For 8043, the PF parts add upto around £70. The set costs £140 (sorry, I don't know the US equivalent of those prices), so that would mean the other 1123 parts would cost about £70, which is about average for a set of that size. Really, with 8043, the PF parts are worth it. Plus, the B-model is a helluva lot of fun to play around with, while the A-model has an incredible gear box. 8110 is a great example of pneumatics on the other hand, and those pneumatic parts don't come cheap (though it's not possible to easily price those up on Lego's online store).

For someone just coming into Technic though I would recommend 8069, it packs in a lot of functionality in a tight space, has a good selection of parts and gears, and shows off a range of Technic building Techniques. It's a great starter point IMHO.

FWIW, and this will probably get me a kicking, I think the Mog has almost no play value. It's technically very impressive, but it's:

- too big, too heavy, the steering is poor

- the crane is too slow, too weak

- the snowplough is too heavy and leaves the front end unbalanced

- the cab is structurally weak, and the U400 mog is an ugly thing anyway

Others will rabidly disagree with this assessment. This toy fails the toddler test though. My two year old ignores it completely, and will favour the 8070 and 8109 sets (he ignores the Extreme Cruiser completely too). And no, I don't leave him unsupervised with technic parts

If you want a big set, 8043 is an excellent toy as well as being technically interesting, and stuffed full of PF and other parts. It also has that great B model...

You sir are totally wrong . I totally contradict your opinion. Also, would a 8258 crane meet you standards. Who said the crane of the Unimog is weak. It is not weak and it can actually lift some weight . Well anyways, I would agree with getting 8043 right now because it should be out of production when this years flagship arrives, well, maybe.

Edited May 23, 201212 yr by sama

I think 8043 is going to be my purchase. All the PF look incredibly fun and useful! Will 8110 and 8070 be around for a while? I don't want to miss out!

I think 8043 is going to be my purchase. All the PF look incredibly fun and useful! Will 8110 and 8070 be around for a while? I don't want to miss out!

8070 should be around till 2013 but I am not sure about 8110 because it is a set using licence. So I would get 8110 soon and maybe wait for 8070 (or if you want to buy it right now, go ahead).

8070 should be around till 2013 but I am not sure about 8110 because it is a set using licence. So I would get 8110 soon and maybe wait for 8070 (or if you want to buy it right now, go ahead).

That makes things tough. 8043 has a lot of great PF and is definitely a set I want, but the 8110 looks fantastic, too. I can't justify $400 for Lego at the moment, so it's one or the other. I guess it depends on the life of those two. :-X

If you know you eventually want both, I would always go with the older set first especially if it is near the end of its life cycle like the 8043 is. You might even try to find a nice 8258 on the resale market if you think you might want that one, and before the price gets out of control.

It really depends what you want from a set. 8043 has alot of PF. 8110 has not so much PF but a good amount of everything. 8043 has toy like playability, whereas 8110 has mechanical authenticity, it very closely matches the real thing unlike 8043. So if you want more of a childs RC toy with alot of motors get 8043. If you want a vast amount of parts with a variety of different things like PF, pneumatics and pretty much everything else so you can build a wide variety of your own designs and authenticity then get 8110. Remember 8043 does not have differentials, wheels, suspention elements, engine elements and so on, so it's really very limited for parts. You also have to consider if you would prefere to have pneumatics (with motor compressor pump so they work with PF in the case of 8110) or LAs.

YMMV, but I never look at the parts in a set when choosing to buy it. For me, Bricklink eliminates the idea of buying sets for parts

I can imagine some people find Bricklink orders a hassle; it is quite time consuming to source parts efficiently using BL

Edited May 24, 201212 yr by andythenorth

I have no problems with Bricklink, but having not built really any Technic, I'm not sure what route I want to go yet. From a new Technic standpoint, what's the difference in functionality of pneumatics vs LAs?

I have no problems with Bricklink, but having not built really any Technic, I'm not sure what route I want to go yet. From a new Technic standpoint, what's the difference in functionality of pneumatics vs LAs?

