Quality:

- The quality of the product is good.

- Pieces go together well.

- All parts are in-place.

- All electronic pieces are working well.

Shipping:

- Shipping was quick and packaging was good.

Handling:

This is NOT a project for beginner or a child. This car is not to be played in the manner kids expect to play with

remote control cars. This is NOT remote control car. Don't get me wrong, this car is controlled, by you from your Android app or computer because it is a full blown computer on wheels so it is connected to your WiFi.

Kids should not drag this car around by hands or bump it in any way - car is bare naked computer with unprocessed fancy sensors attached to it. So should be handled with care.

Skills:

You should very comfortable very with computers and computer hardware parts. Troubleshooting experience will come handy and especially with Linux operating system - you must be comfortable with Linux terminal and various commands.

Medium level Python programming skills will make this project easier. Sometimes you have to use common sense when connecting wires (for example camera wire) as photo on instructions are not precise sometime. However the manual is well made and covers A LOT OF STUFF, so if you are patient - you will get there and will still have some remaining hear you haven't manage to pull yet.

Issues:

The only issue I discovered is that wheels spin in reverse direction so when you press forward they go backwards and left and right are also reversed. This makes many things unusable. I wrote email to their tech support and got response in about two day - which I find very reasonable. First one to swap cables on the motor (which would require soldering iron) and another one is to make changes to the Python code in Motor.py and "-" in from of four "(dutyX)" lines. Despite the fact that updating was was way easier, I chose to swap wires for fun - haven't soldered anything in years.

Other than that everything worked perfectly.

MUST HAVE:

Car needs two 18650 batteries. My recommendation is to buy 4-pack and a charger. These batteries power up a computer (RaspberryPi) with additional board, four powerful motors, many sensors, LED light, buzzer and camera. If you use the car actively the batteries will drain in about 2 hours which is not bad - so having a spare back will definitely help.

FINAL NOTE:

This is a great car and you can do anything with it. Great for learning programming and machine learning (ML). You could learn and apply all modern technologies and build amazing project. I am looking forward to updating the server part and train the car to learn various algorithm such as Reinforcement Learning.

This car can to the same thing Amazon DeepRacer does because you can apply all the same technologies but Amazon DeepRacer is about $399 so I could not justify this as I can do the same thing on this car.

ENJOY!

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.

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

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_V5obGb6X7CV0Q

Here 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. Impressive

3. 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.

I purchased the Robot Car as fun project for my grandkids and as a part of their ongoing STEM Learning process. I must say that the car for the Amazon price is a great bargain. When it comes to assembling the car, the Youtube video and tutorial, along with lot of other Freenove and Raspberry Pi resources are big help and provide in assembling it. I must say I have lot of experience with assembling stuff and repairing, and after following the Tutorial I had no trouble completing the assembly. It was a difficult task for the grandkids given very small screws and care needed.

Testing of the modules was pretty straightforward until I came to testing the camera. From my past experience, I was using PuTTy (SSH app to connect to the Raspberry Pi) and sometimes used the VNC also. But the camera test did not work when testing from Terminal window of PuTTy. I checked all connections (particularly the camera cable) and configuration details mentioned in the video and tutorial. Everything seemed correct. The "camera.py" test generated lots of errors when running it from Putty Terminal. I looked up Raspberry Pi support pages on camera and it mentioned trying "libcamera" app that comes with the OS. And that worked fine and generated camera images with any errors.

The camera app mentioned in the tutorial still did not work. So I decided to seek help from Freenove support team. I sent initial email with the details of the problem I was having and the errors that I was getting. They came back quickly, in less than 24 hours, and asked for some pictures of camera connections and output from couple commands to check configuration. They told me to run the camera test from VNC (Terminal window in VNC instead of PuTTy). I repeated the test and it worked without any errors. They explained that the app needs come of the GUI and needs to be run from VNC. Anyway, the problem was resolved fairly quickly and I must say that the support and response time was excellent.

I have been retired for a decade now and as IT professional previously I always used PuTTy. I am kind of disappointed about that. It is probably because of the way the Freenove app is written. For now the car is ready to complete testing different modes and for my grandkids to play with it and learn programming.

I'm an experienced programmer, but new to Raspberry pi and Python. I found this car to be easy to build, and it worked very well when assembled. Tech support via email has been GREAT for a few questions that I had - often getting a response the same day, and always accurate. The printed tutorial has lots of helpful information, but you need to watch the assembly video to build this kit. The printed doc doesn't exactly match the video, but I was able to work it out (if there is a conflict, go with the video first). I rated this low for beginners because there are things that can be a bit complicated, and if you are a TRUE beginner this is a bit complicated, particularly the Linux commands. Prior to building this kit I built the similar Yahboom 4WD kit. That kit has more features, but the kit is not as well designed and the instructions were very poor by comparison. That kit didn't work well (flaws that are even noted in their website) and I won't be working with it. The Freenove kit is far superior, even though it doesn't have as many features. This kit worked the first time, and now I'm exploring all the features.

It was difficult to assemble due the tiny parts and screws. My hands aren't particularly large but are much larger than those of the delicate hands of the woman in the assembly video. I was constantly dropping screws and spent more time searching for dropped screws than actually screwing.

Pretty cool little device though. It passed all of the diagnostic tests. Seems a little flimsy. Nice way to learn Python. Hoping to use more AI capabilities over WiFii using my PC. Wish it was possible to charge the batteries on board. It is easy to damage the batteries when removing from the car for charging. Looking forward to chasing my neighbors dog around with it.

