I bought this set with 2 other sets (Mechanical Beetle and the Scorpion puzzle). This was the worst one of the bunch.
Pro:
1. Looks neat, the instructions give you 2 options, a Scorpion or the Tarantula, I went with the T because I didn't want a free floating speaker were ever, while the S doesn't use it.
2. It is all metal, it is not light.
Middle/Unknown (This doesn't make or brake the set for me just a huh thing) :
1. Consistency- This is questionable because I don't know if the instructions are from a different set or parts got changed out, the set was made cheaper, the set was updated and the instructions are suppose to be universal or someone in IT got the instructions mixed up I don't know. The reason I say this is because I ended up missing parts as well as parts not matching. One that can easily be seen is the sell picture on this page is not exactly what you get as an end result. The overall look is slightly inebriated spider, the speaker is smaller than what is shown by about .5"-1" in diameter so the holder for it does no quite look right. Some of the parts are also not the same color, they are a brass or bronze color instead of nickel, parts color not a big deal to me.
2. Customer Service- This is here because I've had mixed results. When the kits first showed up, no instructions drive. Got ahold of CS and the responded just about in 6hr's. End result the resent the instructions via email and found the previous email of them telling me it was coming with it and sent the instructions there but for some reason my email sent them to spam. 2nd time I contacted them when I found the possible missing parts and asked for clarification never heard back from them for 2 weeks and decided to improvise. not sure if just undermanned or purposely ignored, I'd rather think it was a slip since they responded to quick and well the first time.
Cons:
1. The tools provided are terrible, the pliers are to fat at the tip to be useful and the screwdriver doesn't fit the Philip topped screws. I'm lucky enough to have a entire tools set at my disposal. I had to use my jewelers set of screwdrivers and a mini pair of channel locks to make it all work. The only tool that was useful was a little 4 way hex nut wrench, the only tool I used through all of the kits.
2. QC (Quality Control) is not really good, for $140 you would think everything would be good, not so much. I have a pile of parts that the threading was none existing (i.e. a smooth tube cut larger than even the thread would allow) or cut wrong. To make it worse I had to rethread 3 screws just to finish the kit. They were not cross threaded because I could take the same parts and thread them onto the same sized screw one size longer and work flawless. I understand having maybe 1-2 parts something went wrong and packed extra as a just in case but the fact that I had to rethread using a die in order to even finish the project. This kit is designed for 14 or up, most people do not have a tap and die set. Sorry no, not overlooking that.
Overall not worth $140 mostly due to the fact it's a smaller kit, the tools do nothing and I had to use even more tools to make this work. I understand this is not meant to be a walk in the park but when I had to wait about a month just before it would even ship, which part of that process is QC and it should have never been shipped when the parts don't even thread together or missing entirely there's a problem.
