VANLINNY 2-in-1 RC Robot Kits and Excavator, STEM DIY Toy for Kids

Every cheaply made my 12 year old granddaughter had screws snapping off when she tried to screw them in along with a cheap screwdriver that would bend when she used it. My granddaughter is no stranger to building robots, she takes robotics and builds them for competitions. The age is 12 and over but the instructions included make no sense, confusing for a 12 year old and adult.

This a really good kit, I'm having fun putting it together. As is, it looks like it's going to a lot of fun, & the upgradability potential is HUGE with all of these metal parts. :-) Something also, I had a bunch of questions before the kit was delivered, & seller took all the time to answer all of my questions. You don't find such good customer service. I'm definitely getting more of these kits, I think the one with the all direction wheels (1#robot Kit) is going to be my next kit. ;-)

Assembly is doable, but definitely "tougher thank ikea" range. Build quality is more plastic than aluminum. At least one of my motors was leaking a ton of grease/lubrication. Do NOT expect to easily swap the gripper for the bucket (and back). Treads would not allow turning, had to run without treads, when it became apparent that at least one wheel motor isn't as strong as the others. These are NOT servo motors, they move fast and do not stop on a dime; as a result you have to be quick to avoid going past the limits of the arm/ claw. For better or worse, the motors are low torque meaning it can't lift much and you risk breaking gear teeth if you overtighten the lifting part. Battery charging requires uncoupling a connection that doesn't look like it's rated for many uses. The bags of parts go by section, mostly. Keep an eye on the picture from the cover so you don't start building it upside down (too many bird's eye views instead of isometric views). I had a loose replacement page 7/8 inserted before the page 7/8, not clear which one to follow (the loose one, it turned out). Many screws going into unthreaded plastic (seat them but don't overtighten!). Red arrows point to where screws go (but is it in or out?) and the red arrows do not point to direction of the screws. Screws can be tough to tell apart (had to double check the item list to see length side by side). Manual is poorly written from photos (whose idea is it to represent hex nuts from the side profile rather than the hex??). Connections and wiring is not sturdy, so don't count on it taking a beating. The manual makes it look like the motor mounting screws go through the wheel bracket, but they aren't long enough and the wheel bracket sits on top of them (this is poorly shown in just the new page 7/8). Little notes like "big hole" "small hole" can't be ignored, so thoroughly read each page! Extra unused holes throughout make it confusing. One sleeve would not fit through the "big hole" like it's supposed to (I confirmed it's right, the holes weren't drilled round), but luckily it works fine without the sleeve. The bucket shoulder screw only goes through in one direction, as the ZH bracket is not symmetrical. The TJA piece looks like it's made for something else (and the cover shows a nut+screw), but the instructions never tell you how to build it. Maybe I'm picky as a mechanical engineer who's built better assembly documents, but they would do so much better rewriting it in iso (diagonal) views from a CAD model instead of these photos (with lego style as their inspiration). This is a fine starter robot for a young kid (the box says 12+, manual says 8+, you might go as low as 6 if you do all the building work), with help from a seasoned builder to start. It's a "cut your teeth" assembly reminiscent of tough builds, but they cheap out on parts and instructions for the low price point. You can't really expect to get a Wall-E grade robot this cheap. Have some fun, move some light objects like paper towel roll cores with square stands taped on the ends (so they don't fall over).

8 year old needed a little assistance but overall enjoyed the build and loves playing with this now that it is together. I like that it is RC and not connected to an app.

Tracks fall off

Bought this for my extremely picky 12 year old son as a Christmas present. He is so hard to shop for and he loves this!!! I was impressed with how quickly he put it together, he said the instructions “just made sense” And had it assembled in 30 minutes. We’ve had it a year and it still works and he’s still impressed with it!

Ours didn’t work.. my husband took it apart to find wires weren’t connected.

Very good customer support from company. Grandson really likes the kit.