Freenove 4WD Smart Car Kit for Raspberry Pi 5 4 B 3 B+ Zero 2 W, Face Tracking, Line Tracking, Light Tracing, Obstacle Avoidance, App Control, Camera, Servo (Raspberry Pi NOT Included)

The well designed parts and 128 page instruction manual including the computer code make this car easy to assemble and operate. The ability to handle the testing of each module on a PC via RealVNC facilitates testing, and the phone app provides steering and speed control as well as control of the LED lights, camera and switching to other modes of operation. Tech support provides 24 hour responses via email and was very helpful for straightforward problems. All in all this kit offers a lot for the money and earns a five star rating.However, I encountered a couple problems that should have been handled better and distracted from my overall enjoyment of the project. Next to control from a phone the most useful function is the obstacle avoidance using the ultrasonic sensor for control. The ultrasonic sensor that came with the car kit was defective and was replaced after three weeks for overseas shipping. However, the replacement sensor was also defective, and in spite of my detailed documentation of the problem Freenove refused to replace it. I had an ultrasonic sensor from another project which I was able to use but it had intermittent errors that severely compromised this important function. The other problem was less serious but annoying and time consuming. The code downloaded to control the car had an error which applied less than a third the required power to the wheels for forward motion. Therefore, the car refused to move resulting in several days of emails blaming the problem on the batteries before I finally traced it to the code error. It has been three weeks since this problem was reported to Freenove and a download of the code today showed the error had not been corrected.

I'm a professional computer engineer with 30+ yrs experience who designs high end electronics, circuit boards and writes embedded software. I also help as a mentor on my daughters robotics team. It's no secret that I am a huge fan of the Raspberry Pi.For some time I've been looking for a kit that teaches how to integrate the Rpi and robotic hardware. This kit does all that and more.First a heads up - this is an engineering learning kit. It teaches the builder how to assemble a robot from lots of pieces, how to connect wiring between the Rpi and robot, how to write software for the Rpi that explains how to control things like the camera, ultrasonic sensor, drive motors and more. It also explains how to bring up a Rpi and how to log in remotely from a PC. Simply put, this kit is amazing. I also want to put in a plug for one of the most helpful books for learning about the Rpi and Linux - it is 'Exploring Raspberry Pi" by Derek Malloy https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B01H2KNGX8&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_V5obGb6X7CV0QHere is an overview of what this kit has to offer:1. You build a fully functioning 4wd car from the pieces supplied in the kit. The instruction manual is well written and explains 90% of what you need to know. If you don't have any experience building things, then I suggest getting help.2. You learn how to test each function of the robot one at a time - this is really helpful because you learn what each sensor does and the software used on the Rpi to talk to it. This is really great because the python code for each sensor is explained so that you can modify it to learn more about how the software and sensors work. All software is provided and simply works. Impressive3. You learn about the Rpi and how to log in remotely - this is a key aspect of running this little computer and it helps you understand just how amazing the Rpi really is.4. The final part of the project is to fire up an app that gives you control over the robot and lets you drive it around, stream video, change the LED's and more. The app is either an iPhone or android app that you can download from the app stores or you can also run a Windows or Mac app.CONCLUSION:Simply put, this is a really great project. It is not a toy, but a intermediate robotics kit designed to introduce you to the world of robotics, computers and the Rpi. As someone who designs electronics for a living, this is one of the best kits I have seen. Highly recommended.

Pros:- Car works mostly as advertised- Fairly feature packed (motors, servos, camera, sensors, leds, line tracking, ultrasonic sensor, buzzer, etc..)- Instructions are fairly detailed with only a few weak points.- Software mostly works out of the box.- The server for connecting via an android app over wifi works, though the frame rate is slow and it is hard to control the car over it effectively.Cons:- This is very sensitive to the batteries you use. If your batteries cannot provide full voltage you may have trouble with the pi losing power at full throttle on the motors.- The camera and ultrasonic 'head' mount are connected via a separate piece that uses servos to allow it to move around. This is nice when the device is still, but leads to extremely unstable video when the car is moving because the mount is so weak.- Raspberry pi wifi out of the box drops a lot on battery. Turning off power managment for wifi helped immensely- Had to play with the motors to get them connected up in software correctly (doesn't match up with which ones are connected where).Overall this is a good base for a Raspberry Pi robot for those just getting started who knows there way around python and linux already.Some suggestions if you order this:* Read the supplied battery instructions in the freenove github website BEFORE ordering* Buy/Borrow a separate USB/USBc power supply for your Raspberry pi to use while setting up and testing.* Get a raspberry pi 4 vs an older model to get faster video