42100 Liebherr R9800 Excavator

[grum64]

For years those of us with needs different to most have been unable to ‘play’ with our PF equipped Technic builds as we couldn’t use the joystick. The advent of the Sbrick and BuWizz changed all that, albeit at a price, so personally I’m very happy about the Control+ system and its out of the box use of a smartphone rather than a physical joystick.

This just my opinion relative to my situation.

Edited February 2, 2019 by grum64

[efferman]

Touchscreen control of a model is extremely uncomfortabe. With touchscreen you need to look on the screen to hit the Controls. 

Not without a reason most of the people on conventions are using a gampad to steer their models.

[grum64]

17 minutes ago, efferman said:

Touchscreen control of a model is extremely uncomfortabe. With touchscreen you need to look on the screen to hit the Controls. 

Not without a reason most of the people on conventions are using a gampad to steer their models.

I totally agree. It’s even more annoying when you can’t use or feel your hands and so ‘stab’ at the screen hoping you hit the right button at the right time. Then there’s the wondering why your model isn’t doing what you’re asking of it and looking down to see your fingertip sliding across the laptray rather than the touchscreens slider you placed it on .

Annoyances aside, using a touchscreen to control a model is, for me anyways, infinitely preferable to having no control at all .

Edited February 2, 2019 by grum64
Punctuation

[Bartybum]

3 hours ago, Erik Leppen said:

• Possible compatibility issues - will the app work on all devices?
• Future running problems - will the app continue to work over the years, and/or be maintained in the future?

As far as I’m concerned, these are the only two valid cons, and to be honest I’m not worried about either one.  TLG would be absolute morons to not consider both of these. Even if they don’t, someone’s gonna reverse engineer an alternative.

2 hours ago, efferman said:

Touchscreen control of a model is extremely uncomfortabe. With touchscreen you need to look on the screen to hit the Controls. 

 Not without a reason most of the people on conventions are using a gampad to steer their models.

But at the same time there’s also this reason, and I trust your judgement :S I guess I’ll have to decide for myself

[Timoonn]

We can imagine some thrid party software and smartphone app with extended features.

[iLego]

None of the RC hobby toys use smartphone as a controller. And this includes complex machines like airplanes, helicopters, construction machinery etc. The reason of course is that the physical remotes provide better control.

I wish Lego provide a simple proportional remote with joysticks. Current PF remote has two joysticks, perhaps they can bump it up to 4 joysticks for the control+ remote. The joysticks themselves could be attachable (similar to how we can attach an axle to current PF switch) to avoid confusion on models which need less than 4 controls.

I think Lego would have provided greater joy if they had come out with a proportional version of current PF remote. For years, they refused to invest in this obvious need, and we thought all this while that Technic was not mainstream enough for this to make business sense for Lego. But now they have suddenly come out with huge investments in electronics via boost, pup and control+. It's all confusing to me.

 

[Frequenzberater]

There is a way to control lego boost with a gamepad. So I expect it to be possible für control+ as well. 

I am also not a fan of remote control using a flat display without any haptic feedback. 

[TeamThrifty]

But its only bluetooth... which as a comms protocol is very open to any developer, its not tied to smartphones. Its just thats the most commonly owned bluetooth device. Get giddy with a raspberry pi and build your own controller? 

[coinoperator]

On 1/30/2019 at 8:04 AM, Ngoc Nguyen said:

According to my calculation it does. 450 EUR / 365 days = 1.23 EUR/day, which is comparable to a cup of coffee in my country.

Or one night an escort girl..

Oh man, why are people moaning about the price?
Be happy that TLG makes these toys for grown up boys.
Only reason I didn't buy the Bugatti is that I find it the most ugly car I've ever seen.

[TeamThrifty]

16 minutes ago, coinoperator said:

Be happy that TLG makes these toys for grown up boys.

[allanp]

With over 4000 parts, 7 motors and 2 control+ hubs of course it's gonna be expensive. It's expensive, but for those that don't care much about mechanical authenticity then it appears to be right in terms of value. What's more, TLG are also releasing control+ in a cheaper alternative within the same wave of sets. Just like with the whole smartphone debate, I try to be an advocate of giving customers freedom of choice. You can choose to get the big expensive excavator or you can choose a cheaper alternative way to get control+. So even without bricklink they are giving us options. That's good isn't it?

What's also VERY good is that, while this linear actuator clad control+ demo platform in the shape of an excavator isn't for me, I am actually very happy to see TLG and Technic as a theme doing well enough for them to release such a thing.

Edited February 3, 2019 by allanp

[coinoperator]

I do however have one serious thought...

The original machine has the option for a bucket as well as a shovel.
Will that be the case here too?
Or do I feel a MOC coming?

[allanp]

Just now, coinoperator said:

I do however have one serious thought...

