Looking to get started with the GPIO pins?

They can be intimidating at first, which I why I wrote a detailed beginner-friendly guide.

But in order to follow the steps, you need some new electronic components. You’ll need things like jumper wires, resistors, and LEDs to name a few.

While you can buy these items separately, you’ll end up getting everything in bulk and actually pay more than buying a kit. For instance, you might only need a few LEDs to experiment with, but you probably can’t buy fewer than 100 at a time online.

With a kit, you can get a huge variety of components at more reasonable volumes. Not to mention, you won’t have to go out and buy more items for every single project you tackle.

By purchasing one of these starter kits, you can get your own electronics toolkit started and rely upon it for many future projects.

The GPIO electronics kits

In this post, I’ve assembled a collection of what I believe are the best electronics starter kits available. Only highly-rated products have been included.

Some of these kits include the essentials like resistors and jumpers, while some take things way further and include advanced components like motion sensors and motors. You never know what you’ll end up making with the Pi, so I’d recommend getting a kit that has a decent variety of items.

Here are the best Raspberry Pi GPIO electronics starter kits.

• 1. REXQualis Complete Starter Kit

  $46.99

  This is the best kit IMO. It has a huge variety of components and it doesn’t skimp out on the essentials like different types of jumper wires.

  Get this kit

  

• 2. Freenove Ultimate Starter Kit

  $49.95

  This kit is extremely similar to the REXQualis and cost just a few bucks more. If you have specific components you’re looking for, compare the contents closely as there a few different items.

  Get this kit

  

• 3. ELEGOO Electronics Fun Kit

  $13.86

  This is a cheap kit that includes the absolute essentials. It comes with a breadboard, jumper wires, LEDs, buttons, resistors, and a handy power supply module.

  Get this kit

  

• 4. Freenove Basic Starter Kit

  $12.95

  This is another basics kit that is slightly more affordable. It doesn’t include the power module in the ELEGOO kit and has fewer of most items bundled.

  Get this kit

  

• 5. Sunfounder 37 Sensor Modules Kit

  $95.99

  If you want to skip LEDs and go straight to sensors, this kit packs a whopping 37 different modules. You could combine it with one of the basics kits for a robust toolkit.

  Get this kit

  

Which electronics kit is best?

For most people, a balanced kit, like the REXQualis Complete Starter Kit, will offer the perfect blend of essentials and exciting modules for experimentation.

The basic kits are cheap and have everything you need, but you could find yourself quickly getting bored with only buttons and LEDs to play around with.

If you want to get more advanced, the Sunfounder’s kit includes a huge number of sensors and modules. While it’s more expensive than other kits, it’s still a good value for the sheer quantity of components included.

What did you think? Excited to pick out an electronics kit for your Raspberry Pi’s GPIO pins?

If you have any questions or other comments you can post below.

Thanks for reading!