Verodin

Count me in :) Doesn't have to be android btw. You can get fully programmable bluetooth modules for a few dollar (think ESP32). You'd be surprised how cheap these things are these days. All I want is quality joysticks/buttons on the controller and I really don't care what brand or logo is on there. Anyway, as much as I enjoy this subject, we're getting a bit off topic. This probably fits better in a dedicated PU topic. We're here to talk about the hauler. Speaking of which, now that the building instructions are available. How does this remote controlled gearbox hold up against designs floating around on this forum?

Saw your interview a while ago, thank you for that. But it doesn't sound too promising for the near future. Really hope they update it let's say this year.

Thank you for this nice MOC. (and sharing the instructions!) You just provided a good reason to tear up the Liebherr and give this a go. I missed out on the 8043 and this looks like a perfect alternative!

Did anybody try mailing Lego concerning this and maybe get an official statement? Last I remember is that it was supposed to be an 'open' protocol. But maybe I misremember.

Imho it deserves the negativity. Lego made a bad choice by replacing PF with PU. It would be different if both systems coexisted. It took me a while to figure out, but I've come to the conclusion that IR (PF) and bluetooth (PU/Sbrick/etc) have different target audiences. It is not a replacement by a long shot. Actual example; I currently have 42030 build and can play with that in an instant with my not even 2 year old. Turn it on and play. He loves to put stuff into the bucket and can even drive a bit, be it only backwards :) The same can't be said about any bluetooth controlled sets. I'm not going to talk about the official apps. I have the Liebherr and it's a paperweight until I dismantle it for other MOCs. In their current form they are an abomination as far as I'm concerned. So let's take a bluetooth receiver, appcontroller2 and a physical controller (no way I'm letting my kid become one of those screens staring zombies). Nice setup, but not for quick playing. I have to turn on 1 or more hubs, turn on bluetooth and location on my mobile (always disabled, except for this). Turn on controller. Start an app, click through it, select a profile, connect to all devices. By now anybody who just wants a quick play has lost interest. It works for me as an engineer who likes to tinker (lots and lots of possibilities), but for kids? I do realise my situation is not your typical teenager technic lego combo, but you get the point I'm trying to make. Now I did order the set, but mainly as a parts pack since I'm seriously lacking yellow panels and I could buy it for less that 200 euro (or in other words 28% discount compared to list price here in Sweden). Maybe take the PU parts and tinker with Pybrick a bit or something similar. Without panel need and discount I would not have ordered it, purely due to the PU dependency.

This! I have quite some technic sets and a few big system ones, and if there's 1 thing very obvious it's that quality control does not seem to exist any more. Serious colour issues, different tightness of parts and even loose sitting pieces such as hairpieces. Issues that I would expect from a cheap manufacturer, but for a company such as Lego completely unacceptable. Yeah they do seem to have good customer service, but that should be reserved for rare occasions. With recent sets this has become too frequent. I'm mostly a technic guy and it's gotten to the point where I'm seriously considering not buying Lego for the time being and just wait out the storm. Not to mention the obvious corner cutting and disappearance of B models. And last but not least the extortionate prices they are asking these days. Completely delusional in some cases. Up to a point I could accept that for a quality product, but as far as I'm concerned Lego is no longer a premium product. My guess is that it's not so much a matter of quantity, but simple pure greed.

I had the same thing a while ago. The technic Ducati Panigale set has some serious colour issues with the red parts and I ended up requesting replacements for all 8 of a specific pin. Got the same email but in English. I've contacted them by mail telling the problem and referred to the denied request. Took a looooong time for them to reply, but in the end it was no problem and replacements are on the way. It just required manual authorisation.