With a manual pump pnumatics are a lot faster, but hard to control. LA are more accurate and can be driven by a motor. 8110 pneumatics are driven by a motor which drives a little pump. Just search on youtube for the 8258, 8043, 8110, 8455 and 8459. And you will see 5 different concepts.

8043 got me out of my dark ages last year. Good start. See lego as an investment, that makes it easier to spent your money ;-)

Bricklink can be a royal pain, I have had many good purchases, but all the hassle as you say makes it kind of not worth the trouble unless you REALLY want some specific parts, then try to find them from the same seller, otherwise at times you might wait a few days for an invoice, then you pay, wait more time for seller to actually ship, that is if they let you know, and since most use the postal service (at least in the US), they can be incredibly slow as far as transit times and a lot of times you just don't know what day they will arrive. Like I said though, I have had some very good experiences there, but there are some sellers who just do in addition to family/jobs/recreation, etc and that means long wait times between all the components of purchasing there. I once waited almost a week before a seller to even invoice me, after 2 e-mails to the seller that went unreplied to, then it was, well I have lots to do, so it might be 2-3 days to get it shipped, then I had paid for Priority Mail (2nd fastest shipping speed with USPS, if you want to call it fast), instead seller shipped it First Class. So, adding that all up, it ended up being 16 days between time of placing to order to receipt of it. Then there are some sellers, not many that I have noticed, that accept no pre-sale inquiries via e-mail, one noted too busy to answer e-mail, but it was a mid-90's model that seller quoted box was in rough shape, I wanted to know EXACTLY what seller meant, were seals open, box torn open somewhere? It was an expensive item and it seems quite a poor practice for a person to place an order, then risking NPB status if you decide, well set might be missing pieces, or not worth it once you finally found out the real condition of the set. Seems really a backwards way of selling. I'm not trying to trash BL, I've also had many excellent experiences buying there that went without a hitch, but if you are trying to build a model or MOC and require parts from many different sellers at once, that can be a pain I would imagine if you have a life and can't be on the PC all the time keeping on top of all the invoicing/paying, etc...

YMMV, but I never look at the parts in a set when choosing to buy it. For me, Bricklink eliminates the idea of buying sets for parts

I can imagine some people find Bricklink orders a hassle; it is quite time consuming to source parts efficiently using BL

8455 is probably, IMO, the best set Lego ever produced, it uses pneumatics to the hilt, but the only downfall is no airtank, heck that model could have used 2 airtanks, but no room, and that would detract from the aesthetics of that awe-inspiring realistic backhoe. Look out for the prices now, they are incredibly high. Heck when I bought my 3 back in 2005, they were $99 each, got the 8448 I have to a buddy in 2000 for $119, look at the asking price now. Amazes me how much some of these retired models rise exponentially in price, but have to say I have given in a couple times and paid way too much for an older model, 1 was the 8466 Off-Roader, other was an 8459 Pneumatic Loader, and thirdly a 8460 Crane Truck. But, I had missed all of those in their time since I was in the dark ages at the time. I did buy an 8464 re-release of the 8459 in 2001, but unfortunately after I bought it I went back into a dark age again and it sat in the intense morning eastern sun and a lot of the bushings cracked, the yellow faded to almost a chalky white and the air hoses became brittle, but luckily I only paid $69 for it when I bought it too...now I do see it all as investment and take care of mine well. I usually hose down the dust from my Lego, but now that most have PF elements that are in most cases way down into the model itself and would require major disassembly, you can't just spray them to clean, the electronics would go 'poof', so I just use canned air...the compressed air is expensive, but a small price to pay...

With a manual pump pnumatics are a lot faster, but hard to control. LA are more accurate and can be driven by a motor. 8110 pneumatics are driven by a motor which drives a little pump. Just search on youtube for the 8258, 8043, 8110, 8455 and 8459. And you will see 5 different concepts.

