Electronic Design Software

what is a great electronics lab to get?

i have looked around the internet at some electronics labs that im interested in getting. i saw one at radioshack that got me started thinking about it and ive now stumbled upon 4 from ramseyelectronics that go from 130,200,300, to 500. the 300 contains the 130 and the 500 contains the 130 and 300. these are the only ones i have found so far. idk of any others as of yet. my questions are: 1.are there others out there that i dont know about 2. with or without others besides the ones ive listed, what are the pros and cons of each one listed above and which one is the best to get and then the second best and so forth 3. the 200 one on ramsey is different than the others. why? 4. are they any good? 5. what do you know about the radioshack one? i heard it wasnt that great thanks

Public Comments

1. Try C&S Sales www.cs-sales.net 1-800-292-7711 Electronix Express http://www.elexp.com 1-800-972-2225 Has them but they are pretty advanced trainers. Radio Shack trainers are okay, a little expensive for what you get, but it would be good for a starter. What I don't like about Radio Shack's trainers is their instruction manual isn't very well written and the diagrams are a bit hard to follow sometimes. Price and quality wise, I think that the ramsey electronics 200 in 1 electronic lab is a better trainer than what you will find at Radio Shack. I don't really see any difference in the ramsey 200 than that of the other trainers. You build a number of analog and digital type circuits on it. However, what you don't get with the ramsey 130 and 200 is---there's no circuit board for just plugging in components like you find in the 300 and 500. With the 130 and 200, you have spring clips for connecting component leads and wiring leads and that's okay, that works good. Much depends on your age and what you already know about electronics, and what exactly it is you want to accomplish with a trainer. If this is your first electronics trainer, I'd suggest the ramsey 300 in 1 lab. I have the 500 in 1 lab trainer and it's pretty good, but a little advanced. It has a microprocessor build right in for both learning to write CPU programs and for interfacing inputs and outputs to it from other electronic circuits. Like I said, much depends on what you want to do with a trainer and what it is you hope to accomplish with it. Now, I have a Radio Shack trainer with the three potentiometers and the large current meter in the right hand corner, its a pretty good trainer (cat.# 282-80) and probably would work well for you. However, I wouldn't spend more than $65.00 for it. Good luck.