2025 Technic Sets Discussion

[kbalage]

3 hours ago, HydroWorld Outlook said:

Woohoo! New LEGO electronics. Maybe our past predictions about the Powered UP system were correct and it's truly being phased out for good in favor of this new cordless system. And for good reason. It seems our prayers have been answered.

I'm not sure we will ever see these elements being implemented in consumer LEGO themes. They are purpose-built, and the whole concept relies on simple applications where the parts are not integrated into bigger builds. They don't have any app connection or coding ability, you cannot modify the behavior, they rely on color cards to perform hard coded actions. The sensor and the USB port needs to be accessible all the time, which means you cannot bury a motor in your build. I wonder if the physical remote offers proportional controls, that can be the only advantage over the current Powered Up remote, but there's no use of it if it only works with this hardware. 

[Bartybum]

4 hours ago, HydroWorld Outlook said:

but it is clear now that TLG is headed in the right direction with their electronics system, and that is really good news, even for 2025

The right direction was to head back to PF but replace the IR with 2.4GHz.

Edited May 9 by Bartybum

[Danil]

42 minutes ago, Bartybum said:

Правильным направлением было вернуться к PF, но заменить ИК на 2,4 ГГц.

Ideally, it would be done with replaceable cables, like in the case of the buggy motor. But then Lego won't be able to rip off fans, unfortunately...

[Bartybum]

2 minutes ago, Danil said:

Ideally, it would be done with replaceable cables, like in the case of the buggy motor. But then Lego won't be able to rip off fans, unfortunately...

That's exactly what I was thinking. The great thing about PF was that it facilitated compatible aftermarket solutions

[Danil]

3 minutes ago, Bartybum said:

Это именно то, о чем я думал. Самое замечательное в PF было то, что он способствовал совместимым решениям на вторичном рынке

This is contrary to business strategy

[Bartybum]

2 hours ago, Danil said:

This is contrary to business strategy

Only for shareholder business... which unfortunately Lego is

[AVCampos]

I'm not very versed in business and economics, but isn't TLG a family-owned company, and therefore without shareholders?

[Jockos]

I wouldn't mind having wireless motors and similar things as long as:

- they're easily accessible to charge (and maybe have a removable battery in case of damage on the long run)

- relatively cheap

-used extensively in sets (especially Technic)

Because what we see with recent portfolio of RC/motorised sets is just painful.

[mahjqa]

I think having things run on batteries that are; 

• universal
• replacable
• still being produced 20 years from now

Is preferable to something that is none of those things. 

Remember the PF rechargeable batterybox? Once that's dead, it's dead. Your average consumer isn't going to grab a soldering iron and a TEMU-sourced battery to get that thing running again. 

Compared to this batterybox - produced 49 years ago. And if you didn't keep your leaky batteries in there, it should still work today. Just pop some new ones in and you're good to go.

 

[AVCampos]

3 minutes ago, mahjqa said:

(...)

 

Thank goodness I finally find someone that agrees with me on standard batteries being better than proprietary ones! Like I said many times before , until a standard Li-Ion format comes along (18650 is IMO a good candidate), I prefer to stick to old and inefficient, but reliable and plentiful, rechargeable AAs and AAAs.

[kbalage]

15 minutes ago, AVCampos said:

Thank goodness I finally find someone that agrees with me on standard batteries being better than proprietary ones!

If you watched my videos, you should have identified another person a long time ago  I wouldn't mind proprietary batteries, until they use the same slot as the AA/AAA cartridge and they are interchangeable. I don't think a non-removable battery is the way to go for LEGO, but there are other recent examples that are not promising either. The AIO Hub of the Technic Porsche set has a removeable rechargeable battery, but LEGO won't sell it separately, and you won't get this form factor from anyone else. 

[Auroralampinen]

1 minute ago, kbalage said:

If you watched my videos, you should have identified another person a long time ago  I wouldn't mind proprietary batteries, until they use the same slot as the AA/AAA cartridge and they are interchangeable. I don't think a non-removable battery is the way to go for LEGO, but there are other recent examples that are not promising either. The AIO Hub of the Technic Porsche set has a removeable rechargeable battery, but LEGO won't sell it separately, and you won't get this form factor from anyone else. 

