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Are you looking to get something for a friend or family member who’s into making their own hardware devices, or want to get started but don’t know where to start? Here’s a list of some of the coolest IoT and Hardware Maker products that would make great gifts for your favorite geek!
The following list contains items of varying prices, and is sorted with the lowest priced items first.
Arduino Uno – $16
Buy Here
Raspberry Pi Zero Starter Kit – $29.99 USD
The Raspberry Pi Zero Starter Kit from CanaKit contains a Raspberry PI Zero computer board, and all the other necessities required to play and get it running!
The starter kit contains the following items:
Raspberry Pi Zero board
8 GB MicroSD Card – pre-loaded with NOOBS
mini-HDMI adapter
1A micro-USB PowerSupply
USB OTG cable
This starter kit contains all the hardware necessary to get started playing with the Raspberry Pi Zero! The only things that don’t come with the kit that you need to add is a TV or PC monitor with a Keyboard and Mouse.
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Circuit Playground from Adafruit – $29.99 USD
The Circuit Playground from Adafruit is an all-in-one board with integrated sensors and LEDs. It’s a neat platform to practice getting started with programming on a real hardware device, without the need to solder or assemble anything!
Here’s some of the things built into the Circuit Playground board:
10x mini NeoPixels, each can display any color
2x push buttons
1x slide switch
Motion sensor
Temperature sensor
Light sensor
Sound sensor
Mini speaker
8x alligator-clip friendly input/output pins
The Circuit Playground from Adafruit is Arduino IDE compatible, and connects to a computer using a Micro-USB cable so it can be programmed. Plus, all the features of this little board are packed into a size that’s about as wide as 2x US Quarters!
Buy Here
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B – $35
This is the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B board only. This tiny little computer was built to help teach computer engineering in schools, and it packs a ton of functionality into a tiny package. It’s built on a quad-core 1.2Ghz ARM processor, 1 GB RAM, and has a few other features built onto the board that can boot from an SD Card and run the Linux / Raspbian operating system, as well as the new Microsoft Windows 10 IoT Core.
This little board can be used to play Minecraft, surf the web, learn programming, plus many, many other things! It’s really a full computer that only costs $35! Plus, it’s only a little larger than the size of a credit card!
Here are some of the features built into this amazing, little computer:
1.2 Ghz 64-bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU
1 GB RAM
802.11n Wifi
Bluetooth 4.1 + Bluetooth Low Energy
4 USB ports
1 Ethernet port – 10/100Mbps
40 GPIO pins
Full HDMI port
Combined 3.5mm audio jack + composite video
MicroSD card slot
Buy Here
SparkFun Thing ESP8266 IoT Dev Kit – $39.95
The SparkFun Thing Microsoft Azure IoT Starter Kit includes a SparkFun Thing board, with integrated Wifi, and a few other components perfect for getting started building IoT projects. The SparkFun thing board is Arduino compatible, so the Arduino IDE can be used for programming.
Here’s some of what comes with the SparkFun Things IoT Starter Kit:
SparkFun ESP8266 Thing Dev Board, w/ integrated Wifi
Breadboard
Humidity + Temperature Sensor
Mini Photocell
20 pack of LEDs
MicroUSB cable
Jumper Wires
Resistors – 10K and 330 Ohm
Buy Here
Raspberry Pi 7″ Touchscreen Display – $67.99
The Official Raspberry Pi 7″ Touchscreen Display is the perfect addition to any Raspberry Pi 2 or 3 board. It features a full color LCD display with 800 x 480 resolution, plus full, capacitive touchscreen support!
The touchscreen display connects directly to the Raspberry Pi and includes everything you need to connect it up and use it!
This does NOT come with a Raspberry Pi board, that will need to be purchases separately.
Buy Here
Arduino Starter Kit – $70 USD
The official Arduino Starter Kit comes with all the parts and instructions to build 15 projects. It includes the instructions in a 170 page book, plus all the necessary parts for all the projects in the book. This kit is full of everything needed to get started building projects with the Arduino platform.
