Below is information I sent to some friends a while back. The product number for the Resource set changed & prices went up, so the differences listed below may not be exact, but generally speaking FLL Robot set = Retail kit (8547) + Resource Set (9695) with a few differences... ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________ The "FLL Robot Set" consists of: LEGOR MINDSTORMSR Education NXT Base Set Product ID: W979797 http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/lego_mindstorms_education_nxt_base_s et/2095 LEGOR MINDSTORMSR Education Resource Set Product ID: W979695 http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/lego_mindstorms_education_resource_s et/2214 LEGOR MINDSTORMSR Education NXT Software http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/lego_mindstorms_education_nxt_softwa re_2_1/2240 (Purchasing thru FLL provides the FLL Team license ) The retail kit (8547), which you find on the web for $250-$270, is essentially the NXT Base Set above with just a few differences as follows: Retail kit does not come with the rechargeable battery. Retail kit has color sensor. The Education set has just plain light sensors. Retail kit comes with the software, but not the license for loading it on many computers as you would need in a school setting. I think the retail kit did not have the sound sensor either??? I could be wrong. I think the retail kit has fewer tire choices. The retail kit does not have the red and blue plastic balls either (minor difference) The retail set (8547) + the Education Resource Set above (9648) (~$80) is a close equivalent to the "FLL robot set" with differences listed above. Hope this helps. -Wendy Bretton From: First Lego League in Virginia and DC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rajesh Shah Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011 8:04 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Books ? I had another rookie team question. We bought the NXT kit from Amazon this summer. What is difference between this Kit and NXT kit supplied by FLL. Do we need to buy more parts ? On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 7:05 AM, Rajesh Shah <[log in to unmask]> wrote: We are not competing in this years competition. As you said, we are mostly getting ready for next year. Yes,we do plan to visit this years event. Appreciate your inputs. Rajesh On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 10:11 PM, B Bergenstock <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Do you mean that you just started your team and are registered for a local tournament? Because competition is just 2 to 3 weeks away, and that's a pretty tall order. But good luck to you and your team. If it were me and I had just started, I would not enter into this year's competition, but hold an after school program starting in January every other week, teaching them programming and then enter next fall's tournament. Definitely go to this year's event, even as a spectator, because being at the competition teaches you a lot. As for books to teach lego to your team,. I highly recommend Educate NXT http://www.educatenxt.com/ It's the best value for your money and time. Carnegie Mellon also has an excellent series called Robotic Engineering. They started a free online class equivalent but I can't seem to find that link right now; Maybe someone else has that link. Regards, Brandy . On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 9:48 PM, Rajesh Shah <[log in to unmask]> wrote: We are new FLL team recently registered with parents as coach and mentor. We are all new to LEGO Mindstroms NXT Constructions and Programming. I was a thinking a good book will be a nice way to get a jump start for our team. I see a bunch of books available in Amazon. Any suggestion ? http://www.amazon.com/gp/search? ie=UTF8&keywords=LEGO%20MINDSTORMS%20NXT&tag=nxtprogramsco- 20&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325#/ref=nb_sb_noss? url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field- keywords=LEGO+MINDSTORMS+NXT&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3ALEGO+MINDST ORMS+NXT Thanks for your help. Rajesh Shah -- To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html and select "Join or leave the list". -- VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ANNOUNCEMENTS-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-ANNOUNCEMENTS-l.html to subscribe. _____ To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html and select "Join or leave the list". VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ANNOUNCEMENTS-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-announcements-l.html to subscribe. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html and select "Join or leave the list". -- VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ANNOUNCEMENTS-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-ANNOUNCEMENTS-l.html to subscribe.