Review on High-Performance Longruner 5X Geared Stepper Motor 28byj 48 Uln2003 - Complete with Uln2003 Driver Board for ArduinoIDE (Wireless Connection) by Benjamin Michels

I got lucky with this particular motor kit. That's pretty much all you need to get started quickly. First I would like to say that I am impressed with the packaging. After so much detail could barely fit in a cheap plastic bag, it was like a breath of fresh air. Some thought and care went into it. Everything came in a hard plastic case, with separate driver boards in sealed anti-static bags. Mine had a color coded resistor reference card which I don't need but is still handy for a beginner. Second, these are the motors themselves. Considering I paid just over $12 for the entire box of 5 driver boards, I can't say I'm disappointed with their performance. I was able to build 2 plotters and have 1 motor left for another future project. That's enough for someone who doesn't need much right now. If so, you can consider it an investment as the cost of one motor at this price point is much lower than buying one or two motors at a time. The motors themselves work pretty well. Running for over 50 hours continuously and they haven't failed yet. They are fast and responsive to commands via control panels. If they don't seem responsive enough, the first thing you should do is replace the drivers with something more expensive. Sure, that means spending more money, but the motors themselves don't seem like a problem to me. Programming for this is very simple. There are many examples from simple to complex on the Internet. Github is a great resource for Arduino and PIC uC source code. One thing to keep in mind when building something with them or something that draws current at 1mA/s or more is like these motors. Driver ICs can get very hot in a short time, so consider providing them with a fan or keeping them in a location with little airflow over their surface. Failure to take this step can shorten its lifespan quickly, and before you know it you'll be scouring the market for a replacement. a larger NEMA 17 or higher stepper motor with a good H-bridge to drive it through a microcontroller. However, you really can't go wrong with this set. For smaller projects that don't require a lot of industrial-grade torque but efficient precision, you won't find anything better for the price.