8043 got me out of my dark ages last year. Good start. See lego as an investment, that makes it easier to spent your money ;-)

If you don't have any Technic, I'd recommend buying a few sets to build up your stock. Building with Technic, especially studless, requires a bit of trial and error, and having to constantly wait on orders from Bricklink would be a pain. Bricklink is fine for random bits, or if you are building from instructions that somebody made, but, imho, having some sets on hand to build from is really the way to go.

As far as pneumatics vs. LA's go, they both have their pro's and con's. LA's give you more control, but then you have to run all the drive axles and gearing. It's usually a bit easier to build remote control stuff with LA's. With Pneumatics, you lose the control, but mocs are usually a bit more authentic and easier to build. Pneumatics are a bit trickier to use with remote control mocs.

Just my thoughts.

Edited May 26, 201212 yr by dhc6twinotter

If you don't have any Technic, I'd recommend buying a few sets to build up your stock. Building with Technic, especially studless, requires a bit of trial and error, and having to constantly wait on orders from Bricklink would be a pain. Bricklink is fine for random bits, or if you are building from instructions that somebody made, but, imho, having some sets on had to build from is really the way to go.

As far as pneumatics vs. LA's go, they both have their pro's and con's. LA's give you more control, but then you have to run all the drive axles and gearing. It's usually a bit easier to build remote control stuff with LA's. With Pneumatics, you lose the control, but mocs are usually a bit more authentic and easier to build. Pneumatics are a bit trickier to use with remote control mocs.

Just my thoughts.

Spot On... :thumbup:

Kind of the thing I did with amassing spare parts, I did have the 8448 and 8464 which were a bit of a challenge for a newbie, but in early 2005 I just started with the smaller stuff first, lots of good sets 1H2005, and then worked my way up to the 8436 Truck, then the summer offerings, kind of deliberated on the 8421 Crane, but finally took the plunge, then I just buying sets when they went on sale at TRU or clearanced at S@H or Amazon and built by collection little by little, and if I got a sale set, I'd usually buy 2 or more, and always 1 for parts, now I've amassed a huge spare parts collection, so have only had to resort to Bricklink for some rarer parts on a couple of occasions, have been able to build pretty much anything I want to with the mods posted here and a few MOCs. Since joining BL in 2004 I have ordered rarely from BL except those couple of parts orders and a dozen or so sets that I really wanted and had missed from my dark ages. Still looking for the elusive 8446 Crane Truck, kind of a strange looking beast, but I like the color and it really intrigues me and is interesting, almost like a futuristic space vehicle, but only 1 BL'er has it up for sale in the USA and they list it as a less than perfect box, but won't accept a pre-sale inquiry, so no way I'm going to screw myself into a NPB status if the seller comes back with a response I don't want to hear, a gamble...

If you don't have any Technic, I'd recommend buying a few sets to build up your stock. Building with Technic, especially studless, requires a bit of trial and error, and having to constantly wait on orders from Bricklink would be a pain. Bricklink is fine for random bits, or if you are building from instructions that somebody made, but, imho, having some sets on hand to build from is really the way to go.

As far as pneumatics vs. LA's go, they both have their pro's and con's. LA's give you more control, but then you have to run all the drive axles and gearing. It's usually a bit easier to build remote control stuff with LA's. With Pneumatics, you lose the control, but mocs are usually a bit more authentic and easier to build. Pneumatics are a bit trickier to use with remote control mocs.

Just my thoughts.

Agreed there, LA's can't lift much weight with some configurarions but look more lifelike, pneumatics can lift a lot but there's that problem with having to hand-pump the air except on models or MOCs built with an air compressor built in or an airtank...

If you don't have any Technic, I'd recommend buying a few sets to build up your stock. Building with Technic, especially studless, requires a bit of trial and error, and having to constantly wait on orders from Bricklink would be a pain. Bricklink is fine for random bits, or if you are building from instructions that somebody made, but, imho, having some sets on hand to build from is really the way to go.

As far as pneumatics vs. LA's go, they both have their pro's and con's. LA's give you more control, but then you have to run all the drive axles and gearing. It's usually a bit easier to build remote control stuff with LA's. With Pneumatics, you lose the control, but mocs are usually a bit more authentic and easier to build. Pneumatics are a bit trickier to use with remote control mocs.

