We look into the similarities and differences between the Lego Spike Prime (45678) and Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor (51515) to see which set is right for you.
Overview Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor 51515
- Audience: Home (Retail)
- Five built-in models with instructions.
- Project-based: instructions guide you thorough 5 models. The main idea is: Build, Code and Play.
- Lots of projects in the app, from Lego and Fans community.
- Custom blocks for those models.
- 949 parts. Colour range: lots of white and black, but more colourful than the previous Lego Mindstorms EV3. More bricks at home means you have more opportunities to build different models.
- Motors: 4 medium motors.
- Distance and Colour Sensor.
- New 6-port Hub.
- No storage box
- Age group: 10+.
Overview Lego Spike Prime 45678
- Audience: Education
- Software guides you through 5 units. Each unit have different guided lesson plans. During each lesson plan, students (or kids at home) have to build and code models.
- 523 parts (incredible colourful bricks: yellow, magenta and blue). Less bricks means less opportunities to loss pieces around class!
- Motors: 2 medium motors and 1 large motor.
- Distance, Force and Colour Sensor.
- New 6-port Hub.
- Storage plastic box.
- Age group: 10+
Spike Prime and Mindstorms – Coding similarities
Both, Mindstorms and Spike Prime coding are based on the Scratch platform for simple, user-friendly coding but you also can choose Python coding. So, both robots supports two coding languages, depending on your level of proficiency.
- Scratch 3 (word blocks) and Python.
- Extensions to add more blocks.
Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor have a remote control application that can be customized.
Which version is the right one for you?
We really love Spike Prime but, now that Robot Inventor is in town, it’s more difficult to stand up for Spike Prime for personal use. If you are not an educator, get Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor 51515, we think there is more play value in the set.
Robot Inventor is cheaper than Spike Prime, more pieces for less money and very similar in all other aspects. So, if your child is a robot enthusiasm and you want to build big and more complicated models we totally recommend Mindstorms. With Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor you have more than 900 pieces and a great selection of electronic parts.
Yes, you don’t have a large motor neither a force sensor but you can build almost all the models from Lego Spike Prime with your Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor. Also, you can buy motors and sensors separately (if you really need the Force sensor or Large Angular Motor).
Yes, the storage box it’s not so great as the one in Spike Prime but it’s only one or two kids using this set, so, it’s not a big mess.
Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor have a great community, with lots of ideas in forums and YouTube videos. For personal use, we really recommend you this set. Overall, with Mindstorms you will find it has much more value for money.
We prefer the Spike Prime colour palette but this is a little bit personal. Some people think that Robot Inventor colours are easier to combine with other Technic sets.
If you are a home educator or a school, maybe the number of parts is not completely important and you prefer to have an storage box for organizing all your pieces, all the different motors (medium and large) and sensors available and that offers more learning opportunities. If that’s your case, we recommend the Lego Spike Prime 45678.
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