V-Kits Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ (Plus) Complete Starter Kit with Raspberry Pi Cooling-Heavy Duty Aluminum Case [2018 Model]

I have dabbling in the realm of RPi for quite some time and I have purchased several Canakits (which I really like as they are good quality and come with everything you need). So I was in the market for another Rpi and I saw this listing on Amazon and I given that all of the components were similar to what came in the Canakit I decided to give it a go. Well I am here to say that although the Canakits are nice... this kit blows it away in terms of the goodies that come in the kit. The HDMI cable is much nicer than the Canakit's, the Aluminum Case (with integrated cooling) is far superior to the plastic case and heat sinks that come in the Canakit, and the power supply adapter is also much much nicer than the Canakit's (even has a inline on/off switch so you don't have to unplug it after you are done). All told the rest of the pieces are identical to that of the Canakit (micro usb, micro usb reader, and the Pi itself)-- so the V- kit definitely edges the Canakit out in overall value. This is an awesome kit and for those who are new to Rpi the V-kit starter guide is much more informative/comprehensive than the one that comes with the Canakit !

I was looking to get back into messing around learning linux and the fun projects you can do with Pi. I really like this kit, and the metal casing is awesome. The SD card is great at 32 GBs and the reader I use for other cards which is compact. There are 2 things I think are a bit odd, one being that I did receive some heat sink fins, but if you use them with the case, they do not fit. This is because the metal case have bars that make contact with the chips to allow the case to take the heat. So if you add the fins, then you can't close the case. Another is I feel like there's not a big enough gap between the board the and side that you can fit screws to mount. You could potentially damage the board if you don't check the spacing as you mount the case on. But those 2 things don't affect me to where I would lower the rating I gave it.The packaging looks great, and I am loving the Pi also. I do find the kit and pricing to be fine and of course the Pi has a great community for projects.

Some twenty-odd years ago I did some messing around with Basic Stamps to do some simple environmental monitoring. I recently got interested in physical computing again for work, and having looked into the Pasberry Pi, decided to jump in with this kit. I am not disappointed, and am writing this review on my TV running the Pi. I thought I would get a neato I/O device, not a full-blown Linux system with HDMI support, wireless internet, USBs AND the i/o! My first computer was a Zeos 286 with a 60MB hard drive. This little cigarette-pack-sized computer is silent and might as well be from an alien world it is so far advanced compared to the old 286! It was extremely simply to construct (for me, at least), functioned perfectly on the first boot, led me right through the system upgrade, and made cake out of loading more software packages. I LOVE that it comes fully loaded with Python and Java packages, and because it also has Libre Office installed, does almost everything I do on my desktop computer. I wouldn't try the multitasking on the Pi that I do on my desktop, but for a nice, extremely compact, silent, low power computer for day-to-day stuff, this thing is incredible, and at an unbelievable price. If you have messed with Linux and physical computing. or are looking for a simple computer to dink around on your TV with, how can you go wrong for $80? Oh the tens of thousands I have blown on PC's. If only the Pi were there all along!

I really like the build of this kit, and how the heat of the pi is transferred to the metal case. It feels solid. I like the rubber bumpers that you can put on the bottom of the case. The pi board came in an Element 14, box, so it appears to be a real pi, not a knockoff. I like the feel and style of the power supply. However, for some reason the pi definitely locks up when I push the CPU close to 100%. I suspected the power supply, which says it is rated at 2.5 amps, and I have been testing with other similarly rated power supplies to see if I can stop this from happening. I also decided to purchase a 3 amp supply from amazon, separately. I will post any findings on this here later.

I've been using Linux for years so I expected a hassle, or more problems setting something like this up. Really it was as easy as Pi.All the pieces came in the box, with separate bags for the various components. The board slipped into the case easily, the thermal paste was fine, easy to open, put some on the right locations, put in the case, put the lid on, and do the screws.The 32GB SD card, had exactly what I needed to get going, and when I connected to my WIFI the list of options increased, great! Everything has been running well since then, the rocker switch on the power cable is great, and easy.The version they had of LibreElec was a little older, but updating was as easy as putting a copy of the newer version on the Pi, and restarting.HDMI cable is quality, and CEC, so you get that added benefit.Definitely a recommend from me.

If I have any negatives it would be the number of boxes that are enclosed. However, those boxes do protect everything so that everything was intact. I was surprised at how easy it was to assemble and how nice everything fit together. I bought it use with SimplyOSE to drive a digital sign and I was expecting one of the harder parts to be installing SimplyOSE. Turns out that is one of the options on the installer. All I had to do was hook a monitor, keyboard, and mouse to the unit and power on. Follow a few prompts, check the checkbox for SimplyOSE, and sit back and wait.The aluminum case does a great job acting as the heat sink. After running for a while the case is warm, but far from being hot. This is a great thing because the main problem I have with most mini PCs is the cooling fans, they are either very noisy after a while or they go bad.This one worked so good that I am planning on buying a couple of others as well.