Just my thoughts.

(OT)...the Extreme Cruiser (mentioned above as uninspiring) feels like the spiritual successor to the red Dune Buggy from the 80s (also not a very inspiring set, but fun to play with)

http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=8845-1

Ok, so I've been going over it for a few days now. Help!

http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Motorized-Excavator-8043?s=4640063

Or

http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Mercedes-Benz-Unimog-U-400-8110?s=4611588

I know there were some compelling posts about it earlier, but I simply can't decide! I'll be buying the new 4x4 when it comes out if that helps at all? :)

I would go for the excavator,it has more motors and it has two receivers and controllers.

I would go for the excavator,it has more motors and it has two receivers and controllers.

How much power does the Excavator pack? Are the motors enough to give it some motion, or does it crawl?

8043 does crawl, but the payoff is the build. Fun and complex. The gearbox is amazing!

I've been out of my 20+yr dark ages for about 18 months now and the two most enjoyable builds were 8043 and 8069 (and I'm a supercar guy ). The 8069 is packed with manual functions and you will learn alot.

The 8043 is near the end of it's production, and the MOG will be around at least until 2013. However, your color pool will be very limited with either one.

I say go crazy, I have a HUGE collection of parts now. Maybe too much......NEVER!!!!!

Hi nicoga3000, i was an old era technic guy, from the late 80s then putted technic away and a couple of years ago decided to buy sets i used to see on catalogs when was young and couldn't have. Now i have alot of sets from 80s and 90s golden period that want to keep original and not make them mocs to improve movemnts or playability etc..

With the PF models have changes a lot and to enter into this new world i decided to buy the 8043 because it's out from a while and think will be retired soon and for sure it's price will go to the stars as it's a milestone sets! I'm familiar with technic but wasn't out for a couple of years and had no experience with new parts and PF and i found easy to build the 8043, instructions are easy and even TOO STEP BY STEP... sometimes 3 steps should be done in 1 time..

So in my opinion put some good money on the 8043 and then at the end of the year or beginning of next buy the 8110 that's another great set(even if then it's better to improve it with at least an airtank..and here you'll find a great 70+ pages forum about the 8110 and all thepossible modifications..).

Forgot that u'll find a lot of modifications even for the 8043 to improve playability and make all the movements separated from eachother as this one for example http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=45348

Last but not least, i consider buy a couple of 2nd hand sets to arrive at 200$ so maybe u'll have more parts,mixed pneumatic and PF..

Here in Europe u do good bargains in ebay.de (germany) where technic is so common and preatty cheap but although u live on the other side of the ocean shipping wouldn't be so cheap :(

Anyway welcome to the technic world and have fun!

Ciao

The 8043 had gearing in it,the more gearing down the more power/torque you get,but you loss speed.

Thank you all again - I decided to go with the 8043 after MANY high praises for the set. :)

the first six weeks are the toughest. After that you get used to it an maybe can even sleep long nights again!

Thank you all again - I decided to go with the 8043 after MANY high praises for the set. :)

good choice the b-model is also great

8043 does crawl, but the payoff is the build. Fun and complex. The gearbox is amazing!

I've been out of my 20+yr dark ages for about 18 months now and the two most enjoyable builds were 8043 and 8069 (and I'm a supercar guy ). The 8069 is packed with manual functions and you will learn alot.

The 8043 is near the end of it's production, and the MOG will be around at least until 2013. However, your color pool will be very limited with either one.

I say go crazy, I have a HUGE collection of parts now. Maybe too much......NEVER!!!!!

You could go with the 9397 Logging Truck as well, it is an excellent product and the b-model is equally as good, something you don't see much with b models, I agree that the 8043's b-model is a fun to play with, faster and more smooth than the main model, but the main model is a definitely worth every penny. The Unimog is a good item too, just not as versatile with no RC and is a tougher build than the previous models noted.