
Tron-Club, a monthly circuit-building kit - tronclub
http://tronclub.com
======
gergles
I really really really hate the separate shipping cost. We can't get it
without shipping. Don't quote prices that are impossible to achieve.

The pricing, BTW, is $20 a month or $18.33 a month if you pay a year in
advance.

~~~
jordan0day
> We can't get it without shipping. Don't quote prices that are impossible to
> achieve.

This, exactly.

When I first glanced and thought "Oh, $150 a year? That's not too bad." Then I
looked closer and saw the shipping cost was extra.

It's not that the extra shipping cost was necessarily prohibitive, it's just
that there's some sort of psychological effect (sticker shock, I guess?) where
you _think_ you know what the price of something is, and are disappointed to
learn that's not really the price at all.

~~~
metasean
"... it's just that there's some sort of psychological effect ..." For me it
feels like a bait-n-switch.

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batou
The only killer value here is the material and there's little of that on
display at the moment. What appears to be there is stuff you can find for
nothing on the web with a little googling (
[http://allaboutcircuits.com/](http://allaboutcircuits.com/)
[http://electronicsclub.info/](http://electronicsclub.info/) for example)

The parts are worth little to nothing; less than $30. You can get bagged kits
from bitsbox.co.uk with everything you need for $24.

I can't see the value proposition and it seems to be an attempt at monetizing
something.

I get that you've got to eat, but you'll only manage that if you keep that
material flowing.

~~~
empressplay
Given the price of the parts I'd strongly consider offering the first month
free, or at most for the cost of shipping. I just don't see too many people
parting with $20 based on a landing page + no social proof.

I could be wrong though...

~~~
snom320
I think it would be a very good idea for them to get some prominent bloggers
to do a review of the first kit.

~~~
batou
Dave Jones.

~~~
snom320
Yep!

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mluskind
It’s awesome to see so many teams working on making it easier for people to
get into the hardware maker space!

To that end…. since everyone is showcasing their projects, I’d like to
introduce everyone to [http://thimble.io/](http://thimble.io/)

Our aim is to make it much easier to learn and expand your skills in a more
structured format. We’re working on a learning app and monthly hardware
subscription kit. You get all the parts you need to assemble an entire project
- the first month will be a wifi-enabled robot. We’ll be running weekly
webinars every month in order to field questions aside from the community
forum and slack group.

We’re also working on incorporating a competition element for those interested
in pushing their skills. Every month a panel of judges from the industry will
choose the top submissions - customized beyond the basic kit (naturally cool
and useful prizes and accolades will ensue - cool hardware stuff + software
subscriptions).

SHIPPING: We’re working with fulfillment houses to hopefully be able to ship
internationally from the get go. Volume will dictate how much we can drop the
overall price of the kit by. I can say that it’s a priority for us to do so
and drop the price through better vendor partnerships and preferential rates
from fulfilment houses to make Thimble more accessible.

Pricing: $70-80 for our first robot kit. We're looking for feedback on the
first kit and from there we’re going to adjust price/kit complexity.

Would love to know what you guys think.

Thanks, Michael

~~~
fit2rule
>It’s awesome to see so many teams working on making it easier for people to
get into the hardware maker space!

Along the same lines, albeit I am not at all associated with this group (just
a happy customer), there is also
[http://www.hackerspaceshop.com/electronics.html](http://www.hackerspaceshop.com/electronics.html)

I mean, there are a lot of ways one can fulfill the desire to get into more
electronics/DIY .. don't forget the Synthesizer guys!
([https://www.google.at/search?q=synth-
diy&tbm=isch](https://www.google.at/search?q=synth-diy&tbm=isch))

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jlonglaw
This is a very cool idea. We have a project along a similar vein at
HackerBoxes. Tron looks like great basic circuit education/exposure, while
we're doing things more on a project level. These could even be complimentary,
so some may want to subscribe to both.

Either way, please keep in touch with us over here at HackerBoxes. In order to
gauge what users find more or less interesting, we definitely want to hear
feedback on our boxes from all subscribers, certainly the HackerNews crowd!

Hack the Planet, Joseph Long, Founder
[http://www.hackerboxes.com/](http://www.hackerboxes.com/)

~~~
codezero
I'm definitely interested in following this, do you have a newsletter or
notification I can subscribe to when the Kickstarter completes?

~~~
jlonglaw
If you message your email to us (through the Kickstarter page or otherwise),
we would be happy to keep you posted. Thanks!