And i have to say, i think the porsche hub is against lego climate change stuff. Because they want to be ecological, thats why they switched to paper bags. But the porsche hub is not ecological, if the battery dies how you will get new battery. And if you don't get new battery, that hub is then total land waste. Wich is against lego's climate change policy. 

[AVCampos]

Plus, the model itself doesn't allow the battery to be removed and stored elsewhere without partial disassembly. This leads to phantom drain when the set isn't being played with, and therefore the risk of deeply discharging the battery and killing it.

Owners of electronics with non-removable batteries that are rarely used: remember to recharge from time to time!

18 minutes ago, kbalage said:

If you watched my videos

Actually your YT channel is one of the few LEGO channels whose videos I watch all of them... yet I was under the impression that you were on the "proprietary batteries" camp.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Or just futureproof your 42167 by PF Converting it!

[AVCampos]

Its hub is still interesting, with the integrated motors for a quick driving base, the 6 independent LEDs, and the ability to charge without taking anything off. Too bad its firmware is (hopefully just for the time being) locked and therefore unusable with Pybricks.

Edited May 9 by AVCampos
Added the charge ability.

[thurd]

On 5/2/2025 at 2:24 AM, Bartybum said:

If I wanted to spend $600 on Technic, I'd just quit the hobby and buy an RC aircraft and transmitter, or buy seven Master Grade Gundam kits, or buy two of CaDA's RC excavators.

Did exactly that with an FPV drone, whole setup (transmitter, goggles and mobula8) cost below 500$. I'm having tons of fun and once you brake stuff, you get to play with much more advanced Legos. 

[HydroWorld Outlook]

18 hours ago, kbalage said:

I'm not sure we will ever see these elements being implemented in consumer LEGO themes. They are purpose-built, and the whole concept relies on simple applications where the parts are not integrated into bigger builds. They don't have any app connection or coding ability, you cannot modify the behavior, they rely on color cards to perform hard coded actions. The sensor and the USB port needs to be accessible all the time, which means you cannot bury a motor in your build. I wonder if the physical remote offers proportional controls, that can be the only advantage over the current Powered Up remote, but there's no use of it if it only works with this hardware. 

All valid points. Like I said in my previous post, though, I know for a fact that TLG is not planning to release this particular electronics system in other sets. The dumbed-down studded components have been specifically designed for use in LEGO Education, not in LEGO Technic. I do hope, though, that this little system is the beginning of something much bigger, with much more advanced cordless odd-dimensioned Technic electronics (that we haven't seen yet, potentially with greatly expanded programming capabilities) on the horizon.

This hypothesis of mine is based on how the WeDo 2.0 and Boost systems were guinea pigs for the full Powered UP system later down the line. Since the Powered UP roadmap only went as far as 2025, and there's been no word of TLG releasing another one, a lot of signs are pointing in the direction of retiring Powered UP sometime in the near future, and a cordless system similar to the one we're seeing now may be it's replacement, especially now that Mindstorms is no longer around. Plus, many of us fans, and more importantly, many parents have criticized the Powered UP system for its massive expense and mobile device-reliant functionality when compared to the old-fashioned Power Functions system. A new cordless system like the one we see now seems to respond very well to those complaints, featuring a physical remote with potential proportional control that can operate the electronics independently of any smart device (saving us the need to use our phones), and components each having their own internal batteries that can be recharged just like the one on the Powered UP Porsche hub (saving us money). So I strongly believe that, depending on how well this test run with their Education division goes, it is entirely plausible that TLG may decide to expand the cordless system with other, more advanced components for use in their consumer-facing sets within the next year or two. If a cordless electronics system doesn't appear in 2026, then we could be in for some major surprises when Technic's 50-year anniversary rolls around in 2027.

However, like I also said before, I didn't mean to throw this thread too off-topic. I just thought it was worth pointing out that the cordless system being introduced in Education sets today could be teasing a whole new family of electronics that may enter development if this one proves successful. Such an electronics system may seem like it will be harder for rip-off and third-party companies to replicate than the corded systems we see in today's sets, but I have to admit it, that sounds like a pretty darn effective (and likely) business strategy to me.

