Uncle Milton Death Star Electronics Lab, Standard Gray

My husband received this for his birthday this past weekend from our daughters. We thought he'd enjoy using it with our 8 year old, and they have had tons of fun. She thinks it's really cool how you can make it do things just by changing the circuit patterns, he thinks it's great to show her how it works. I kept finding him in the basement messing around with it. HOWEVER, he's had some problems with a few of the components not producing the expected results. Not sure if they're faulty or what the case is. He's a pretty smart guy and has a head for that type of thing, so I have to assume it's the product and not the user. Hopefully we can find replacement parts and have a fully-functioning Death Star. If it weren't for that, I would certainly rate this toy 5 stars for kids and adults.

I'll say that I think this concept is a neat idea, however as of today, the product is completely useless to us as of right now. I got this for my daughter who is very into coding and electronic stuff (she's 7) and so are we. She was EXTREMELY excited to use this and immediately tore open into it. She's a big Star Wars fan, so this was something she was very excited to do, and combined it with her passion for coding and STEM based learning. I'll start off with the positive information that I can say about this toy. The shell is sturdy and the item itself looks rather like it would be fun, however we will not know because we couldn't use it despite the battery insertions. When we put the battery in (without any circuits added) a few lights happened to come on (flashed once), and then turned off -- with the switch. I then gave it to my daughter to attempt to play with -- and off she went. After about 20 minutes she came back and stated that she didn't see any difference between the first light output response and the second. I experimented with both forms, and a third form and realized that the lights that lit up were always the same. It was also in the same pattern that it showed when it initially turned on. At that point, I wasn't sure if it was us, if we weren't pushing the circuits in hard enough, or maybe if we had scuffed them. I trouble shot for quite a bit, and then decided to build one of the bigger pieces in the system -- the chewbacca sound which requires several connectors, circuits, brackets, etc. In the process of putting the pieces on the board, I noticed that at times the lights would come on randomly and turn off immediately, but I couldn't replicate the problem. I hadn't finished building the full circuit for the item either. That's when I realized we probably had a bad motherboard. So that is why I have to give it 2 stars as of right now. I'm sure the toy is great (if and when it does work), however i've been reading several other reviews that have said the same issue (bad circuitry). I'm going to attempt to contact Milton to see if either we can get a new motherboard, or get a refund on this. I would say that I would have loved it, however due to it not working properly, I can't say that I do.I will however say that if you do want something that is highly recommended and is a good starter program for kids that are interested in coding/circuitry, try the snap circuit series. I bought my daughter the snap circuit jr piece and she loved that one WAY more. It gives about 100 ways/items to build. She hasn't stopped building since the day she got it. The book gives great explanations too if you are interested. Some reviewers have mentioned that they needed to show their kid -- my daughter didn't She read the beginning of the book, looked at the way the circuits were built and away she went!

My granddaughter is 10. She just loves this and it provided hours of entertainment along with being educational.

My 8yr old son and his engineer Dad love this set. Great introduction to circuitry.

This is perfect for kids who are interested in electronics.