~~~
codezero
awesome, thanks!

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empressplay
Cool concept! A couple things: 1) Using 'Tron' could be a bit problematic if
Disney's lawyers get bored. 2) You might want to drop the annual price a bit,
and maybe work on your shipping costs.

~~~
teh_klev
Disney most likely took the name from the TRON command which is/was a
debugging feature in BASIC [0]. The site itself also (whether conciously or
not) make no mention of the movie. "Tron" could also be an shortening of
"Electron" but without the hassle of an apostrophy, e.g. 'tron-club. I could
be talking bollocks though :)

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRON_command](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRON_command)

~~~
peeters
None of that matters if Disney's lawyers get bored :).

~~~
linuxlizard
I hear Disney's lawyers are going after the descendants of Wilhelm and Jacob
Grimm because of the Grimm's use of Snow White and other Disney properties.

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glenk
I like the idea, but I'm not real sure about the price and the shipping cost.
It says you get a breadboard every month and I assume this is a decent part of
the weight. I already have a couple breadboards and how many breadboards does
one really need?

Maybe just have a breadboard as an add-on or a separate item? I'd be fine
never getting a breadboard in any of the kits.

~~~
tronclub
Your feedback has been noted.

~~~
wishinghand
I'd be for getting a breadboard my first time and then have it be an option to
receive it after that. Soylent has a similar option with their pitcher and
measuring scoop.

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king7532
There is a new Kickstarter project called Hacker Boxes which does this on
steroids:
[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/207210015/hackerboxes-t...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/207210015/hackerboxes-
the-subscription-box-for-electronics-h)

~~~
Timsalabim
Only ships to United States. So disappointing steroids :)

~~~
tronclub
We ship worldwide :)

~~~
Timsalabim
Ok, full disclosure. I'm such a whimp.

40 years old and still buckle under the slightest peer pressure.

Showed it to a friend of mine and he was instantly enthousiastic and said
"let's both do it and have a monthly nerd session!"

So you go two subscriptions from Amsterdam the Netherlands half an hour ago :)

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sanswork
Is there a way to see international shipping prices or is it US only?

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harel
I'm in the UK and I see the prices in Pounds, so it seems to be not US only.

~~~
monk_e_boy
I was _so_ excited when I saw that £

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jonathonf
How about a circuit-only subscription for non-US people or those who already
have parts (or easy access to some)?

This could make for a good school club/activity.

~~~
rasz_pl
You want to pay for something that is FREE in every library? Dont you have
hobby electronics magazines in your country? or electronic kits?

~~~
jonathonf
It's for a curated set of circuits with increasing difficulty that have a
known (and ideally cognitively linked) purpose.

People sell this sort of thing all the time even though you can find it for
free if you know what to look for - it's the curation you're paying for.

~~~
tronclub
Your feedback has been noted.

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bananaboy
This looks great! It's like a modern day Dick Smith Fun way into Electronics
(for the Aussies out there)!

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jimmcslim
Dick Smith Funway was awesome! I suspect I may still have those books (I think
it was a three-part series) around somewhere...

~~~
bananaboy
Yeah! I still have mine. Volume 1 was the plastic blue breadboards (well they
were plastic when I started - I think the earlier models weren't), and volumes
2 and 3 were PCBs (so I bought the Dick Smith orange soldering iron).

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RALaBarge
You can purchase the official Arduino starter kit for less than what the
yearly price costs, not to mention the shipping fees from Amazon.

As someone who works for a SaaS and pays for a Barkbox subscription, I do
think the idea is good, but the pricing combined with the lack description on
the page is probably going to be a huge road block.

