Lego Motorized vs Manual

[jorgeopesi]

I also think that this battle can be won for the motorized style due the new XL linear actuators because they will allow to build bigger MOCs where all the electric components can be putted easly, I have more than one pending MOC because I had not enough space respeting the scale.

[n7zhang]

Both are good. My solution is to make PF sets (eg. 42082) fully RC and enhance non-PF sets (eg. 42056) with HoG mods.

Edited May 19, 2019 by n7zhang

[shadow_elenter]

Well... My lowest motor count in a MOC has been 13 motors and the highest 19 motors so my preference is quite obvious.

I love to build a MOC and then manipulate it to get it to do what I want without interfering with it directly.

That proves my creation works without any help and that's really rewarding to me.
 
I guess it's all comes down to a magic combination of preference, expectations and application I think, and that magic combination has a different ratio for everyone.

 

[ozacek]

I think vehicle-related functions are better motorized, but for other types of mechanical functions I'm begining to lean towards manual. More functions can be packed in (motorized functions do take a lot of space), and models can also be smaller (I really like small/mid-sized models with lots of functions). One of my favorite 2018 set is still the small 42084 Hook Loader.

[Immo]

More and more I'm in favor of manual-powered functions.
1st of all, a motorized function like opening doors or lifting a boom or whatever like this seems like a wasteful effort. Those functions can easily be hand-powered. Winch or something else that is quite tedious to operate may be motorized, though.
2nd of all, motorization takes room. A lot of it. And I'm in favor of small builds, 40 studs long stuff.
3rd of all, manually-operated functions frequently require less fuss. You can create some functions that are basically operated as a switch; if you power them, they still require flipping a switch, just elsewhere. Seems redundant.