I got it together in an hour or so using a YouTube video.

On the first run I synced it to my phone using the app and ran it around my house for maybe 20 mins before it died.

I contacted Freenove through the Amazon app for troubleshooting and they responded wanting me to email them videos.

I sent them the videos and they asked me to make a video of me troubleshooting the steps they wanted.

After the troubleshooting it was decided I had a bad board and they’d send me a replacement.

The problem here is that between each contact it takes them a few days to respond so I’m sitting with this defective toy for over a week before we get to the part where they’ll send me a replacement.

Now here’s the kicker:

They gave me a tracking number and told me to wait 3 days before it’ll show up in the system. I wait 3 days and check the tracking number and it says invalid.

I double check and copy/paste the tracking and again it’s invalid.

I reach back out and guess what? I get an auto response email stating they’re on vacation until 10/07/2023!

I’m glad they responded but they should be a little faster and if they’re going to be on vacation they should have someone checking on shipments before they leave.

It’s been 5 days after they said to wait 3 and the tracking still shows as invalid.

I just returned it and most likely won’t buy from them in the future. I think the return window expires in a week and based on the average response time I’d most likely exceed the return window by the time I got the board (assuming it worked).

Aside from having to return it it was a fun project and has huge potential as an engineering project. I honestly regret that I got a defective board. I’ll try another brand and see how that goes.

First, the product works if you assemble it correctly (see my video). My kid and I really enjoyed the features such as auto-driving, obstacle avoidance and etc. The kit really deserves five-star for its functionalities.

However, there are a few issues. One issue is that the car kit doesn't come with rechargeable 18650 batteries. I ended up spending some time on Amazon doing research and buying a bundle of these expensive batteries and charger. I wish the car kit can include batteries and charge a little extra.

My second major issue is that the manual is poorly written. There are duplicated sections all over and it can confuse people. Most importantly, some key installation steps should be emphasized. For example, my kid was stuck between Step 9-11 on Page 51 (duplicated on Page 72) when attaching camera module to servo package. After quite a while of watching the video of assembled car like a detective to gather clues, I realized that one needed to attach a white rocker arm on Step 9. Then Page 73 says there are two ways to fix the servo 0. I don't think the second way works. Another example is when wiring the ribbon for camera (Page 54). A kid would simply insert a ribbon into the slot. Step 1 on Page 54 should emphasize that one needs to pull the lever out first, insert the ribbon and then push the lever in.

In retrospect, the car worked great. I am surprised that the installation of software is very smooth. The assembling process was frustrating sometimes and there is a lot of room for improvement and simplification.

マニュアル（PDF）や組み立て動画があるので、初心者でも簡単に作れると思います。

組み立てた後、動作せず、私の手順が違うのかとサポートの方とメールでやり取りしました。

まず驚いたのが、１日以内で返信をくれるという返信の速さ。

メールの内容も丁寧で分かりやすかったです。

何度かやり取りした結果、新しい基盤を送ってくださり、無事に動くようになりました。

トラブルが起きたとしてもメーカーのサポートが充実しているので、安心して購入できる品だと思います！

It is a very cool robot; my daughter managed to assemble it by herself. Configuring Raspberry is easy, but some "hacking" skills can't hurt! ;)

The only problem was with moving in the wrong direction. I changed a few lines of code, changes can be found in my repository https://www.amazon.de/review/create-review/?ie=UTF8&channel=glance-detail&asin=B07YD2LT9D

It says so in the description, but do note, you need a Raspberry Pi (I used a Pi 3) and two 18650 batteries, which are not included.

I was very keen to build this and try it out, so I downloaded the code and set up my Raspberry Pi, shortly after placing my order. Fortunately, I already had a couple of 18650 batteries. So, when the kit arrived the next day, I was good to go. Assembly took about 2 hours.

First point to note is that I have big fingers and some of the screws are really tiny – I needed fine tweezers for these.

Second point, when assembling the pan and tilt ‘head’, the instructions tell you to plug in the servos and run servo.py to put them in the correct position before assembly. I would recommend carrying out steps 1 to 9 of the 11 illustrated steps (page 51 at time of writing) before connecting the servos.

I would also suggest connecting the cables to the camera and ultrasonic units before connecting the ‘face’ to the ‘neck’ as they are lot more accessible at this point.

Excepting a couple of fiddly bits, the kit was straight forward to assemble, I ran all the test modules and everything worked first time, except it went backwards instead of forwards – but the instructions covered correcting this. It does everything shown in the Freenove video and can also be controlled directly by a phone app (android in my case). I was impressed by the quality of the build and also that all the code is open source.

At the price, having a kit you can control from your phone, pretty much out of the box, is already good value, but the potential for writing your own code is even more appealing and I would imagine would be a great incentive for novice coders. I hope a community will develop where people can share their code and ideas. I also think the kit is ideal for further development – a robot arm would be a cool addition, perhaps Freenove may develop expansion kits in the future.

In summary, a great kit, a great learning tool and best of all – open source!

Liked the kit, but the instructions has some holes and the mobile apps required to control the model leavs a bit to wish for.

But over all it has potential and I will most definitely have fun with this one.

All the parts are there, well packed and easy to follow instructions, but a bit un clear at some parts.

Will get more kits.

And I'm planning to upgrade this one.