The original machine has the option for a bucket as well as a shovel.
Will that be the case here too?
Or do I feel a MOC coming?

That's probably the B model with downloadable instructions only 

[coinoperator]

Just now, allanp said:

it's gonna be expensive

If you buy it on the releasedate: yes.
However 11cent a piece isn't the most expensive set ever.

Wait for Black Friday and pick it up with 20 maybe 30% discount.

[allanp]

Just now, coinoperator said:

If you buy it on the releasedate: yes.
However 11cent a piece isn't the most expensive set ever.

Wait for Black Friday and pick it up with 20 maybe 30% discount.

That's the difference between cost and value. 450 is a lot of money, but 11 cents per piece with all those motors and two control+ hubs really isn't bad value. 

[coinoperator]

21 hours ago, allanp said:

If control+ is only ever going to be in 16+ sets then that's fine. But if control+ is included in a set aimed at 10 or below I would hope that by that time there would be a non smart phone alternative accessory that could be purchased separately, like the lipo battery. I think that would solve all issues I have with it.

Buy an old smartphone,
Do NOT insert simcard, destroy the simcard holder instead.
Do NOT connect to wifi, block the MAC address instead.

There you have your remote control.

[jorgeopesi]

The B model had to be the excavator configuration but we would need a bucket that is why I think that specific parts are worse and a bucket build with pieces would have been better.

[TeamThrifty]

1 hour ago, allanp said:

but for those that don't care much about mechanical authenticity

In fairness, lego sets using gearboxes aren't mechanically authentic, but i get your drift.. a gearbox feels more authentic than 7 motors, and feels more 'technic'. However 2 hubs and many motors is a great set for getting the new parts.

The bugatti had a huge 8 speed gearbox, but its suspension and engine architecture had zero authenticity (suspension never seems to have...)

Each set has its strengths and weaknesses.

I'm looking forward to the new parts, and also very pleased that the none-car nuts get something big and special.. very pleased! 

 

[allanp]

@TeamThrifty my comment about lack of authenticity was more to do with the LAs than lack of complex gearboxes but you are right, function selection gearboxes aren't realistic either! But that would at least be more interesting than (motor, gear, gear, LA) X 7. But I do get it and I'm not complaining either. Control+ is a massive investment and they need a model to show it off, just like 8275 did for PF, and 42100 does that very well. And no-one is forcing me to buy it. I am however grateful for the option to buy what is practically a lifetime supply of control+ in a single set, and for the fact that these large expensive options exist should I change my mind, and for the cheaper SUV alternative as I'm really looking forward to seeing it's new bearings/CV joints.

[iLego]

Imagine getting into your car tomorrow morning and finding that the steering, brake, and accelerator have been replaced with a touch screen.

Will you be able to drive effectively ?

Now imagine further that the touch screen stops working whenever someone calls you.

A lot of phone based video games use a touch screen, so the mechanism will work for Lego as well.

But a real joystick based remote will be more fun and effective.

Lego's motto is to create only the best, and to be honest they do a great job most of the time. But this is a case where they are taking the wrong direction in my opinion.

Some of us can indeed build our own remotes using the published Bluetooth protocol. But it's often not that easy to make a robust mechanism at home. I built a proportional PF remote using Arduino with open source library for sending PF commands. But the mechanism did not work very well because the variable resistance joystick I used turned out to be poor quality and the IR LED was a low intensity one so the remote's range was really short.

Of course it's possible Lego may yet surprise us and release a remote like they have done for the train sets ... but I really have my doubts.

[Aleh]

PLease delete, wrong topic

Edited February 3, 2019 by Aleh

[Snorrowitz]

Trying to read about the 42100, but it seems that most of this topic is about the Control+ system. Maybe it's time for a dedicated control+ topic?

[Johnny1360]

Well it is part of the set and the first set to feature it but I do see your point. I feel confident that as the control + system matures it will get some sort of remote, fingers crossed. I do like the idea of some sort of joystick the most though, if only because when I operate an RC vehicle I like to watch or concentrate on the vehicle itself and operate the remote by feel. This is all just a minor issue for me though as I will likely just buy a second very economical phone just for this set, which I am very stoked for and have already started saving for, $30 yeah. This will be the most I have ever spent on LEGO, I rarely spend over $100 for a set, so saving up is essential for me. 

I am really looking forward to learning more about this set in the next few months, and I hope it lives up to all the hype. 

Edited February 4, 2019 by Johnny1360
Spelling

[Bartybum]

God damn how many phone calls are y’all getting that you can’t sit down for 20-30 minutes to play in peace???

And c’mon, if you had a controller you were probably gonna put it down and check your phone anyway. You can also just deny the call and get back to playing.

Edited February 4, 2019 by Bartybum

[TeamThrifty]

Intersting video showing how its shipped to site in modules and built up.... be nice if the building replicates these modules