 24th)

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UPS – To the United States

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Standard: December 11 (Tracking, Insurance, No guarantee on delivery date before December 24th)
Express: December 21 (Tracking, Insurance, No guarantee on delivery date before December 24th)

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