Edited May 10 by HydroWorld Outlook

[kbalage]

@HydroWorld Outlook I don't think that wireless components are really the future of LEGO Technic, because they create far more problems than they solve. The parts in the Education set last about a day on a single charge, and they seem to be designed for low power applications. Imagine a standard small scale Technic car having only two motors, and even that has to be designed with a proper access to both of them to be charged. Motors with integrated batteries are inevitably bulkier than today's, and even if we gain some space by not having a central power source, I'm not sure that's the best direction. Not to mention more complex models with e.g. 4-5 motors and lights, each consuming a different amount of energy and therefore likely to run out of power at different times, that would be a real pain to manage.

But you are right, this probably belongs more to the Speculation or the Powered Up topic, happy to continue the discussion there. 

[HydroWorld Outlook]

59 minutes ago, kbalage said:

@HydroWorld Outlook I don't think that wireless components are really the future of LEGO Technic, because they create far more problems than they solve. The parts in the Education set last about a day on a single charge, and they seem to be designed for low power applications. Imagine a standard small scale Technic car having only two motors, and even that has to be designed with a proper access to both of them to be charged. Motors with integrated batteries are inevitably bulkier than today's, and even if we gain some space by not having a central power source, I'm not sure that's the best direction. Not to mention more complex models with e.g. 4-5 motors and lights, each consuming a different amount of energy and therefore likely to run out of power at different times, that would be a real pain to manage.

But you are right, this probably belongs more to the Speculation or the Powered Up topic, happy to continue the discussion there. 

All right, then, fair enough. I didn't know there was a dedicated Powered UP topic though, so I'll have to look around for that.

[Satisfied]

The friends set uses numbers starting from 42601,Will the technic set end at 42600 and then change the number

There are still over 300 numbers available from 42217 to 42600, which can last for more than ten years

[NV Lego technic]

That is probably because they reached 41998, 1 number away from modern technic

[Auroralampinen]

Lego has now sent summers sets to reviewers:). 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJpK-BJJddJ/?igsh=MXRqeno1bjV1ZWN6cw==

[Anio]

"I don't know what is inside".

Typical instagram liar who try to create some fake surprise to its audience.

When we receive a package, we know exactly what is inside as approx 3 weeks before we always get an email saying something like "We are going to ship to you sets #ref, #ref and #ref for review".

We generally have no visual when we accept the review offer. But for non exclusive sets, the official visuals are generally revealed between the acceptance of the review and the delivery of the package. So when we open the package, we know exactly what products are in the package, and what they look like. When it comes to exclusive sets (Icons, or big Technic supercar, for example), it may happen that we discover the visual of the product by opening the package. But still, we are fully informed what ref is in the package.

[kbalage]

23 hours ago, Anio said:

"I don't know what is inside".

Typical instagram liar who try to create some fake surprise to its audience.

There is actually a bit more to this than you are trying to suggest, maybe you could think about the possible circumstances before you call someone a liar.

When we accept review offers, we have the set numbers listed, but when the packages are shipped, there is no information about the actual contents of each package, at least if you're in Europe. There are other regions of the world where additional shipping documents are required which might reveal the set numbers inside. So if you have multiple "active" review offers that have not been shipped, you won't know exactly which sets are in the package. You can of course make guesses based on the size of the box and the weight, but you won't know for sure.

I was expecting the June Technic sets and two batches of City sets for this week, and received a delivery with one box, then another with two boxes. To my surprise, the first delivery contained half of the City sets, the second delivery contained the Technic sets and the second batch of City sets. I don't make unboxing videos like this, but I could have been really surprised at the first box.

[Auroralampinen]

3 minutes ago, kbalage said:

 

I was expecting the June Technic sets and two batches of City sets for this week, and received a delivery with one box, then another with two boxes. To my surprise, the first delivery contained half of the City sets, the second delivery contained the Technic sets and the second batch of City sets. I don't make unboxing videos like this, but I could have been really surprised at the first box.

I have question, can you review the lego 60466 first. Im really curious about that model, because its the first city set with piston engine:).