Here’s a short list of some of the items included in this kit:
Arduino Projects Book (170 pages)
Arduino Uno board
Alphanumeric LCD
Tilt sensor
Temperature sensor
Phototransistor
Push buttons
LEDs (multiple colors)
Resistors
and more
Buy Here
Raspberry Pi 3 Complete Starter Kit – $74.99 USD
The Raspberry Pi 3 Complete Starter Kit from CanaKit includes all the hardware necessary to be able to start using the Raspberry Pi 3 and get it running. This kit includes the latest Raspberry Pi 3 board along with a few other essentials that you’ll need.
Here’s a list of the items included in this kit:
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B board
Integrated Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity
32 GB MicroSD card (Class 10) pre-loaded with NOOBS
2.5A USB Power Supply
Raspberry Pi Case
HDMI cable
2x heat sinks
GPIO quick reference card
Buy Here
Microsoft IoT Pack for Raspberry Pi 3 – $114.95
The Microsoft IoT Pack for Raspberry Pi is an IoT builder kit that comes with everything needed to start building IoT solutions with real hardware. This kit includes a Raspberry Pi 3 (the latest version with integrated Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity), a few sensors, LEDs, microSD card, and power adapter.
This kit includes the following items:
Raspberry Pi 3 board
Raspberry Pi Case
Full Size Breadboard
Male/Male Jumper Wires
Female/Male Jumper Wires
5V 2A Switching Power Supply w/ MicroUSB Cable
Adafruit BME280 Temperature, Barometric Pressure & Humidity Sensor
TCS34725 RGB Color Sensor
MCP3008 – 8 Channel 10-bit Analog-to-Digital Converter Chip
Ethernet Cable
16GB MicroSD card with pre-loaded NOOBS
Photocell
Potentiometers
Resistors
LEDs
Tactile switches
Capacitor
This kit comes with EVERYTHING needed to start building IoT projects. The breadboard can be used to connect things up without the need for soldering, or a solder iron could be used to permanently connect things after prototyping.
Buy Here
Microsoft IoT Grove Kit for Raspberry Pi – $154.99
The Microsoft IoT Grove Kit for Raspberry Pi contains the easy to use Grove system for building IoT. The foundation of the Grove system is the GrovePi+ board that allows you to easily connect Grove Modules for rapid prototyping without requiring any soldering or building of custom hardware components. This kit lowers the hardware barrier. This is the perfect platform for prototyping, and for makers who are new to hardware.
The Microsoft IoT Grove Kit for Raspberry Pi includes:
GrovePi+
5 inch HDMI Display with USB Touchscreen
Relay module
Temp + Humidity Sensor module
Ultrasonic Ranger module
LED Bar v2 module
Rotary angle sensor(P) module
Buzzer module
Sound sensor module
Light sensor module
Button module
LCD RGB Backlight module
Cables for connecting everything
This kit DOES NOT include the Raspberry Pi board. If one is needed, then you could buy just the Raspberry Pi 3 board, or a better option would be to just get the Raspberry Pi 3 Complete Starter Kit in addition to this kit to have absolutely everything needed to prototype and build custom IoT solutions.
Buy Here
Additional Items for Raspberry Pi
If you’re getting one of the above Raspberry Pi items, then you may want to include an extra to be sure to have EVERYTHING necessary to get building and playing without the need for a trip to the store after opening that awesome IoT / Maker gift. Here’s a short list of a few items that work really nicely with the Raspberry Pi to help complete the package:
Logitech MK270 Wireless Keyboard / Mouse Combo – $13.99
SanDisk Ultra 16 GB SDHC Class 10 Micro SD Card – $8.31
CanaKit 5V 2.5A Raspberry Pi Power Supply / Adapter w/ MicroUSB – $9.99
Official Case for Raspberry Pi 2 & 3 from Raspberry Pi Foundation – $6.40
I hope you, and your friends and family have a great holiday season. And best of luck to finding the perfect Maker / IoT gift for your favorite Geek!