~~~
zokier
> You can purchase the official Arduino starter kit for less than what the
> yearly price costs

I would expect Tron-Club to provide far more comprehensive set (in a year)
than what the Arduino starter kit is. Of course I have no way of actually
knowing that.

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skimmas
Hmmm could find pricing info and the subscribe button does not seem to work.

~~~
gerardnll
uBlock was causing problems, had to disable it.

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Arnor
Though I agree with others that the price is a bit high, I want to see where
this goes. I hope a strong community can grow around it and folks come up with
interesting ways to combine previous kits. It would be really fun if some of
the monthly projects consisted of compositions of previous projects. That may
break with the model of each kit containing everything necessary for each
project so maybe it would work better as a monthly challenge on Reddit or
something. Anyway, here goes nothing :)

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chazu
Fantastic - I'll definitely be subscribing. I imagine that having a forum for
users to discuss projects would be a good idea, have you considered adding
one?

I'm having trouble with the order form, however - it doesn't seem to be
loading at all, clicking 'Subscribe' does nothing for me.

I'd give you more diagnostic info but I'm occupied at the moment - perhaps
later. In any event thanks for sharing and best of luck.

~~~
mouhtasi
You may have to disable uBlock/AdBlock/Ghostery to see the PayPal/Bitcoin
order buttons under the subscribe button.

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peeters
To the founders: why are you collecting payment before asking me where I live?
Are you cool if I sign up through my American VPN and then choose a Canadian
shipping address?

Edit: I see now that it's leveraging Paypal for shipping information too.
Still, I wonder how the price responds if I start from a U.S. IP.

~~~
tronclub
We use your paypal mailing address, if this is incorrect please email (from
your paypal email) AddressChange@tronclub.com your new shipping details.

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cmrx64
Excellent, I love this idea, subscribed. This will be great to do with my
young cousins.

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firephreek
I was going to sign up, but no way to pay without paypal or bitcoin. Don't
have the latter, won't deal with the former. Too bad the only way to contact
them is 'on their social networks'. Seriously?

~~~
tronclub
Feel free to email us at hello@tronclub.com

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zokier
I would hope that the kits do include more advanced/useful stuff than the LED
blinkers they are showing on their page. Compare and contrast to something
like old Heathkits.

~~~
jlonglaw
Check out www.HackerBoxes.com :)

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codezero
This looks really interesting but I won't buy unless the poster engages with
the commenters here to address some of the questions.

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snom320
I like this idea. And it's the perfect present for anyone you know that are
curious about getting into electronics.

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StoneTable
I love all these hardware hacking options! I wish someone would do a project-
based one for the raspberry pi, though.

~~~
mluskind
We'll be doing that through the learning app. Not only are we going to put
together project-specific course content that will teach soldering, coding and
how to work with the components in a structured way but we'll be opening up
the platform so that makers can create their own kits and courses. We're
focused on the learning aspect - useful, structured course content so you
don't have to spend hours online on multiple sources. With some semblance of
progression built in so you can move onto more ambitious projects or learn a
new skill in the field - think TeamTreehouse or CodeSchool but for Hardware.

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iamchmod
Do you think this would be a good birthday present for 9 year old? Or is it
too challenging for that age range?

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krallja
I had a "150-in-One" breadboarding kit from Radio Shack when I was 9 years old
and greatly enjoyed it. This seems similar, but using the monthly subscription
model.

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dave84
I signed up.

The link to terms on the subscription confirmation page is broken. There's an
extra slash at the end.

~~~
tronclub
It has been fixed. Thank you.

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frenkel
Instantly signed up 😊

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Altay-
I think its safe to say we've reached peak monthly-subscription-startup...

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hga
No, no, not at all.

I'm 54 years old, played this sort of game in the early '70s in elementary
school with kits from Radio Shack, but it didn't really take (science and
later computers was my thing), and I'm seriously considering subscribing. I'm
potentially interested in doing the projects, but definitely don't want to
spend a lot of time on the net gathering the parts and info, although it
would, as others note, be cheaper.

