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I am an adult Lego fan with quite an inventory of the stuff. This parent is right on the quality issue (and others on the thread pointing to low margins are also there).

Lego keeps on selling 1949 designs (basic lego bricks with ~11-year industrial patents) because nobody can beat them at their prices. Lego invests quite a bit in product design ... but also in manufacturing design. Their systems are partly secret (and the company is 100% privately-owned).

There are clones that can *potentially* be attached to regular Lego, but their quality is glaringly inferior ... although some are put to good use in "realistic" castle walls, depicting stones of different hues and textures. There are also extremely high quality non-official Lego-compatible components for Mindstoms, but those are another story altogether.

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Want to buy cheap Lego? Try searching ebay for bulk lego (which can be washed with lukewarm water and soap). Keep an eye out for the (regular) Lego sales at toy stores, including the official online Lego store (which also offers bulk sales). Or use the new pick-a-brick Lego outlets. For specialized/hard to find parts Bricklink and Pitsco are your friends.

For people new to building and need a resources to buy their goodies, here is a pretty good site. They have just about everything you would need (all different kinds of gears, axles, motor boxes, etc.). Everything you wish the main Lego site sold.

I've gotten lots of piecs from Pitsco. They sell parts in bulk and interesting sets.

They have the TECHNIC Pneumatic Pack for US$ 27.99.

Between Lego, Pitsco and EBay you can get pretty much whatever you might want to build sweet Midstorms 'bots.

Happy shopping.

I saw the an early beta of this at my old job about 2 years ago, I used to work for PITSCO, and they have a joint venture with Lego-Dacta, you can visit their site (and see more lego stuff) at www.pitsco-legodacta.com/

The world just seems to shrink smaller and smaller every day!

If you follow the links at PitsCo-Dacta you will find that it runs $249 single copy.

LEGO CAD (Macintosh / Windows)
#NP900033 $49.00

There's a MacOS version of NQC, which is free. And
ROBOLAB has a Macintosh version, but you'll have to pay for it.

You will need a cable for the IR tower, which you can order from Pitsco LEGO DACTA (800)362-4308. It's part number 4119830, $15.

-Jonathan

I think that the Robolab software has been reworked since then, and includes a variant of the Mindstorms software, which is _very_ object-oriented. Mac adapter cables for the RIS's IR tower are available from PITSCO-dacta .

The Cheese

Nitrozac Boot Squad

There are several kits available from The LEGO Company (TLC) which let you build Mindstorms-style robots; the Robotics Invention System (RIS, the Mindstorms 'basic' set) the Robotics Discovery Set (which has the 'Scout' microcomputer instead of the RCX that comes in the RIS; the Scout doesn't require a PC for you to program it) and the Droid Developer Kit (which has yet another 'Scout'-style programmable brick). These are the three robotics kits available from The Lego Company .
Available from Pitsco/DACTA is the RoboLab, a LEGO robotics kit aimed more towards the Educational sector, primarily as a teaching tool for educators looking to teach scientific-minded youths the joys of programming and the wonderment that is robotry. It's available from PITSCO/Dacta. I've ordered stuff from them online without having to prove if I'm an educator, but YMMV.

I've had the Unofficial Guide to LEGO Mindstorms for a month now, and my cats are starting to think I like my robots (Clumsy Pike and Hovis) better than them (Hydrox and Pork Chop, so they don't get jealous)(I think they've got FELUX running on my PC).

I hope that this is of some use to someone looking for the perfect gift for that geek on their Christmas list.

-The Cheese, who's next plan is to RULE THE WORLD!

PS; LEGO also sells a wireless IR remote for controlling the RCX.

PPS; Check out the online resources at LUGNET .

This place has it all - including parts that are damn near impossible to find retail! You can buy individual parts - not just whole kits (anybody need a bag of 1x1s?), so you can get those pieces you really need...

Even has online ordering - cheap prices too (for Lego)!

Pitsco-Lego/Dacta